Travel

Hello all!

Our wonderful hostel in Beijing has an internet cafe of sorts, so I figured I would take a minute to notify you all that yes, I am alive! Sorry I have not blogged for awhile, but I think once you see the pictures from the Great Wall, you will think it well worth the wait! I have to go now, as we are going to be eating our first Mexican meal in A LONG TIME! Soon, we will travel to Qingdao to meet up with Luke and Katherine before heading back to Shiyan. More to come. I hope you are all doing wonderful!

-Finn

Fun Times in China

Well folks, almost a month has passed since we left the U.S., and we are all still alive and well. This has been my last week of freedom before I begin to teach classes on Monday, so I have behaved accordingly.

This past monday was a Chinese holiday called "mid-autumn festival". Although various sources have told me several different meanings for the holiday, the long and short of it is this. During the full moon, Chinese families have a reunion of sorts and when they gather they eat something called moon cakes. Sounds delicious, right??? WRONG! My first bite into a mooncake (which looks like it will be a sweet taste from the outside) resulted in a mixture of flavors including, but not limited to, peanuts and green peppers. Ick. Maybe its the Chinese variation of fruit cake. Everyone gets them, but no one (at least not Americans) likes them. Not wanting to shirk on any holidays, including those of our host country, we participated by bringing a box of mooncakes to our favorite restaurant owner, Happy Lady.

During the actual day, however, a large group of us gathered together and rented a large boat to take out on the reservoir that day. You know those Chinese postcards with the foggy lakes and the oddly pointy-yet-wooded-mountains? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was in one of those. The scenery was breathtaking, and we had a lot of fun. We played Mahjong on the top deck of the boat and played cards below deck. We even docked briefly to toss an AMERICAN football! Good times.

The best part about this trip, however, was definitely the ride back. Now I don't know if you've ever heard stories about Chinese bus rides...but you're about to now. Since the lake is about a 45 minute bus drive from the city, there are few buses that travel the route, and the local country folk apparently have limited opportunities to hitch a ride into town. With this in mind, we boarded an already crowded bus, and a few of us managed to get some seats (I was seated next to the door). As we travelled down the country road, more and more people piled onto the bus, until it was beyond a shoulder-to-shoulder situation. It was beyond discomfort. It was RIDICULOUS. Apart from the driver, there is another lady who works on the bus to take money and seat people. At this point, her job was to disembark, gather newcomers and forcefully push them inside so that the door could shut behind her (and sometimes it didnt shut at all). I was haplessly seated below a handrail at just the appropiate height for 3 chinese boys to be able to stand in front of me and level their armpits right across from my nose. With a chinese boy practically in my lap the whole trip, I was especially grateful that I was seated next to a window for some much-needed ventilation. So if you're wondering how many people can fit in a bus...I know....exactly.

Luke and Kat have been doing well. This week, Kat hosted the weekly estrogen party that the American ladies have formed in the city. Our dude-fest is not quite as organized or tasty, but usually ends up with some wonderful rock band performances. Luke is doing well despite a rather heavy course load. We've been told that we should be done early enough to manage a return trip to the states in time for some important weddings (congrats Ryan!) and maybe even Christmas! The prospect of an early return is at least enough to keep us going when classes get rough.

Well, I'm off to research some way to catch Bama football on the internet, as we begin conference play this week. Any suggestions would be welcome! I hope all is well back in the states.

Peace and blessings,
Finn

Pictures and Captions

EDIT: OK, so I just tried to publish the post below, but the picture layout didn't quite cooperate. The picture captions therefore may be a little off as far as photo-layout goes. Yes, I'm too lazy to fix it, so I will rely on yall's astute observational skills to deduce the matching caption.


This oh-so-aptly titled post has no stories, adventures, or anything of the like, but I suppose that a few of you blog faithful might get a little tired of my wordy posts every once in awhile. Anyway, you know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words. So lets just pretend I worked really hard on a 13,000 word post. I'll feel diligent, and you can have a break from wading through paragraphs of my ramblings. I will be including quite a few pictures of some of our American friends in Shiyan. We have been VERY blessed to have some really great folks to show us around the city and provide some much-needed companionship in ENGLISH!!!

O.K. so I know it looks dirty (I'm hanging laundry to dry in the 1st picture, so it looks a little crazy), but I figured some pictures of my apartment should be shown. As you can see, its pretty spacious.

top left: Den Top mid: bathroom Top right: kitchen

B-left: Comp. room/2nd bedroom. B-mid: My Bedroom B-Right: dining area

Just a few random shots here. The picture on the left is a gathering with (from left to right) Angelyn, Kat, Megan, John, and Luke. Our friends Angelyn and Jessica just got a new Kitty named Lucy, who is perching on my shoulder in the top-right picture (yes, I know I look crazy, but the cat looks darn cute!). And I promised a shot of Luke and Katherine together, so here it is!

Some great flattering pictures of our friends Angelyn, Jessica (top left), John (bottom left) and Trent (right). We all went out for Crawfish one night, and some couldn't resist the temptation of playing with their food! Not being big crawfish fans, Luke, Kat, and I had McDonalds beforehand.

This is the Lady who runs our favorite restaurant down the street. We call her "Happy Lady" for obvious reasons. She makes some great food that I'm not even going to try and spell.

O.K., well I hope you all enjoyed this week's rant-free edition of my blog. You're getting better at comments! Good to hear from you all. We are still doing well, and I don't teach for another week! Well I'm off to bed so I can wake up in time to catch the Alabama gamecast online. Roll Tide!

How do you say "Emergency Room" in Chinese?

"I have an emergency"

Although we wanted to know where the Emergency room was, this was about the closest thing in Katherine's phrase book. So there we stood, all 3 of us at 2:00 AM in the rain outside of a Chinese guard post near the hospital. The guard looked at us, puzzled, as Luke repeated the phrase about 3 more times. Having gotten over the fact that yes, 3 very wet and tired looking white people were speaking Chinese to him and no, he was not dreaming: he nodded his head and lead us to...the...emergency room. I hesitate because the "emergency room" was a doctor sitting in front of a computer, smoking a cigarette. "Do you speak English?" Luke asked in Chinese. He seemed to indicate that yes, he did speak some English, just before he let loose with a barrage of rapid Chinese that not even Luke could make out. Between the 3 of us, we eventually managed to describe the problem with Luke pondering Chinese syntax, Katherine flipping through her phrase book, and myself holding a chinese-english dictionary in one hand and motioning wildly with the other (If you ever want to know how to say I.V. in Chinese, just make a circle in the air with your right hand, and mimic the flow of water with your other. It gets the point across while having the added bonus of being very entertaining).
After a quick blood test and some questions, Katherine was placed in a barracks-looking room of sorts to recieve her IV, while Luke waited next to her, playing his PSP to pass the time. I meanwhile, was pulled aside by the Doctor several times, because he seemed to think that 1) I spoke Chinese, and 2) I should be the guy to recieve her upkeep instructions (neither of which were true). After a bit, I went back to catch some rest while Luke and Katherine stayed on at the hospital. They managed to get out unscathed, unless you count the constant wailing of the patient in the bed next to her.

So how, might you ask, did we end up in the hospital in the first place? Good question, we're not sure either. All we know is that Katherine was pretty dang sick for at least 30 hours straight, and we were getting a little worried. 4 hours of IV fluid and about 12 hours of sleep later, she seems to be doing quite well now! She is understandably going to take it easy on the food for the next few days, but from what I can tell, she'll be right as rain in no time!

So we've had our adventure for the week, and we're already fed up with adventuring! Back to teaching, eating wonderful food, and hanging out with friends and Family. This weekend we have some friends coming to visit from Wuhan, and we may even travel up Wudang mountain. Everyone is excited about upcoming plans for October holiday, which will be our 1 week vacation that occurs 1 week after I start teaching! We have a pretty big group planning on some cool travels, so get excited for some ridiculous travel stories.

Well, as you might have guessed...I'm a little tired, so I'm off to bed! Hope yall are doing well. STAY HEALTHY! From what I can tell its no fun to be sick! But hey, good news is, the ER visit, including IV cost, etc. was less than 10$ U.S. not bad at all!

Goodnight/afternoon and God Bless!
-Finn

1 week down, 51 to go (ok, more like 42, but 51 sounds more dramatic)

So I'm convinced that the whole self-esteem deal is outdated, I've found a better solution to the whole believing in yourself thing. Go to a foreign country: preferably one that doesn't hate you/your religion/ideology/skin tone etc. O.K. Simply put, come to China!

If you have any doubts about how special you really are, all it takes is a stroll down the street in Shiyan, China. Jaws will drop, lives will be put on hold, babies will wave, Old people will stare, girls will giggle, and school children will shout "Hello" as you walk by (note: this does not apply to persons of Chinese or Asian descent, and for my insensitivity I apologize). Now I know what Britney Spears feels like (except without the Paparazzi, plastic surgery, or drug problems). Chinese people will simply NOT stop staring at us Americans as we walk down the street. Now don't get me wrong, they do not do this to be rude. In fact, the Chinese have been MOST hospitable to us, and are often eager to try out the 1 or 2 english words that they know when they see us. Rude or not, it is certainly an interesting experience to be the focus of a whole city street as you search the side stores for a good noodle stand. I waver between feeling important and worrying that there is something stuck in my teeth, neither of which are usually true or good feelings ;-)

I have, however, discovered that some are not quite as nice as many of the locals. I have developed what could only be described as a rivalry full of loathing, fear, and often angry exchanges. Who is this vile nemesis who strives to thwart my every endeavor you ask? I'm not sure of his name, but I'm pretty sure that an American family would lovingly name this evil spawn something like "sparky", "skippy", or "Punky".

Yes, there is a dog that dwells a floor below me. Although this 6-inch tall ball of fur appears harmless, it will occasionally lurk on the 6th floor landing, just waiting for an unsuspecting resident to cross its path so that it can go into a yapping/chasing frenzy. Not having had my rabies shot, I have treated many of these such encounters with great caution, often retreating back up/down the stairs until yippie/skippy/sparky's owner comes out to silence the beast. This morning, while we were walking downstairs to procure some lunch, we met the beast on his way up from the 3rd floor to the 6th. Having encountered the thing several times with no positive outcome, I warned Luke to stay back and let it pass. However, the dog simply looked on, docile. When we retreated back into the doorway for a second, the dog passed and ran quickly up one floor, where it immediately commenced its ferocious yapping as if we were suddenly encroaching its territory. Although Katherine has assured me that the dog won't bite even when it is in full attack mode, I seldom leave the apartment without a water bottle, umbrella, or some other blunt object just in case!

This will be our first relaxing weekend in Shiyan since our arrival a week ago. Luke, Katherine, and I are all excited and hope to have some fun. Luke and I have taken to playing ping pong on the outdoor sports courts (they have stone tables set up among the basketball courts). Sometimes students come to join in, and sometimes they simply stare at our awkward attempt to do the game justice (after all, who would hold a ping-pong paddle by the handle? Stupid Americans...).

I think we are all glad to be settling into the swing of things, and Luke and Katherine seem to be enjoying teaching more and more. I am 2 weeks away from teaching now, and Luke is still urging me to learn some Chinese! I have some software here in the apartment, so my next two weeks will likely be more productive than this one. I hope you are all doing well back in the states! Feel free to comment, and look me up on skype (this means you, friends and family!), we love hearing from home so don't hold back! In fact, my feeble brain is constantly running out of topics to blog about, so if you have questions you would like me to answer in my blog, feel free to ask me. OK, thats enough for tonight. Goodnight all, and God Bless!

-Finn

OK, we caved

Well, as you can see below, the craving finally got to us. After a 10-minute ride on the K-5 from the Tai He hospital, through the roundabout and just past the KFC, we glimpsed a sight so beautiful, we danced with joy....the golden arches.

With great gusto, we chowed down on some expensive (but well deserved) western food. I indulged in a plain double cheeseburger, Katherine chose 2 single cheeseburgers, and Luke had some spicy chicken nuggets. It was heaven. Now don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of the Chinese food thus far. It is simply a matter of variety (and the ability to safely order variety of food without fear of accidentally ordering live squid). Back in the states, I would probably try some fast food Monday, some Mexican food on Tuesday, Italian on Wednesday, Chinese on Thursday, homestyle cooking on Friday....well you get the point. Here, we are working on expanding our food vocabulary, but we usually end up ordering the same thing repeatedly.

Thankfully, Katherine has kept up a little record of our favorite dishes, which she asks the waitresses to write down after we devour it (pictured right).

Thanks to some exploration and some good friends, we have begun to navigate our way around the city. It is very beautiful here in Shiyan. Compared to Wuhan, the city is much cleaner, and much easier to manage travelling around. We have some favorite restaurants already, but nothing yet can compare to my neighbor's cooking! I suppose I should post a few pictures of the city so you can get an idea of our new home. Below, are pictures from the People's Square (left) and the front gate of our college (right).

I was going to share some pictures from Luke and Katherine's first day of classes, but I can't quite work the photo editor in Chinese, and they would be sideways otherwise :-( A battle for another day perhaps.

As for today, Katherine and I went to meet Luke in his classroom before lunch at McDonalds. Katherine's arrival was greeted with applause from the Chinese students (I just got wierd looks!); they were very excited to greet their new teacher's wife. We sat in on the last 5 minutes of class which seemed to go REALLY well. As envious as they are of my 3-week vacation, Luke and Katherine are settling into teaching just fine. After McDonalds, I convinced Luke and our friend John to travel up the hill to the school basketball/ping pong courts for an afternoon of ping pong (we had to stop at a supermarket on the way back from Mickey D's to get the paddles). Passers by watched with great interest as we battled it out on the little stone ping pong tables in the open air. It was a lot of fun, but certainly tiring. After a little rest, our friends John and Megan introduced us to the wonderful world of Shiyan DVD shopping. And so we ended the night with a movie.

I hope you are all doing well back in the states. Sorry the posts aren't quite as frequent as they started out, but life is busy here! Feel free to comment, Uncle Skip is the only brave commenter thus far, and we love hearing from home!

Oh, and one last thing. ROLL TIDE!!!!!! Woohoo, how 'bout that game????? We didn't get to actually watch it, but the ESPN gamecast was enough for us early Sunday morning as we crowded around my computer screen. That being said, thanks for the score discretion, folks, we'll be trying to watch games after the fact in the future.

Peace and Blessings,

Finn (and Luke and Katherine, but they're sleeping right now!)