I AM A DORK

I realize that I could just go in and erase the blog that I posted a few minutes ago, but then I would deprive my friends of getting to laugh at me and I do want everyone to know that I am a dork. I have a very small apartment and did not think that the bag of winter long johns and pajamas could hide, but they did, and I found them!!! Yeah! So now I have Paul Frank elephants and Fa la la la la and everything is good.

City Reflections

I went to the park the other night with a friend because she wanted to take pictures of the buildings. It turned out to be really cool because we were able to photo the reflections in the the lake as well. There is also a bridge that has a water fall coming down off of it. The lights on the bridge change colors making the water change colors also. It looked pretty.

Pajamas

I have a thing for pajamas. With some girls it is shoes, purses, belts... but for me it is pajamas. I love wearing cute pajamas! My summer pjs don't mean very much to me, but my winter ones do. It all started back when I was 7 or something and my mom unknowingly started a tradition of giving us new pajamas every Christmas Eve. This has been a true annual tradition. Even with me on the other side of the world, I have still gotten pjs for Christmas. And they are always so cute! So why am I writing about this right now? Because I discovered a very sad thing today. I was getting my winter stuff out of storage in preparation for the change of seasons and I discovered that the bag with all of my long underwear (very important here) was missing. Somehow it did not make the move from my old apartment to my new one. This discovery did not bother me too much until I realized that my winter pjs were in that bag too. Upon this realization I began to cry. It is strange the things that can make one cry. I miss my blue Paul Frank elephant pajamas from my last Christmas in the states and my green Falalala pajamas from last year. What will I ever do without my pajamas (melodromatic sigh). I realize that life will go on and I will eventually (years down the road) get over the fact that some Asian person somewhere is wearing my pajamas to the market (yes, they like to wear their pajamas in public), but for right now I am going to cry a little. My pajamas are like a security blanket to me. A little bit of home, a little bit of tradition that I was able to bring with me.
Would everyone please have moment of silence for my pajamas. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Thank you!

Pictures of my city

We finally had a very low polution day in the big N so I was able to take some pretty good photos of my city. These are taken from the 19th floor courtyard of my apartment building. I live on the 20th floor, so this pretty much my view also (I just don't have panarama).

Nightmare

This is a little bit of a strange topic for me to be posting for all to see, but it was just so oddly my life that I had to share. I only know of one person who can identify with this nightmare, but if anyone other than Kim has experienced this, I would be love to hear.
So in village houses sometimes there is a place to use the restroom, but a lot of times you have to go outside to do this, and sometimes you have to walk a ways and then go in someone else's home. Because of the amount of water I intake, I usually have to get up and go to the restroom in the middle of the night. Knowing that this is a very difficult thing to do when sleeping in a village, I try not to drink any water after a certain hour so that I can make it through the night without having to get up and go to the restroom. For some reason however, I seldom accomplish this. So imagine, it is five o'clock in the morning. You have been holding it since 3 (i know because my watch has a light), and you are trapped inside a house that is bolted on the inside and you are not sure how to open the door. Plus, even if you did open the door you would have to walk about 50 yards to another house that is most likely locked.
So this is the situation I was in a few nights ago (and I have been in this situation before) when I had my nightmare. I was in a village house and there was no where to go to the restroom but I really had to go (of course I really did have to go, so that part of the dream was real). The villager told me to go outside and just find a spot. When I went outside I was suddenly outside my parents' house (well kind of) in America and I was looking for a place to squat down. But no matter where I went, there was always someone who could see me. I finally just squatted down and then a bunch of people (mostly from my youth group) came out into the yard and were sitting around. This dream had suddenly turned into the going to school with no clothes on dream. I quickly woke up (it was 5:30 and the house was sound asleep) and decided that I must find a way because the real nightmare was reality and not my dream. So I got up as quietly as I could, went over to the door, and took over a minute trying to figure out in the dark how to open the stupid thing. I then found a place to end my agony. After ending my pain I looked up and saw a sky full of stars. Oh so beautiful. Then I went back in the house, rebolted the door, and went to bed.
I hope you got a good laugh out of this story. And if you have any cures for not having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (I took my last drink at 5pm), please let me know.
Another side not. The local polite word for the restroom is "fangbian"- which means "convenient", but in the countryside it is not so fangbian.

You Know You've Been to too many villages when....

Probably about a year ago I posted "You know you've been in Asia too long when," but now Asia is life and I am actually turning a little country. So, You know you've been to too many villages when (in no particular order):
1. You can distinguish the flavor differences in different kinds of corn porridge*
2. You crave corn porridge when you are in the city
3. You know whether to use corn husks, stalks, twigs and leaves, or logs for the fire depending on what is being cooked.
4. You find the village bed more comfortable than your own
5. You find taking a shower in a pig sty refreshing
6. The children are no longer afraid of you
7. You find it odd that other people find it odd that you go to villages
8. You know the countryside bus attendants by name
9. You are somehow able to understand a lady speaking a language other than the one you are studying.
10. You can keep up with the locals while climbing the mountains (they were carrying my bag).

In actuality I am very far from being accustomed to village life, but I enjoy my short escapes from the city.
* Corn Porridge: take boiling water, slowling add cornmeal, whip with a special stick. As it may sound, corn porridge has very little flavor. My time eating cp it was ok, but not what I would choose to eat. After eating it a few more times, I decided that I really could not stand the gritty flavorless glop in my mouth. But then, I don't know how, I suddenly really started enjoying it. I can actually taste the sweetness of the corn and greatly enjoy it. It leaves a gritty feeling in your mouth when you are finished, but I suppose it is good for exfoliating your teeth and gums. For an extra special treat one time though, the cooked the corn meal in fresh chicken broth (this was especially good). As another side note, corn porridge is quite an art to make. City people cannot do it, it takes the skill of a villager. mmm I am making myself hungry.

Renao

For Mid-Autumn Festival, the celebration of the full moon and everything round, I decided to follow the crowds and go to the cities biggest park. Normally I try to avoid the crowds, but since I knew that this would be my last MAF for a while, I decided to be like the natives. I knew that the place was going to be packed, but I had no idea how packed. Oh My Goodness!! Can we say a lot of people! I was sitting outside the gate waiting for a friend and people just kept piling in. I have no idea how they all fit (very tightly). This is what the Asians call Renao (literaly translated hot noise), but meaning lively and noisy. To the locals, this is a very positive term. They love renao. If things are not renao, then they are not exciting. But to me, things stop being fun when there is a crowd. I am not clostrophobic or afraid of people, but when you cannot see two feet in front of you and you have to constantly watch yourself from stepping on people, then there are too many people. I would not be surprised if there were 1million people at that park. And I must tell you, I did not stick around very long.
But if you are interested, inside the park there were people selling paper lanterns, plastic torches and other light up toys, incense, round fruit,... People were set up on the lawn with displays of food, burning incense to something. My friend guided me through the lawn, but I had to leave because of the smell (as I wrote about before, I can't stand incense).
In all, the park seemed like a fun place to celebrate, if you like crowds, but since the moon is viewable from much more peaceful places, I will choose to go somewhere else next time.

I just thought these little chickens were cute poking their heads out of individual head holes in the box.

I recently moved into a new apartment (pictures to come) and I have to take an elevator to get to my 20th floor room. Look carefully at the picture of the buttons in the elevator. Is something wrong with this picture? There is no floor 4 or floor 14, but they are instead replaced by 5A and 15A. The reason for this is that the word for four very closely resembles the word for death. So, in superstition, four is a very unlucky number. Kind of like how some elevators in the west don't have 13, but they take it much more seriously here.

Here is just a bit of fun vietnamese architecture! They really like dragons in Vietnam. They say that Vietnam is the shape of a dragon and that the dragon has provided them with much protection over the years.

The captain of the ship let me drive the boat for a few minutes. I must say that driving a boat in open waters is a pretty easy thing to do. The captain took over again however when we had to maneuver through mountain peaks. (probably a good thing too).

I got some additional Vietnam pictures from a friend, so I thought I would share some more. Our guide took this picture for us. We are jumping off our boat for a nice evening swim in the Gulf of Tonkin. It was very relaxing after our kayak excursion.

Little House on the Prairie

When I was little (and actually still), one of my favorite shows to watch was Little House on the Prairie. I always wanted to be Laura Ingalls and live in that time period. It looked like so much fun! Little did I know at that time, that when I grew up I would get to go back in time 150 years and live the "Little House" life. When you step into the mountain villages of Asia you really are stepping back about 150 years (though some of the houses do have satellite television and they sometimes have electricity). This past week I spent three nights in a village and we pretty much did as the villagers did. After an early breakfast of corn porridge and leafy greens, we spread out the corn to dry and then headed to the fields to work. It was about a thirty minute walk to the sweet potato/corn field. Once we arrived we squatted down and began pulling weeds out from amongst the sweet potato vines. We pulled weeds for about two and half hours straight. Most of the time we were under the shade of a tree, but when we weren't, that sun was hot. At around 1:30 we headed back to the village to cook lunch and rest (though I think they would have kept working had we not been with them). Then our host went back to the fields and left us to decornel the corn cobs and gather up the corn for the night. During dinner I observed how mothers without baby food feed their toddlers. The mothers would put meat in their mouths, chew, and then spit it into a spoon and feed their children. Of course the toddlers were also still breast feeding. After dinner was shower time. I took a shower out of bucket of water that had been heated over a wood burning fire. After showers, it was time for bed! I enjoy my trips to villages because they are so peaceful and the sky is so beautiful away from the pollution of factories and lights. But. . . I very much appreciate my 21st century life with a microwave, electricity, and a hot shower.

We found that pre-school aged kids pretty much run-a-muck all day long while their parents are working. It was truly a difficult thing to watch because these kids were doing all kinds of dangerous stuff they definitely were not hygeinic. The babies walk around without pants, and very few of them wear shoes. This little girl was playing in this pot with her brother, but I guess she got tired and decided to take a nap.

In the morning the villagers spread all the corn cornels out in a thin layer across the ground. The purpose of this is to dry out the corn so that they can grind it to make corn meal (which is then used to make the mush that they eat at every meal). Then, as the sun is setting, they sweep it up into a nice pile. When we were in the village, we helped with this daily task. They let us do it because it is difficult to mess up and they didn't really have to explain anything.

We swept up the corn and then put it away into baskets for the night. Then the whole process started again the next morning. I wonder how many days they have to do this before it is dry enough.

the bustling streets of the Old Quarter in HaNoi. This is now a backpacker haven.

This was a view from one of the restaurants we ate in. Exotic huh?

Here I am making Spring Rolls. It is actually pretty easy.

In our cooking class we made Mackerel wrapped in banana leaf, spring rolls, and calamari salad. It was all very delicious. I really enjoyed Vietnamese food.

A silk lantern shop.

Vietnam by night is enchanting. Brightly colored silk lanterns line the streets, caressing the unique European architecture.

The center city of Vietnam is an old port city called Hoi An. It is now a tourist haven. The street vendors speak English and you can pay in USD. This is a very fun town to stay a few days in. We rented bicycles, swam at the beach, took a cooking class. . .

I am not sure that I want to eat here!

Because Vietnam used to be under French control, french bread is sold for about ten cents on street corners. It is quite tasty and not what I am used to in Asia.

This picture is in the Old Quarter of the capitol of Vietnam. Does anyone out there know the name of the capitol? No, it is not Saigon. The capitol of Vietnam is Ha Noi. The architecture of this city is French with an Asian twist. Quite fun.

I woke up a little before sunrise and was able to experience God's creation shouting for joy. It was beautiful and so peaceful. Praise Him for His wonder.

On board our Junk. The flag of Vietnam could be found flying everywhere we turned (on land and sea).

For summer vacation this year I went to Vietnam. It was mucho fun! Our first stop of the trip was Halong Bay. Here we sailed around in a Junk, ate good sea food, kayayed, and swam in the Gulf of Tonkin. A great adventure that I heartily recommend. Sleeping on the sea is quite peaceful.

Fragrant Aroma

The smell of incense is thick in the air tonight and candles can be seen burning on street corners. Today this country celebrates Ghost Festival. This is the day when Ghosts come to haunt those who have offended them, so people burn incense and offer food to these Ghosts in hopes to please them. Such vanity. I asked a girl today who these ghosts are. She told me that everything that dies has a ghost. So they burn this incense, but how can you possibly please the ghost of everything that has ever died?
I hate the smell of incense, but it has become part of daily smells. People in my apartment set out incense on the stairwell. Whenever I walk by I am so tempted to "accidentally" knock it off the edge. Doesn't G hate that smell more than I do? But instead I should take the incense stands and that horrid scent as a daily reminder to me. I am supposed to be incense. My life is meant to be a fragrant aroma and my praises are supposed to rise like incense. Does the scent of my life bother non-believers? Am I as faithful in daily and continually shouting praises out to G as my neighbors are in sending out a nauseating aroma to their dead ancestors? Certainly my G is so much more deserving than live family members, let alone dead ones.
So join me on this daily journey to be a fragrant aroma to the Most High G. Let us praise Him, let us honor Him, let us bring Him glory by giving Him our lives.
"But thanks be to G who always leads us in triumph in Chr J, and who manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in EVERY place. For we are a fragrance of Chr to G among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

My sisters came to visit so I played tour guide and translator for a week. At first Hannah just made mean faces, but she soon started to have fun. I have forgotten that this place can be a little shocking when you first arrive.

This is a fun walkway in the Medicine Garden. The Chinese Herbal Medicine Gardens here are the second largest in the world. They were pretty, but I had no idea what anything was because all of the writing was in Chinese. I tried to make my best educated guess, but Hannah and Kristen didn't buy it.

A picture of Hannah in the Medicine garden.

The Chinese Medicine Botanical gardens had three bridges. Barrels (no longer in operation), chain and boards, and stumps. Kristen and Hannah were too chicken to cross the chain bridge so I got a picture of them while they waited stubbornly on the other side. I thought it was fun, the bridge bounced with every step.

This is just a view of the Great Wall. We went up to that top point and then found that we actually kept going up. It made for an easy trip back though.

Climbing onto the wall was the scariest part of climbling the wall. I will add however that the tiles on the walkway of the wall were very slippery so both of my sisters ended up doing some slip'nslide. (For those who do not know, this is my older sister Kristen).

We went to an unrestored section of the Great Wall. Little did we know, but past the second watch tower, the wall was off limits to tourists. One thing you learn about China though is that nothing is really off limits. We paid the gate guard less than three dollars a piece and were free to trek the wall. Since we decided to go to an unrestored area, there were very few tourists and so we pretty much had the wall to ourselves. We did meet two girls from the UK who paid the toll with us and ended up hitching a ride back with us.

I wanted to climb onto the top of the watchtower, but the ledge was a little too narrow for that to be safe. I did not come to China to fall off the Great Wall and break my neck.

That wall stretches on forever. I am way impressed by those ancient builders.

This is in a watchtower on the great wall. Yes this is the one that we got to somewhat illegally.

Downtown Beijing hosts a Tex-Mex Grill! It was tasty stuff. I had a chicken taco with sour cream and guacamole (that is an extra special treat), fruit salad, and a Cherry 7-up. A taste of home in the Big Country.

735days, 4hours, 42minutes, and 15 seconds until the 2008 Summer Olympics. I would say that China is a little obsessed with hosting the olympics. This sign is in front of the National museum and across from Tian'An Men.

This is Tian'An Men Square. Not much more to say about that, there weren't any protests going on.

This is a church (catholic I think) in downtown Beijing. I thought it was beautiful and unique considering the area.

It rained for three days straight. This is one intersection near my house. The water here was only shin deep, but it some places it was waist deep and people were boating around. I didn't get very far, but I did make it to the market so that I could eat dinner.

This was one of the few forms of transportation that could make it in the flood (no motor to be ruined). Some of the buses were still able to run their routes/partial routes, but they came very sporadically.

People trying to get somewhere, anywhere, just so as not to be stuck inside all day.