这是二零零九

I curse my computer on a regular basis, but the last few days have helped me to appreciate some of the wonders of technology. Yesterday I was overjoyed to discover a Christmas package from my parents after class. So I spread all the presents out by the tree, sat down in the living room, and called my parents on skype. I got to open the presents in front of them via my webcam, so it was almost like I was at home. Who would have thought my favorite presents at Christmas time would be garlic biscuit mix, and silicon bread pans? My wish list sure has changed over the years.

Today I was talking to my sister, and I got on google maps and looked up her house in Australia. They had a street view option and soon I was looking at her home as if I were standing in front of it. I could pan around and see the palm trees across the street, and the spiky bush in front of her bedroom window. Big Brother may be watching with such incredible technology but I'm grateful for it nonetheless. The thousands of miles between me and my family sure seemed smaller thanks to my Dell that I so often hate.

“We can complain that rosebushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thornbushes have roses.”

-A.L. Todd

我的中文不好

Yichang sidewalks, busy sidewalks

Dressed in China's great style

In the air

There's a feeling

Of Christmas

Children laughing

People passing

Meeting smile after smile

And on every street corner you'll hear

Yelled "Hello"s, yelled "Hello"s

It's any time in the city

Hear them shout, belt it out

Soon you will think it's okay

Strings of food stands

Even tofu

Fill the air with their stench

As the shoppers rush

Home with their treasures

Hear the horns beep

See the kids leap

This is China's big scene

And above all this bustle you'll hear

Yelled "Hello"s, yelled "Hello"s
It's any time in the city
Hear them shout, Belt it out
Soon you will think it's okay

Today was wonderful. I love my friends!

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of the Father."
-Jim Elliot

我爱生

Yesterday I went to lunch with a group of my girl friends, and then they wanted me to teach them how to play basketball. Of course since I am American, I must know how to play basketball, right? Those of you who have seen me play before are probably laughing hysterically at the thought of me teaching someone else, but laugh all you want--I am a skilled player here! I have finally found a place where my skills are enviable. It would have been even better if I could find a ball that wasn't flat. Apparently such a thing does not exist; however, so we made it work. We drew quite a crowd for some reason. It could be that girls usually do not occupy the court outside my apartment. Or the fact that I'm a foreigner doing something interesting. It might have been a combination of the two, but regardless, people stopped walking and stared, some even sat down and made themselves comfortable while we showed the world that we didn't care how many shots we missed.

I have some requests to bring before you today:

-One of our Sisters, Eden, had a miscarriage

-People on the verge of a big decision

I leave you with some scenes from the past few weeks:

Thanksgiving balancing?

Girls I went home with one weekend

Pretty colors!

My Christmas Tree!

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

-Anne Frank

上下

The enormous crash made me jump and my skin crawl.

I sat on the couch for a minute trying to decide what could have exploded, and what to do about it.

At first I thought it was my toilet, which has been leaking for a few months. My next guess was that the shower floor had finally fallen into the apartment below, like it has been threatening to do since I moved in. But I can see into my bathroom from the living room and I didn't see anything extraordinary. That lit a fire in my curiosity and I began exploring room by room.

When I first surveyed the kitchen I didn't see anything unusual. But something wasn't quite right. My second glance showed the top of the stove (which happens to be glass) wasn't smooth anymore. It has nice sharp edges sticking out everywhere, not to mention parts that were caved in as well as a spider-web vein of cracks all over. I haven't even used that stove since the first week I moved in, because the one by the window works much better, and I was always a little nervous about the gas inside. It made one giant flame instead of staying in the burner area like I am pretty sure it is supposed to. Something caused the thing to explode, I'm just glad there wasn't any more damage. Aside from the minor blast in my kitchen, today was almost too great to put into words.

From singing Away in a Manger in three different tunes, to getting a jar of homemade salsa from Elizabeth, to discovering the world's best sweet & sour pork at Up Down, to hearing I Like It, I Love It in the Spar. Probably the last thing I ever thought I'd hear in China would be Tim McGraw. You just can't beat a day in China. Don't believe me? Come find out for yourself!

"If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide."
Mohandas Gandhi

请说普通话

My fourth class today was really trying my nerves. They acted horribly--talking on their cell phones, playing music, and not speaking English. When I got visibly irritated they started to feel bad, so they sang a song for me as an apology. An entire class singing "Wo xihuan ni...something something" off key and off beat will take the frown off your face any day. For future reference if one of you makes me mad, just sing me a song. I couldn't stay mad if I tried.

One of the things I often complain about is how I miss my friends coming over unannounced whenever they want. When I lived in Phase IV, people were constantly coming over to my apartment, and it was always filled with people I love. Some of them were there so often that I thought they were my roommates. Wednesday night I didn't have any plans and I wasn't feeling top-notch so I didn't make any, I was just going to stay home and drink hot chocolate by the heater. One of my friends called and said she needed to ask me a question, so I invited her over and checked her paper for mistakes (something I'm quite used to doing after 4 1/2 years of college). One of her classmates and my friend called and invited himself over too, so we ended up cooking dinner together. The two of them were planning to go to the overcrowded, frigid library to study and I talked them into staying with me. So they sat in my warm apartment and studied while I knitted a scarf. I'm so glad people feel comfortable coming over whenever they want to.

“If you want to travel fast, go alone.

If you want to travel far, go together.”

-African Proverb

长阳

This weekend I got out of my shelter and ventured into the world of the Chinese. You may be thinking that after living here for three months I ought to be in the world of the Chinese already. True enough but at night I always retreat back to my apartment where everything is as Western as I can make it (except when I am taking an overnight bus somewhere). This time, I spent the weekend with some Chinese families. Two of my good friends live a little over an hour from here, and they invited me to their hometown. It was a wonderful weekend full of home-cooked meals, small town charm, and nature in its purest form.

We ate lunch together cooked by my friend's grandma, went hiking through the mountains, boating across the river, shopping on the city streets, and dancing in the town square. I got to indulge my taste buds guiltlessly since the food was practically being forced on me. The more I eat, the more honored the cook feels so I happily obliged. The hike in the mountains was just what I needed. I hadn't realized how much city life was suffocating me until I escaped it. We came across some beautiful waterfalls and walked on rocks that have probably had thousands of years' worth of feet tread across them. They were so smooth it was dangerous. Being from Oklahoma, it isn't hard to please my aesthetic tastes where nature is concerned. The slightest hill or green patch leaves me feeling refreshed. I mourned the sun's voyage Westward because it meant we would have to go inside. What I found inside; however, was a bed of wood coals in the middle of the room to serve as a heater, and a place to sit with friends and play Beat the Landlord until our food arrived. After we stuffed ourselves again we set out in a boat across the river, to disturb the play of the lights reflected all around us. It was thoroughly enjoyable. When we arrived back in the town square there were old people dancing everywhere so of course my friends and I jumped right in and tried to follow along. They were quite a bit more coordinated than me, but that's not hard to do. The worse we danced, the harder we laughed, so none of us cared how silly we looked.

These girls have kindly asked to spend Christmas with me so that I will not miss my family, so we are going to celebrate on Christmas Eve with a big meal and reading a story. We have talked some about the meaning of the holiday and plan to read together. My circle of friends is becoming more like family than friends. I'm very grateful for them.

“If a man has a ‘why’ for living, he can endure any ‘how’.”

-Viktor Frankl

火锅

I could begin by telling you about the most miserable and torturous 12-hour bus ride I've ever been on. Or I could skip that part and tell you about the most brilliant stars in the blackest sky I've ever had the joy to peruse. I was almost mesmerized enough to forget how icy every inch of me felt. And then I could tell you how when I arrived in Enshi I was greeted with a cup of hot chocolate and a heater for my feet, that took away every bit of complaint in my muscles. Good friends can make any hardship worth the pain. Then I would need to tell you about the wonderous Thanksgiving dinner we shared with Chinese and American friends. I can assure you that giving thanks for our daily bread has never meant so much as it does in this place. If you feel like you are not truly grateful for simple things like food, come live in China. As a matter of fact, come live in China anyway! The workers are few.

Nate took me and Craig exploring at a cave and waterfall on the outskirts of Enshi. We rented bicycles and rode them out on a country road. Aside from a few farmers and groups of giggling children, a sleepy ox was the only witness of our passage. What we found was what I had imagined Enshi was like in the beginning, a peaceful mountain town rather than a bustling metropolis. We went early enough to beat the crowds, and got to explore the mountain unhindered by staring eyes and yelled "Hello's." We got to see a grove of bamboo unrivaled by any I've yet seen, an old abandoned military outpost, water flowing out both sides of a mountain, and a view of the town from high above.

The 3½ days I was in Enshi passed entirely too quickly and I regretfully talked myself into going to the bus station at 2:30 yesterday. I bought a ticket for 3pm, which should have put me into Yichang at 1am today. Nate walked around with me and tried to help me find my bus, which was nowhere to be found. Finally we gave up and I went inside to sit and wait at 3:15, when we still couldn't find the fabled transportation. Thankfully I had bought some peanuts, oranges, and tea eggs to snack on while I rode. About 3:45 I started to get really curious about why my bus hadn't shown up yet and I went on a quest to try and find out. Keep in mind my Chinese is about as basic as you can get, and I could ask a question but not understand a word of the answer. After walking around trying to annoy all the people who worked there, a group of college students spotted me and took pity. They had come to see their friends off to Wuhan, and they helped translate my conversation with the workers of the bus station. Eventually we discovered the my bus was "broken" and I would have to wait a 'minute.' [I'll keep my opinions to myself about what the problem really was] To make a really long story someone shorter, I eventually got on a bus at 5, and we left somewhere closer to 6. It would be easy for me to complain about the fact that I had to wait over 2 hours longer than I was supposed to, had to pay 10 kuai extra to get on a sleeper bus that I didn't want to be on in the first place, and scrunch onto a bed that was too short for even me. But when I start to complain about that I feel pretty guilty. You see, there are some things that totally outweigh the negative. Three college students took an hour out of their day to help a foreigner too stupid to learn the native language. They carried my bag for me, gave me some of their oranges, and made sure I knew everything I needed to do. I don't know if you would find people like that in any other country. This is truly a wonderful place.

"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being."
-Gandhi

我的朋友

The Happy Thanksgiving and/or "Happy Thanks Gaven" messages began at 7:20 yesterday morning, and flowed continuously until my phone couldn't handle it anymore and gave out. It decided it didn't want to send or recieve any more messages for a few days. I don't really blame it. The sky, on the other hand, had a much cheerier disposition than my cell phone, giving me two full days of cloudless blue sky and sunshine, and I even saw stars! That's how I knew it was going to be a good day. I was walking my friends home Wednesday night after our pumpkin pie experience, when I looked up and gasped. "STARS!" I shouted, acting like I had never seen them before. The girls are as accustomed to cloudy skies as I am and did not even react to my momentary insanity, they simply proclaimed that meant it would be a beautiful day on Thanksgiving. And they were absolutely right. I had to add one more thing to my brimming list of things to be thankful for. Blue skies are definitely a reason for excitement. The last few days have been joyous. Typically I'm a Scrooge and I refuse to listen to Christmas music until about a week before Christmas, because to be honest I hate most of it. Yesterday; however, I unabashedly blared Christmas music while I cooked. I lit a candle and turned on my Christmas lights around the dead tree and felt like it was truly a holiday.

Apparently we had an earthquake here in Yichang last Saturday and I didn't even know it. I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't even feel a tremor, because I've never experienced an earthquake before. Not that I wish one to happen, but since it did, I wish I would have known it. I live on the fourth floor so I'm not sure how I didn't even notice, when one of my friends was on the third floor and was so scared she ran outside. I must not be very observant when the ground is shaking under me.


As I have proudly declared before, pumpkin pie is my favorite food, and I find it tragic that so many people on this earth have never tried it before, so Wednesday night I had a group of students over and fed them all this delight. They all claimed it was "delicious" and I hope they weren't just lying to me to make me feel good :) Of course delicious is sometimes the only word that can be used to describe food in their eyes. Here are a few of us:

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?”
-William A. Ward

我喜欢面包

TROGDOR!! Burninating the Children's Park.

合而为一诐此相爱

Last week we threw a surprise birthday party for Elizabeth, and it was a surprise up until she saw Rose coming down the stairs from my apartment. We had a lot of fun even though my apartment still hasn't entirely recovered. Here are some pictures:

In a totally unrelated yet fun story, yesterday I was on my way back from trying for the 3rd time to buy some books when I flagged a taxi, opened the door, and told him I wanted to go to 三峡大学 (my school). He pointed at the passenger seat like he wanted me to sit down. So I got in the taxi and he took off. I mean, he really took off. We went flying through traffic, using the horn almost continuously and I swear he actually sped up for the speed bumps. I was wondering what in the world his hurry was for, when matters got more interesting. He proceeded to spout out a bunch of completely unintelligible sentences to me, getting more and more frustrated when I "ting bu dong" (don't understand). He continued to try to tell me something and laughed hysterically every time he said something I didn't understand, which was most of the time. I was starting to get a little irritated with him laughing at me, I really don't understand why it was so funny. We stopped at a traffic light, amazingly enough, instead of just plowing right through it, when he leaned over and opened my door and yelled to the guy driving the taxi next to us. They had a nice little conversation with him leaning on me and then he started gesturing for me to get in the taxi next to us. I was utterly confused but I obeyed, even though my fare was around 4元--I left him without paying and got into the other taxi, which proceeded to take me the rest of the way home. I still have absolutely no idea what happened or why but I just wanted to give you a little glimpse of what it is like to do a simple task in China. Nothing is ever easy or logical. That's what makes it fun!

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence;
two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.”
-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, 1916

山水人生

Butter is back at 北山! Hallelujah!

Last week I asked each of my students to tell me the best thing that has ever happened to them. Best idea I've ever had. Only a handful of them understood what I was asking, which made for some incredible answers. I've only graded three of my eight classes' yet so there may be even greater hidden treasures just waiting for me. Here are just a few of my favorites:

13. "The first time when I own my living room with a big bookshelf." I can actually sympathize with that one I guess.

12. "I think the best thing that ever happened to me is that: I had ever met a beautiful girl, and she smilled to me!"

11. "I can sleep until I wake up by myself on a soft bed. I have a big abdomen to eat all food which I want to eat or drink. I also have a very health body which is based on my perfect life. I have enough knowledge to slove all the world's big or small problem to keep the blance of world."

10. "When I have chose what I need to buy in a supermarket and need to pay then, I suddenly found that my purse left at home." I think she meant the worst thing that had ever happened...

9. "The best day is my childrenhood." Not exactly what I was looking for...

8. "When my English teacher give me a 'A' in this exam." Keep in mind this exam hasn't happened yet.

7. "The day which I came to the world." Okay fair enough.

6. "Make call with my girlfriend every night." That's really the best thing that's ever happened to you??? Ever?

5. "I can walk single-handed." I guess not everyone can say that.

4. "The girl who I ran after refused me when I was in middle school, because after that I concentrated on studying." That's really looking at the glass half-full.

3. "I can land in the Moon or other stars and see the beautiful sky in the Moon." I'm not sure what planet this person was on today.

2. "The real dignity of a man lies in what knowledge he has, not in what appearance he has." When you don't understand the question, just make something up!

1. "A small orange tree which was planted when I was young has grown up and now, there are many oranges on it." I have no witty comment for this one, it just blew me away.

I visited the Coffee Shop (山水人生)again today and Buo Lin wrote my name in my cappuccino with chocolate syrup! Check it out:

This is the famous Buo Lin himself, making Thomas' 'Ireland Coffee.' They're gonna be on CCTV next week so I asked for an autograph.And in honor of coffee in general I present to you a sign I found at a shop on Coffee Street in Wuhan (my new favorite street):

Ladies and Gentelmen, "We are opposite but sit, Drink the coffee; Hear the beautiful melody in that melody, Tasty life in bitterly and sweetly."

武汉的女

Sorry for my temporary abandonment of blogging. My first excuse is that sometimes the website won't come up but the main reason would have to be my laziness. Maybe if more people would leave comments I'd be inspired to update more often :)

This weekend Elizabeth and I went to a ladie's retreat in Wuhan. I can now cross one thing off my list of things to do before I die: riding an entire trans-river Wuhan bus route standing. In case that's on your list, I'd like to recommend you take it off. It's not nearly as fun as it sounds. Since it doesn't sound fun at all, you can imagine the reality. Some things about living in Wuhan would be nice, like coffee, and cheese, and butter that doesn't randomly disappear from the grocery store shelves, but all things considered I'm glad I live in YiChang. For one thing, it doesn't take me an hour bus ride just to get anywhere. And I can get a seat on the bus maybe half the time.

I have to brag for a minute that I went to the bus station, bought my ticket, and made it home all by myself. Considering I've been in China almost three months, that doesn't sound like such an impressive feat but I really am proud that my Chinese is at least at a level that I can function in society. Funny thing about that bus ride home though. Usually the bus takes you to the bus station at the end of a trip. This guy decided he wanted to spice up our lives a little bit. Instead he just dropped us off by the river and let us find our own way back. I wish I could have asked him what in the world he was smoking. Besides cigarrettes I mean. That question is next on my list of phrases to learn.

"Not all who wander are lost."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

中国菜

Saturday my students invited me to a picnic. Guess what time they came to get me. Go ahead, guess.

8am! This time I wasn't surprised, I was even ready with my camera, umbrella, book, granola bars (just in case), toilet paper and hand sanitizer--the essentials. I had already been downstairs to the veggie market to buy some eggs and oranges from the local farmers. I was ready for those early-morning lovers when they called me! After I had impressed my bright-eyed students with my ability to say "good morning" in Chinese, we walked over to the North Gate to cram onto an old fixer-upper of a bus. Students were sitting on each others laps and standing it was so crowded, so it was a normal bus ride in China. One of my favorite students decided to dedicate a song to me on the way, to the delight of everyone. We crossed the river to a remote stream overlooked by towering cliffs, and everybody soon scattered out on the rocks. I got a roar of approval from the class when I skipped a rock all the way across the stream. Soon I was skipping rocks as fast as I could find them to keep the applause going. There was an abundance of smooth, flat roocks seemingly put there for just that purpose. A scream errupted from some of the boys wading in the water, and soon one of them emerged triumphantly brandishing a tiny little crab. Suddenly everyone was involved in the crab-catching business and we gathered a sack full of them. I was really suspicious that the crabs were going to be added to the menu of the day.

After skipping rocks and catching crabs got old, I went with some of the girls to wash our vegetables in the stream. In America, when you have a picnic you cook the food first, and then go to a pretty place to eat it. Here, you bring all the water, food, pans, spices, and dishes outside and cook them there. Hence the 8am start time. The Chinese method is undoubtedly more fun. We "washed" all the vegetables in the incredibly clean stream water and then attempted to build fires in the multiple stone fire pits we had set up. At first I was silently ridiculing the students for only feeding the fire with dried reeds instead of wood, thinking it created an awful lot of unnecessary work for them; but I took over one fire pit and tried it for myself only to discover that the wood simply wouldn't burn. So I resorted to an endless game of gathering dried reeds and stuffing them under the pan to try and keep it hot, just like everyone else. Eventually we got all seven dishes finished, although the first five were ice cold by the time the last two were finished, and we squatted around to eat. If there were a contest for the most fun day in China, Saturday would certainly have a strong chance at winning. We bravely set out after our meal, hoping to conquer the cliffs towering over us, but after a few minutes of crumbly, dangerous-even-for-China stairs we relinquished our hopes and settled for dangling our legs in the water and singing together until the bus showed up to take us home.

"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy. Let's go exploring!"
– Calvin

神农架

The season is changing here in China, and carrying on its shoulders vibrant colours, a renewed desire for hotpots, and the bitterest of colds. In Oklahoma the advent of fall doesn't necessarily signify any changing colors. Here the sight is spectacular. The school took us on a trip this weekend to Shenongjia, a national forest about 5 hours from here. It has some of the most beautiful mountains I've seen. The forest was breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of beauty that leaves you aching for more. I took picture after picture--not knowing that the beauty was just beginning and that my camera battery was plotting suicide. Saturday morning we ventured off bright and early at 7:40 and drove for hours and hours, stopping occasionally for a short hike in the rain, while it got steadily colder. For supper that night we had some firsts for me in China. Fried pumpkin rounds and boiling hot coca-cola. I think in the future I'll stick to the cold kind.

Sunday was a different experience altogether. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning with the terrible realization that something was wrong yet without enough awareness to identify the problem. Sparing you the details I'll just say I was horribly sick. Riding on a bus for 9 hours with complete strangers when you feel that miserable is pure torture. The sun was taunting me as it revealed itself for the first time in a week, saying, "Ha ha you're sick and can't enjoy my blessed rays." Everyone else would get off the bus and hike through the mountains at incredibly scenic spots and I sat there wishing I were either in bed or put out of my misery. I told Gisele to take lots of pictures for me, so maybe one day this week I'll get around to posting mine and stealing hers. I'm almost 100% better today, so it was just a one-day attack but it sure was awful. To make matters worse all the people on the bus wanted to diagnose my illness and tell me that if I wore more clothes I wouldn't get sick. It was very obviously something I ate that affected me the way it did, but because I wore my chacos to hike in they are all blaming it on my near-nudity.

Today my friend Snowy came over so I could teach her how to make apple pie and she ended up staying for 5 hours. We had a great time pie-making, and playing cards, and just talking about Important things. She taught me how to make Jiao-zi (dumplings)--one of my China faves. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and food. Then I brought applie pie to Zack and Elizabeth's and we watched The Office and gorged ourselves together. So all things considered life is pretty grand.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou

我不忙

In my blog I try to limit the stories and descriptions to the most interesting ones for the sake of space; not because I don't love to write, but because I think I will lose my extensive reader base if I bore them to death with details. I've noticed that I mostly tell stories though, and that it's difficult to fully grasp the environment itself. Obviously, I cannot possibly describe the surroundings well enough for you to truly understand, but I will attempt to give you a glimpse.

A vast array of sights, smells, and sounds assail your senses in China. Since China is the most populated country on earth, it's natural to expect a sea of people everywhere you go. Perhaps something I should have associated with so many people and so much walking is the sight of umbrellas, but the idea never occurred to me. In the rain, this makes sense, although I did not dream I would see so many everywhere I looked. But maybe one of the funniest things I've seen are the countless umbrellas in the sunshine. You see, while you are paying $30 a month for skin cancer that you think is attractive, the Chinese are running away from the sun rays like they are contagious. Women buy whitening cream and hide from every drop of sun. They are constantly complimenting me on my beautiful white skin, something I don't cherish very much. I find mirth in watching a Chinese girl run from shadow to shadow to avoid being touched by the deathly rays. Lucky for them it's not an every day issue, since the sun seems to be as scared of showing itself as they are of seeing it.

You can walk up and down any street swaying to horribly off-key karaoke and holding your breath when you pass the fried tofu stands. Students swear to me that the tofu tastes great, but I can't master the art of getting it near my nose. For those of you fellow Edmondites or OCers reading this blog, you understand well the dog food smell that constantly wafts through the city on a hot summer day. Well believe it or not, that is NOT one of the things I miss about Oklahoma (though admittedly that list is small). Somebody upstairs must have thought it would make me feel more at home to bring that smell to China though. Elizabeth and I were not overjoyed to discover that reminder of our college days.

After class this morning, Elizabeth and I went to Beishan Life supermarket, in an attempt to buy enough that we can avoid going grocery shopping every day, like we have been doing up until now. I've given up on trying to stay away from the supposedly tainted food I hear about on a regular basis. First it was milk, then it was oranges, now eggs. I refuse to do without any of those things, so I might as well just ignore the warnings. I'm going to die one of these days, so bring on the melamine! Every time I neglect to carry my camera with me to the grocery store, I kick myself for it later. We discover something new every time. I saw sticks of cinnamon the size of my arm, pink squids, and one of my favorite sights today was the strawberry-flavored cheetos. I've tried blueberry chips, and some of the other strange flavors the Chinese love, but the strawberry cheeto is one adventure I think I'll pass on.

I just finished an awesome study with a really sweet girl I met at the coffee shop. We have a great King, don't we?

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

爱爱爱

Homemade applesauce, French Toast, and a cappuccino for breakfast. Does life get any better?

Friday I spotted a pumpkin at the supermarket and snatched it up. It's been sitting on my counter taunting me since then, so I took a knife to it today. I spent nearly the whole day cutting, scooping, cooking, stirring, and baking. I had no idea it would take so long, but it was worth every ounce of energy I poured into it. I listened to Rick Atchley while I created so it was encouraging as well as satisfying work. The look on Zack's face when I brought pumpkin pie over would have made all the effort worthwhile even if it weren't my favorite food of all time.

Some Chinese friends came over, and we shared pie together before wandering to Restaurant Row to eat dinner. Zack and Elizabeth don't have an abundance of Western eating utensils, so I ate my pie with a knife. I think that made it even more gratifying. Pumpkin pie straight out of the oven just may be the key to my heart. For all of you gentlemen dying to know how to win my affection, now you know. It's very possible to get a picture that I'm an extreme glutton by reading my blog. Well before that rumor festers into fact, let me just admit it. I am. Food is my weakness as you can tell.

We didn't have enough self-control to wait until afterwards to try the pie. Besides, my great-grandma lived a long and happy life by eating dessert first. After a tasty hot pot, we went back to Zack and Elizabeth's where the girls taught us some calligraphy, my new hobby. All my life I've wanted to learn to write Chinese calligraphy so I was fascinated. While learning calligraphy Elizabeth had them write her favorite verse, and the conversation drifted to Important things. They ended up staying until 10:40 because we were having such a good discussion. I call that a successful day!

"Don’t ask so much what the world needs. Go out and do what makes you come alive, because what the world needs most are people who have come alive."
-Howard Thurman

马马虎虎

Since our classes were indeed cancelled on Friday Zack, Elizabeth, and I decided to go to Wuhan on a whim, just because we had the chance. I’m somewhat disappointed—though not surprised—that I wasn’t given more warning that I would have a five-day weekend (I never have classes on Monday or Tuesdays); I would have gone to Beijing or Enshi or somewhere exciting. I actually was informed the night before officially, unlike Zack and Elizabeth who received a text message at 6:45am saying, “No classes today, have a good day off.” I would have replied a bit sarcastically, thank goodness I wasn’t the recipient of such timely news.

Evidence of what a thorough planner I am will surface in a moment. We met at 7:30 to catch a taxi for our 8 o’clock bus only to be frustrated by the lack of taxis driving down Da Xue Luo early in the morning and by the time we got a poor fellow to pick us up we were frantically trying to communicate to him that we needed to boogey. I’m shouting “step on it” in English as if that will help. Zack, being the resident Chinese expert, told him that our bus left at 8 and he finally put the pedal to the metal. We quite literally threw a 10yuan bill at him as we sprinted toward our bus with about 10 seconds to spare. Once we were safely seated we breathed deeply and prepared to enjoy the roomy backseat left open for us. Zack and I had a conversation about how enjoyable it is to be on a bus. You are relieved from the pressures of feeling like you ought to be doing something. You are absolutely free to gaze through the dirt, out the window at the triangle hats that hide farmers knee deep in the rice paddies. You don’t need to feel the least bit guilty about reading a book for four hours, or writing to your sister as I happened to be doing (although I did a bit of all three). About an hour later we were completely rethinking the aforementioned description of “enjoyable.”

Our bus stopped and people started trickling off. I assumed we had stopped for a potty break. Soon, though, it became apparent that we were the only people staying on the bus. Not only was everyone exiting, but they were carrying all of their belongings with them. In China, when everybody else does something, it’s safe to assume that they’re all obeying instructions. The wise course of action is to copy them if you don’t understand a word, as in our case. So we load up our bags and stand outside. And stand. And stand. Roughly half an hour later another bus pulls up and our fellow passengers formed the usual “line” to get on. I held back at first, thinking the people who were already on that bus would need to get off. Oh how I regret that mistake! Since we were a little slow in joining the rush we didn’t have much of a choice in seats on an already crowded bus. That meant that Zack and Elizabeth got zero leg room behind two ladies who exercised their right to leaning the seats all the way back. While I—the one with short legs—had plenty of leg room but got squished between Zack and some guy who was apparently afraid of water judging by his smell.

After a very adventurous ride we made it to WuChang and I begin calling all the people I know who live in Wuhan to try to find a place to stay the night. You may think it was a bit crazy of me to head to a city and not even have sleeping arrangements made. And I would tend to agree. It wasn’t that I didn’t put any effort toward that tiny bit of planning, but none of my efforts had been rewarded hitherto. Katera and Lucy happened to be on their way to Hong Kong when I called them. Thankfully the second or third time I called David and Katie they answered and had room in their apartment and no plans for the weekend. Recklessness doesn’t always end in disaster, as we managed to find accommodations and make it alive to every destination we desired. It was an event-filled weekend that I could tell many more stories about, but since this post is already verging on ridiculous in length, I’ll end the story there. If you want to hear more ask.

Today I went over to Brad’s apartment and was surprised to find four people from Wuhan, one of them being a good friend Tara! She was next on my list of people to call if we still hadn’t found a place to rest our heads. I would have been pretty shocked to hear that she was in YiChang while I was in Wuhan. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t know they were coming, because I would have loved to have spent time with them but maybe next time…

We went to the Indian cafeteria for lunch where I got to try eating Indian food with my hands for the first time. It was exquisite as Brad so appropriately described. I enjoyed the meal immensely. Later I went to the guo mao to stock up on groceries only to discover that butter has undeniably vanished! Brad had warned me that they couldn’t find it but I had been holding my hopes high that maybe it was just hidden somewhere. Perhaps they rearranged the store like they regularly do and it got covered by drinkable yogurt or questionable meat products. After a reasonably meticulous search I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it may indeed be gone. I really don’t know how to survive without butter in this town.

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

-Bono

二百十三元五

Today for lunch I had Zack, Elizabeth, and a new friend Lisa over. I made homemade maple syrup, and it was delicious! Who knew you could get so creative in this country? French toast has never tasted better!

I mailed in my absentee ballot yesterday, and it cost er bai shi san kuai wu (about $30) to mail that and a few postcards. For that much my vote better be the deciding vote! I expect a personal letter of gratitude when he becomes the next president. I'm only halfway kidding.

I always complain about how my students whisper the answers when I ask them a question, and I can never hear them. It can be really frustrating when I know they know the answer but no one will speak up. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall instead of human beings. Well I will never complain about that again. Last week a student of mine decided to shout everything he said at the top of his lungs. I asked them to read some sentences out loud, and I could not control my laughter as he yelled out his answers the whole class period. I'm still not sure what came over him, but it was definitely my favorite class period.

Rumor has it I have no classes tomorrow because of a school-wide sporting event. That would be delightful considering I have 4 classes on Fridays, provided they don't make me make them up later...which is what will probably happen. I'm not counting my chickens until it's official though. Just because a student tells me we won't have class does not necessarily mean the administration agrees. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

"You've got mail"
Not just a great movie, but also three of the most joy-filled words I've ever heard. Last week I called Zack to see what they were doing for dinner, and he told me that my absentee ballot had arrived, along with a box. Since my mom has already sent me a box, I certainly wasn't expecting another one and I couldn't figure out who had sent it. When I got to his apartment I couldn't wait to tear into it, and found candles, popcorn, germ-x, granola bars, Reeses Pieces, Fair Trade Coffee!! ...and so many wonderful things, but maybe my favorite part...BOOKS! Not just any books but classics, like the Fellowship of the Ring, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and several others. What a wonderful world we live in. I'm so grateful.

As I type someone is setting off fireworks, literally right under my window. I'm not talking about Black Cats, I'm talking about the giant, spidery ones that just set off about fifty car alarms. I feel like my apartment is going to fall down. I am wondering what the occasion is tonight. Perhaps it's in celebration of the dozen stars that dared to show their light tonight. It was the first time I've seen stars in China, and although they are few and far between, it warms me to see their light. Maybe someone else felt just as happy about it and decided to add more lights to the sky.

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."
-Gandhi

晚安

This past week has been one giant bundle of awesomeness. The weather set the tone for everything else it seems, with 6 straight days of sunshine and blue skies. The kind of weather where you open every window in the house, and never have to get out a blanket or shed a layer. Simple perfection. I wore a skirt every day and wallowed in the fleeting beauty. I know that very soon I will be getting out my sweaters and scarves but until then I plan to revel in every moment of bliss. On top of that I made several new friends who are very curious about the best thing they could ever be curious about, so we met together to enjoy one another's company and learn. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to many more good discussions. Life is settling into a routine in a way, making things easier; yet staying varied enough to stave off boredom.

One of my favorite pasttimes is visiting a coffee shop near here, where I've discovered my niche. The owner is the leader of a local outdoors club, he backpacks, camps, rock climbs, and in essence does all the things I love. He has a ton of beautiful pictures all over the coffee shop and loves to share stories with me. Not only is that my ideal atmosphere, but I've met some amazing people there, many of whom turned out to be interested in much more. The stories I have, from just this week, blow my mind they are so incredible. Two months of China have not dulled me to the wonder of the people here. I'm still astonished by how easy it is to make friends, and start a conversation that leads to more study. People are so friendly, helpful, and perhaps more importantly, seeking meaning in life.

Okay I know that my other blog is reserved for my opinions and this one is supposed to be about my adventures in China, but I just can't help myself. I just finished watching the final debate, even though I've already filled out my absentee ballot but I just need to quote John McCain: "Americans are innocent victims of greed..."
I won't even dignify that comment with a response.

“The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don’t give a shit. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today.”

-Tony Campolo

安静

Nobody likes being alone, but it's even less desireable at meal times. I met a bunch of girls at English Village on Sunday, and we had supper together and then they came over and I taught them how to play Uno. I didn't have any lunch plans today so I asked them to eat with me again. Three turned into five, as they brought friends, and one even came over 2 hours before lunch to try to teach me Chinese. I'm afraid I wasn't a very good pupil but I'm trying! We had a great time eating together, and I impressed them all with my ability to eat spicy food without bursting into flames. After a huge fight over the bill I emerged triumphant I'm proud to say. That started a whirlwind of conversation because they didn't know what to do, so they settled for buying me a milk tea. An excellent compromise in my view. Then they wanted me to come back to their dorm room and teach them some American card games, so I introduced them to ERS. I think that's one game that's as interesting to watch as it is to play. We had loads of fun and I met all their roommates, and while we were talking one girl asked me what my major was. So I told them about both of my majors. That prompted a lot of questions and ended with them all wanting to come over to my apartment and learn more. So now I have a whole bunch of new friends who are going to be starting from square one and learning the most important thing they could learn. Be thinking about our time together please.

Requests:
Please remember our brothers and sisters in India right now.
The awesome girls I will be meeting with this week.
That my eyes will be open to opportunities.
Wisdom as I teach.

“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”

-George Elliot, Middlemarch

高兴

Bewilderment.

That is the only possible way to describe today.

A happy little tune began singing loudly in my ear. Its effect on me was anything but happy. Stubbornly refusing to open my eyes, I groped around in the dark for the source of my anger. Finally I managed to push the right button, eyes still tightly clamped shut. "Hello?"
"Katie?"
"Yes?"
"Katie Marshall have you get up?"
"Um...no..."
"Can you hurry and get up? I am waiting for you."
"What?"
"You said you would come to my birthday party today."
"Yeah, at noon."
"I know but we are ready now."
"Um, who's ready?"
"Everyone."
"Now?" (I'm a little slow in the mornings.)
"Yes. I am waiting for you outside."
Knowing that eventually I must resign myself to the decision my eyes snapped open to rest on the indiglo of my watch. 8am. Saturday. The birthday party was supposed to be lunch. Beginning at noon. It's 8 in the morning. Repeating these details to myself a few times doesn't seem to make things any clearer so I sigh and give in. I'm much too tired to argue. After hanging up I tell my muscles to begin the process of getting out of bed, but they don't respond. Sleep starts trying to overtake me again, I can feel its pull hanging on for dear life. The picture of Li Meng standing outside my apartment waiting for me suddenly appears in my mind and obediently my legs swing over the side of the bed. The wood floor could be a little warmer I think grouchily as I make my way into the kitchen and peer through the grease-laden window. Sure enough, there she is standing by the playground with her cell phone in her hand. No shower for me today I groan as I start sqeezing toothpaste onto the brush. A few groggy minutes later I start hopping down the four flights of stairs and I decide that I had better smile and enjoy today for her sake. After all, no one wants a grouchy friend at their party. So with cheerful being the name of the game I run out into the rain and hug her. Thankfully I had the wit about me to grab my umbrella, camera, and Huck Finn. With these three things I can weather any storm. I don't know what made me think to grab a book as I ran out the door but I am very grateful for that bit of my thinker that woke up before the rest of me.

After four and a half hours of meeting people, remembering not a single name, and playing Beat the Landlord, lunch began. Only one person besides Li Meng spoke English, so we resorted to card playing. I'm amazed at how much friendship can develop without words. Lunch was delicious, albeit mysterious. I really am learning to love Chinese food. After lunch we decided to go for a walk. We meandered down the street for a few minutes and begin to veer to the left. We climb a few stairs...and a few more stairs...and then I realize that we are climbing Moji "Mountain." As Li Meng said, "The stairs seem endless." It's really a lame excuse for a mountain. Supposedly the highest point in YiChang, it's really not impressive as "mountains" go. What is impressive; however, is the fact that some brilliant person decided to put stairs ALL the way up. Not only does that defeat the beauty aspect of mountain climbing, but it also makes the climb much wearier. Chinese legs are shorter than American legs (maybe not mine, but most) therefore their stairs are shorter than American stairs. In theory this would be an advantage for short little me, but my legs are very used to a standard size that us conformists are required to use. They are very NOT used to tiny little stairs that tend to vary in size depending on the mood the builder was in. My giant feet couldn't even fit on the whole stair without hanging off. We made it to the top and I took turns taking pictures with every person up there, my smile becoming more fake with each snap of the camera. I was more the center of attention than the birthday girl, no matter how much I tried to blend in with the background. I start downhill, pausing to pick an orange off the overhanging trees, and realize with the rain I could easily slip and end up rolling headfirst down the entire "mountain." Halfway down that starts to sound more appealing. It's about now that we realize we picked the wrong side of the hill to descend. It reminds me of another time and place called Redcloud and Sunshine. Once you summit Redcloud and Sunshine, you realize that you have to go back up over Redcloud to reach base camp. Did I mention that these were 14ers? Well at least today's peak was nowhere near that magnitude, but it had the same effect on my morale. Then Li Meng turns to me and asks me to sing them an American song. I hope she never makes that mistake again. I had been singing "I'll Follow the Sun" to myself as I went down, laughing inside about how you couldn't actually see the sun in China, in order to follow it; but alas I couldn't sing that to them because I can never remember all of the words so I end up repeating the same 4 lines over and over again no matter how many times I listen to it. Since the words wouldn't come to me, I kept the Beatles theme and sang Dear Prudence to the poor souls. I hope their ears aren't permanently damaged. That put a little spring in our step, or at the very least they decided to hurry down so that they wouldn't have to endure the torture of my voice any longer. Eventually we made it down and walked back to the bus stop, where one of my students called me and asked me to climb Moji "Mountain" with him tomorrow. HA! But then he changed his mind because of the rain, so I didn't have to make up an excuse not to go. It was beautiful, and I might go back sometime, but climbing it two days in a row didn't seem like the utmost in fun.

Eventually I got back on trusty bus 23 toward campus, when my phone rang again. It was Gisele. Her, Zack, Elizabeth, and Salina were going to get foot massages and wanted me to come. So I got back to campus, got off bus 23, ran across the street in front of two honking motorcycles, and got back on bus 23 heading back to Yiling Square. Don't worry, the motorcycles weren't necessarily honking at me, they were just honking for the sake of honking. We stopped for food at KFC because what American doesn't love Colonel Sanders? After one of the longest and most confusing days yet, the perfect end to it was a 90 minute foot bath and massage with my nose buried in Huck Finn. It was 9:30 pm before I made it back to my apartment. I thanked Li Meng for inviting me today and for being such a good friend and she answered, "It is my pleasure. You can consider me a sister." You know, I really do feel like she is my little sister. She's the sweetest girl and even though I had no idea what was going on today, or why I was woken up at 8 for lunch, I had a wonderful time and am so glad to have friends to spend my Saturday with.

"In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad of eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do."

-Clive Staples Lewis

普通话

Things I am joyful about:
The crisp feeling of fall that hangs in the early morning air.
The warmth that creeps through my fingers as I wrap them around a hot cup of tea.
The old folks moving in slow motion and perfect rhythm outside the gym every morning during their Tai Chi exercises.
Good friends to drink coffee and share laughter with.
The light dawning in a young girls eyes as she hears the story for the first time.
A friend running up to me and yelling 'Hug me!' because she's so happy to see me.
Understanding a simple sentence in the mystery we call Mandarin Chinese.
The gentle rhythm of rain on the roof that rocks me to sleep.
The knowledge that nothing in the whole world can separate me from the love of the one who made me.
Elizabeth filling my belly with blueberry muffins, cheesy potato soup, and homemade applesauce.
Pumpkins for sale.
Laughing out loud at the thought of a joke shared last night and then realizing that no one around me knows why I'm laughing.
And life.

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

听不懂

Today I correctly ordered a coffee flavored Milk Tea, medium, cold, with the little gummy balls at the bottom; all in Chinese, all without making a mistake. This is truly a milestone to be remembered. It was the perfect compliment to my day of sitting in the sunshine by the pink blossoms and the bamboo patch with a good book. I had grand plans of cleaning my filthy apartment, but when the sun is shining you shouldn't waste it. It's a rare enough occurance that it's highly valuable. I choose not to squander the precious rays on something that can be done after the golden light has faded. After all,

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
tomorrow will be dying."

Last night the girl that I have been studying with came over with one of her friends, and she gave me a gorgeous silk scarf that I'm afraid to even touch for fear of ruining it. She also brought some DVDs of her favorite singer so that I could learn some traditional Chinese music. We had been talking about this singer, because one of the things she loves about her is her generosity to the poor. That reminded me of someone else who encourages giving to the poor, so naturally I brought that up.

Looking forward to showing Dead Poet's Society to my classes tomorrow; hence the quote above. I hope it has as much of an impact on them as it has had on me.

三峡

This week was the National Holiday and the whole country gets a week off work, so me and 7 of my friends went through the famous Three Gorges, that my University is named after. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is my holiday:The day before we left I got this most wonderful package from my parents, my CHACOS, crisco (so I can make pumpkin pie!!), ranch dressing mix, maple and brown sugar oatmeal, kettle corn, cocoa (so I can make no bake cookies :), the best gum in the world, and vanilla. It was the best day of my life.And the best part was getting to spend time with my wonderful friends. My spirit is always refreshed and encouraged by being around them.

If you've ever played Nertz, you know that it can be an intense and sometimes downright vicious game...well six Americans are enough to draw a crowd anywhere in China, but six Americans playing Nertz draws an entire boatload of curious/slightly inebriated Chinese to watch. We had an audience during the game, which made it a lot more fun, and so did the drunk guys yelling Chinese at us. All in all it was quite an experience on our "cruise" through the Three Gorges. I can only imagine how beautiful they were before the dam flooded the area.

Today I woke up to the third blue sky I've seen in 宜昌. It was glorious. Had a Good conversation with a Chinese friend, and got to praise the One who made it all.


"I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it."
- Abraham Lincoln

我爱中国

I tried to go shoe shopping today because I realized that my black tennis shoes looked pretty tacky with my brown dress pants but when I asked for a size 40 the lady laughed at me. Chinese women have very small feet. Must be all those years of foot binding. So I wore the black tennis shoes anyway. I'm going to get stared at no matter what I do, so I may as well give them something to look at. I also had an uncommonly large number of complete strangers taking my picture today at the dam show. I don't know why you would want pictures of someone you don't know on your camera, but apparently I was more interesting than the performers. Seriously I saw more cameras pointed at us, than at the stage.

Tonight the 三峡大学 (Three Gorges University) took us on a special trip to the Three Gorges Dam, where we got to see a dam performance with lots of really talented singers and dancers and some who were very obviously not the ones singing but still pretended to, and some who made me want to shove toilet paper in my ears. Which I did. They took us to the International Hotel and fed us a fancy banquet, which as I've already mentioned are considerably inferior to street food in my humble opinion. At our table were two Chinese, two Australians, and two French people in addition to the three Americans. Here's where things get interesting. The French teachers knew very limited English but were fluent in Spanish. Elizabeth majored in Spanish in college, and I know a decent amount, so we spent the majority of the time talking in Spanish. Talk about a mixture of cultures! After eating we got to watch Jian and most of the Aussies and a few others drink baijo until they were laughing at everything and feeling really good. That's always entertaining.

After dinner we went down to the river where we got VIP seats to watch the fireworks show. If you didn't realize that the Chinese invented fireworks, rest assured that they will inform you. They are very proud, and rightfully so. It was the closest I've ever been to a show of that magnitude, and one of the better shows I've ever seen. If only I could have ignored the horrible singing they were blasting at us, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the evening. People here set off fireworks randomly all day and night, just for the heck of it. At first I thought I was hearing the freshman military training, but nope, it's the Chinese being proud of their invention. Usually it's during the day though, and I can't see them, so this was a spectacular show.


"At a time ago I am not fond of English because my English is very poor. But now when I meet you. I believe you can help me improve my English. From now on. I began fond of English and fond of you."
-one of my lovely students

P.S. I got to watch the new Office, so Josh don't worry ;)

里蒙

I've officially been a college professor for two days now, and it's been simply amazing. I was born for this job. Maybe that's jumping the gun a bit considering there's a lot of class time left in the semester, but I seriously couldn't love it more. After my first class yesterday I got this text message: "thank you for giving us a unforgetabel class,you class is as beautiful as you! you have get a sucessful start!"

Today two of my students texted me and asked for help. When I got to the library I found out that what they wanted was to introduce me to one of their friends. So I tried to take them out for smoothies at Drinking Cool, and somehow the sneaky fiends managed to pay before I could. It's so tricky to try and beat a Chinese person to the bill! I know I have more money than them but they will never let me pay. Then they invited me to Children's Park where we played bumper cars and acted like children. I had so much fun! It was just the four of us, and I wish I could describe how cute they are. My Chinese students are the most precious things... Then my new friend bought me a baby turtle because I couldn't stop staring at the little buggers. They were so cute! After that I went to dinner with my co-teacher and ate the most delicious soup my lips have ever touched. So it's been a busy day, but an oober fun one!

It's lesson planning time, but if you think of a name for my new pet turtle, leave me a comment!


"Every person ends up somewhere, but only a few people end up somewhere on purpose."
-can't remember where I plagarized that from

我是老师

Today was lovely. I met some Indian brothers who were awesome, and we all went to lunch together after an encouraging time. I've decided I absolutely love the Chinese method of eating out. Everybody decides on dishes together, and you put them in the middle and each person gets what they want from the communal dishes. It makes you feel so much closer, like family, than each person ordering their own thing. I also love the amount of vegetables they serve, and I never thought I would say this, but I love tofu. The only thing is, I looked up the health benefits of tofu, just for fun, and there are many but I discovered something distressing! The method used to make tofu from soy milk is the SAME as the method used to make cheese from real milk. WHY can't the Chinese make cheese then?????? Although speaking of milk, I will not be drinking any of that any time soon. Apparently Chinese milk is making lots of people sick. Good thing tofu has lots of calcium too!

I begin teaching tomorrow and I am SO excited! I've had some issues with my schedule, meaning that my school thinks I'm a pushover and wants me to teach more than my contract says I will. We have a great friend though, and I talked to him about it and half of the problem has been alleviated already. Hopefully the rest will be resolved tomorrow. Ask and you shall recieve.


"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
~Henry David Thoreau

And also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

武昌 and 恩施

It's strange to me that some people were made to stay at home and some were made to wander. I'm without a doubt happier when I am traveling. Something about new people, new scenes, new places gets my blood flowing. I have a need to keep moving like some people have a need to have a family and settle down. I wonder why I am different. What is it about me that causes me to leave?

There are two types of travelers. Some people start off in the general direction of their destination and enjoy figuring things out along the way, getting a kick out of problems and obstacles. The other type wants to know every road change, when and where they will stop, and every turn. It drives them crazy to have an unknown in the schedule. I am without a doubt the first type. I feel stifled when I know exactly what I am doing ahead of time. Like there is no room for excitement, no room for adventure. The more surprises, the more fun!

I just got back from two consecutive trips, both wonderful, and both completely different. Frist I went to Wuhan with Brad and Amy and had an absolutely killer time. We were going non-stop and laughing about everything. It was a pretty much perfect trip. I may be morally opposed to Starbucks but that doesn't mean I'm strong. I went three times, and just sat for hours talking to my amazing friends. We even met a guy there, who is riding his bike around the world! I hope I'm as cool as him when I'm old. We also went lazer-tagging. All in all it would be hard to improve that weekend.

The next morning I got on a bus at 7am to Enshi to visit some of my favorite people in the world. People kept telling me to fly or to take the overnight bus so I could wake up and be there, but I am so indredibly glad I took the day bus. If China were cleaner it could be the most beautiful country in the world. Looking out the window just made me more in love with the one who made it all. My breath is taken away every time we round a corner. This trip was a lot more relaxed, partly because I was the only one going, and I never plan things to do in advance. We did an awful lot of just sitting around, either talking or reading together. It was every bit as wonderful in a totally different way. Jess let me borrow so many books, which just makes my heart happy. We had some of the best conversations I can remember having, and just encouraged each other. I could give a lot more details if anyone asks, but my fingers hurt right now so I'm going to just leave you with the cliff-notes version.

While Nate and Jess were walking me to the bus station, we ran into a girl they knew, who speaks English, and we got to talking and found out that she was on the same bus as me, going to Yichang. When we got on the bus we realized our seats were right next to each other! Tell me that was an accident... So we spent 10 hours trying to sleep but getting to talk quite a bit, and I found out that she was planning to spend from 6:30am to 1pm at the bus station waiting on her train. I refuse to let that happen, so she came home with me and got to shower, and eat, and take a nice long nap. I had to go get my residence permit and my schedule, so I feel bad because I kind of left her by herself, but she enjoyed it much more than sitting at the bus station all day half-asleep. I got my teaching schedule today, and I start on Monday, so I can't wait for that! I also met my co-teacher, and we spent a lot of today just hanging out and getting to know each other. I think we are going to be good friends!

Oh and in other news my shower broke today, so I hope Jian gets that fixed soon or he's going to have a stinky teacher to deal with and no one wants that.


"I sometimes look into the endless heavens, the cosmos of which we can't find the edge, and ask [Him] what it means. Did you really do all of this to dazzle us? Do you really keep it shifting, rolling round the pinions to stave off boredom? ...forbid Your glory would be our distraction. And ...forbid we would ignore Your glory."
-Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts
A book which I realize I already quoted, but is a must-have on every road trip, long or short. And rest assured I will be quoting it again.

武汉

In only two short weeks it already feels like I'm leaving home to go to Wuhan. The noise of kids playing basketball outside of my apartment all day and night has become as normal as the Oklahoma wind was two weeks ago. I will miss the wrinkly and toothless folks who spread hopeful blankets of fruits and vegetables out every morning for us city folks to peruse. I hardly feel like I've been here long enough to appreciate the American jewels that cheese and coffee will be. I've noticed their absence only vaguely in the insignificant number of days since Yichang became...home.

I'll be in Wuhan until Monday, and then on Tuesday I'm heading to Enshi to visit Nate and Jess and Dave!! I'm overjoyed to see those great friends, and I'm sure they are equally joyous to receive the pasta, cheese, and movies I'm bringing them.

Today a girl helped me find some sunglasses in a store, and then told me that she wants to be friends with me, and gave me her phone number. I haven't even started teaching yet, and the number of Chinese friends I have is growing steadily. I've never met such friendly and helpful people in my life. I was playing the "ungame" with some of Zack and Elizabeth's students, when the question I drew asked, "What is your purpose in life?" What a great opportunity! I wonder if someone powerful had a hand in that.


"Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons."
-Donald Miller Through Painted Deserts

我叫卡铁

Here's the irony of the situation. I figured out how to make chicken noodle soup today in my apartment. Today, for the first time in four days, I can breathe, I'm only coughing occasionally, my fever is gone, and I can walk without thinking I'm going to pass out. Why oh why couldn't I have discovered this greatness one of the last four days when I felt sick every time I put something in my mouth? Sorry (Sammie) that there haven't been any updates lately. All I've done is lay in my apartment and watch movies and try not to die. Life hasn't been incredibly eventful. I'll try to do something a little more interesting for you to read about tomorrow. Maybe I'll go bungee jumping off the three gorges, I saw a place for that the other day. Just kidding Mom.

我是美国人

So yesterday I woke up to the most beautiful blue sky and sunshiny day only to discover that I had a fever, headache, sore throat and all kinds of sinus issues. Needless to say I did not enjoy the sunshine at all, instead I laid in bed and felt sorry for myself pretty much the whole day. Elizabeth did take me out for a strawberry smoothie at the place called "Drinking Cool." That was really sweet of her. Then we watched Gilmore Girls and were utterly lazy. My fever got worse last night and I'm still feeling pretty horrible, but I went to lunch with some new friends today. One was an Aussie from Perth, who is here teaching at a foreign language school, and the other is a wonderful, sweet Chinese girl whose English is better than mine. She told me very excitedly that she was studying last year from a good book, and that she really wants to learn some more. I'm looking forward to studying with her. Well I'm going to go back to bed and try to get rid of this sickness so that I can feel like a normal person again.

早商好

Last night I went over to Zack and Elizabeth's and we made...

...get ready for it...

NO BAKE COOKIES! I don't think you quite understand how incredible and exciting this is! It was perhaps the happiest moment imaginable. Butter is very rare and expensive here, the milk is questionable at best, but cocoa from America makes everything better. I tell you I was deliciously overjoyed. It sure doesn't take much to make me happy these days.

My favorite part of today was totally the Chinese guy with dred locks. I never thought I'd see that. I wish I could show you a picture but the bus was moving too fast. Well on second thought my favorite part might have been the bus driver pulling a jug of water out from under his seat when the bus overheated and pouring it in the radiator like this happens all the time. It probably does.

Today after lunch I just hopped on bus 23 and took it downtown and after shopping a bit I hopped on bus 10 just to see where it would take me. It went across the river to this beautiful spot that helped me appreciate why the University is called the Three Gorges University. I didn't stay long because it was getting late and I was gettin hungry but I will be back! What a gorgeous spot.

Went over to Brad's apartment today where Amy showed me how to make fried noodles, a delicious Americanized dish that I can easily make here. I'm stoked! Met two really amazing Chinese students, and had a blast. We even got to talk about some important stuff with them.

I have one major complaint. NBC.com somehow knows we are in China and won't let us watch the Office! There will be a mutiny if I can't see the new episodes this season. I realize that Chinese people are notorious for pirating shows and movies, but I am an American citizen and I am being discriminated against! I won't stand for it!


"Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted."
-John Lennon

我要水

Ever played the video game Frogger? I'm the frog trying to cross the street.

There is a no-honking rule in YiChang apparently, which means that people lay on their horns every other second instead of continually. Lucky us!

We found a restaurant that has English on the menu so we can point to what we want, so we've eaten there three meals in a row now. It's a lot better than getting surprise food when you point to Chinese characters. I found out that YiChang is famous for their spicy food though. I couldn't feel my mouth after I ate the potatoes for supper. That could be a good thing.

Breakfast tomorrow with Ed before we sign our contracts. I'm excited. It's going to be a good year.

Supposedly here is how you call me if anyone is interested. 011-86-717-139-8674-9214.
I haven't had anyone try it, so who knows if it works or not.

中国

I'm in China! Already I have had quite a few adventures. We left Monday and arrived Wednesday, I never got a Tuesday. Tuesday's gone. ;)
I don't even know where to start. The airport in Hong Kong was beautiful, you could see the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. We flew to Wuhan, had some strange seafood creation for breakfast on the airplane. I thought we were going to be spending a few days in Wuhan before traveling on to YiChang, but when we got there, our Wai Bon was waiting for us with a van so we loaded up five of us in five seats with bags in the floor and drove 4 or 5 hours, I'm not really sure. We stopped for lunch and I had my first attempt at eating with chopsticks, (other than Pei Wei in America). I'm horrible at it. I dropped everything I picked up, but eventually I managed to get enough food in my mouth and it was good food too. You don't order your own individual meal at restaurants, you order a platter and everybody shares off of it. Also, lanes mean nothing here. I don't even know why they bother to paint them on the road. Everybody drives wherever they can fit and even where they can't and that includes the wrong side of the road. Well we finally made it to YiChang, and Jian showed us to our apartments and told us to meet at a little restaurant we had passed in an hour for dinner. So I showered and left, and promptly got lost, but I made it there, and I was still on time too. A word of advice...if you ever get the chance to eat eel, DON'T! It was the worst thing I have ever had the misfortune to put in my mouth. Trying to swallow and pretend like I liked it was not an easy task, that's for sure. Well after dinner, I treked back to my apartment and stuck my key in the door and turned it...and it broke. Now I'm holding a half of a key in my hand, with the other half still stuck in the lock, and it's dark outside, I don't have a cell phone, and I don't know anybody except Zack and Elizabeth. Luckily they happened to be with me because they wanted to see my apartment, so I spent the night with them. They have three bedrooms so it's no big deal. I am REALLY glad I got a shower before I went to dinner. The next morning we had our medical exams at 8:30, and that was another adventure. Then we went and got our bank accounts set up, and went grocery shopping. My favorite part of grocery shopping was the live fish they had for sale in tanks on the wall. It smelled horrible though. I had to buy an umbrella because it has been pouring all day and I was completely soaked. I could not have been more wet. It hasn't stopped raining since I got off the airplane. Oh yeah, and Jian had someone come fix my lock so I finally got back into my apartment yesterday afternoon. I went to an ATM only to find out that it declined my card. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the bank in Oklahoma or the fact that I'm in China, but I need to get that figured out as soon as I can. Zack and Elizabeth came to my rescue again and gave me some of their cash until I get paid, which isn't til the 10th. Yikes! But I ate supper last night for about 16 American cents, so I think I'll be okay. My apartment is really nice, it's got wooden floors, two TVs, a mini oven, a microwave, all kinds of neat stuff. I also get internet for free, so I was super excited about that. I have to plug it in, but that's okay. Zack and Elizabeth have wireless but I'll take what I can get. I still don't have a phone though, and it might be after September 10 until I get one, after I get paid.

Colorado and back

I did one of the stupidest things I've ever done on Tuesday and I got up at 4am and drove 15 hours by myself to Salida, CO to pick Sammie up. Part of the stupidity comes from the fact that I was already sleep-deprived from the week before so driving that long was painful. The other part is that I made the mistake of assuming that the interstates would be faster than country highways. WRONG. So what was supposed to be a 12 hour trip turned into 15 and I was fighting to stay awake and alive by the end of it. Add that with the fact that my windsheild wipers sometimes decide they don't want to work, and you come up with a pretty miserable day. But at the end of it I got to hang out with some of Sammie's Trek buddies, we went to Mama D's and then bowling, where I bowled my best game ever. I even doubled Sammie's points (which wasn't hard to do). Maybe I should always go bowling when I'm sleep-deprived. Then we went back to the barn and watched Top Gun, which surprisingly enough Sammie fell asleep in the middle of but for some reason I, the one who wanted to go to bed hours before, couldn't sleep until 2am Oklahoma time. Then we got up at 5 because Samster and I were gonna bag Mount Massive before we hit the road back for Oklahoma. I only got two days off work so it was a short trip. Well by the time we actually got around to climbing we decided we weren't gonna summit, plus there were clouds around the top since 9am. Must be the hurricane effect or something but I doubt anyone summited that day. We just went for a short little hike instead, which was sort of disappointing but oh well. Then we drove to the Springs to REI some stuff and it was like 3:30 before we actually headed back toward the home turf. I made Sammie drive the entire time. I couldn't keep my eyelids peeled open. I actually drove for 30 minutes while she was on the phone and then I gave up. I'm a loser and I just couldn't do any more than that. Good thing my sister loves to drive because I'm no help whatsoever. So we got back to good ole Norman at 3:30am and then I went to work at 8:30. They say you never recover from the sleep you lose, but I'm sure gonna try.

My Summer Adventures

I suppose if anyone reads this, I should update you on my life. A lot has changed since the last time I posted. I just spent a month with the youth group from Littleton, CO. Somehow I managed to get a month off work, I really have no idea how. God is on my side. I flew out to Denver and the airport is HUGE! I had to ride a shuttle from the gate to the baggage claim and those things go perty darn fast so I played this game where I tried to stand up without holding on to anything and see how long it took before it threw me into a wall or another person. Either it wasn’t as fast as I thought it was or I have stout leg muscles because I managed to stay standing the entire time. Chalk one up for all those water-skiing hours, I knew they would come in handy someday. Then there were six different baggage drop-offs just for United so I naturally went to the first five before I found the right one. Hopefully Jared and Jessica weren’t waiting too long for me. After all that adventure we left bright and early the next morning for Soul Quest in lovely York, Nebraska. It was a wonderful week. 7 hours on an old school bus that has been painted white and gets no radio reception is always fun. I didn’t bring a sleeping bag because you have to pay $25 extra for another bag at the airport so I just planned on going to Walmart and buying a $5 blanket before camp only I haven’t had time. SO I saw my good friend Chelsea, and she lives here so I asked her to borrow some bedding. Ardmore's youth group was there so I got to see Billie Sue and Levi, and Madi. (I used to be a youth intern for their church) Man that girl rocks!!
Then I spent a few days in Littleton preparing for our trip to Germany, which we left for just 4 days later. We spent two weeks in Hildesheim. We flew all night and arrived at 7am. The sun set over the ocean and then 15 minutes later rose again. That was a weird experience. I'd been awake for most of the last 24 hours, with only 3 hours of sleep the night before. Needless to say I was not an extremely cheerful person when we arrived. I was a bit slap-happy though.
Germany made it to the finals in the Euro Cup, and played Spain while we were there, so we got to go to the public viewing and experience soccer on a whole new level. What a great time! Unfortunately, Germany lost but what a night!
At first I felt a little bit frustrated with our mission trip, feeling like we weren't really making a difference, and similar thoughts, but then God proved me wrong once again. We started having people show up to our parties over and over again, and then showing up other random times just to hang out, and by the time we left there was at least one kid who I am convinced is now a member of the church.
While we were in Germany something else happened. I started dating a guy who has been one of my good friends for the last 8 years. I know that I'm going to spend a year in China, so this is going to be very difficult for us, but we both feel like it's possible. With anyone else I wouldn't even try but I think we can make it.
God has been taking care of me in every way lately. A friend of mine, who I just met recently, has offered to pay for my health insurance this coming year, which is a big expense that I was very worried about. I am blown away by the generosity of people. Then two wonderful girls that I spent the last month with, helped me out so that I could buy my plane ticket, because I didn't have quite enough. I never even had to ask. God anticipated my every need before I even spoke it.

Here Am I. Send Me.

It was the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other,
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!"
Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven's Armies."
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the alter with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, "See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven."
Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?"

I said, "Here am I. Send me."

Basically, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of harvest therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." -Luke 10:2

Spring "Break"

Well if anyone reads this, I'm not going to Japan it looks like. I'm not really sure what I am going to be doing. I'll let you know when I figure that out.

I've worked like 50 something hours this week, during spring break but it hasn't all been work. Yesterday I went with Del City's 3rd-6th graders to the Regional Food Bank, where we packed food for kids who don't have enough. It was awesome to see kids helping other kids. We also went out to the Snapp farm for them to see all the animals, and their stinkin pet Turkey, Uno, tried to mate with my leg. He stuck his head between my legs and started kicking me, then followed me around all day long. The little girls thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen and they all started calling him my boyfriend and chanting, "Katie and Uno sittin in a tree..."