Hello everyone!
So right now things are going really well for us. This of course is all due in part to the CEO and his kindness and watching over us.
Lisa had been reminded by a friend to continue journaling and spending time with her DAD and relying upon Him. She had been trying to do things on our own strength and just found herself like Paul, not doing the things she wanted to do, but lacking the strength neccesary to change. Of course, we can't do it on our own. That really brought about a change in her to realize the need she had and to return to journaling and hearing/listening/ communicating with DAD.
Also, we are seeing a real answer in more men coming to our studies. Lisa had been asking about that for quite some time. The answer to this is showing me to ask in order to receive in faith as well. I remember seeing its work over us when we first got here and had so few problems at first, until we could settle in.
So, that has been really neat to see the men coming. A movement always requires strong men. Always, we were encouraged, knowing that this semester we may develop friendships with new students, and that has been the case. The students that we used to see (my students) are now pretty busy preparing for their IELTS test and we have not seen them. That has been sad,but of course, that happens right? And as said above, it only served to bring us into contact with new people.
We are excited for this summer back home, though I'm sure it will also be a very busy time of work, vacation, side-jobs, raising support in order to return, and seeing family/friends, and importantly, preparing for our work here again. We hope that those friends reading this will be able to see us in person soon this summer!
-shane and lisa
2009年5月5日 星期二
Lisa's Birthday Trip: Chongqing
Some pictures from our trip to Chongqing.
The local styles of Lisa Miller Traditional costumes Lisa posing with a colorful poodle
The local styles of Lisa Miller Traditional costumes Lisa posing with a colorful poodle
trying a traditional instrument of minority groups
Hello everyone!
We are slowly trying to stay up to date with our blog and posts. We hope anyone and everyone reading this is doing well!
At the end of April, Lisa and I went on our last stretch of adventure and traveling by flying out to Chongqing, China which is the largest city in China. (I know, you would think Beijing right? :) I think that is it up there in the 2omillion category or something, which is pretty impressive considering the largest city in the world is Mexico City and that was around 26 1/2 million. )
So, one of the many good things about China is that the Hilton's over here are not that expensive. I had looked up some of the Hilton's in China and chose this place. It ended up being a beautiuful 5 star hotel for about $40 USD/night. I got it on a really good deal with my credit crd though. I had to book it way back in Jan during a winter sale that they were having. I was hoping to take Lisa there to go on a river cruise along the Yangtze river to see the three gorges.
What we quickly realized is that Chongqing is only one of the major starting points for the river cruise. The shortest cruise they had was a 2 day cruise, and we had already booked our hotel each night. So, we did what I would like to call a "Lisa vacation." Haha.
As some of you may or may not know, my idea of a vacation is to do as much as we can and to see as much as we can, and take as many pictures as you can. That way I will have it all there to remember.
As a child, I did not go on hardly any vacations, so now when I do, and esp since we are paying for it and I don't know when we will ever be there again, I want to really see and experience that place. (This of course caused some difficulties with the travel weary Blair and Debbie when they came to see us last month! Haha)
But, when we realized that our main reason for going to Chongqing was the gorges cruise and it was no longer available, we then decided to just try and stay around the hotel and enjoy its many amenities.
So, we just relaxed and had an absolutely great time just spending time alone together. No cell phone or work to do. Just time with the two of us. We swam in their pool, enjoyed the great bathroom, huge comfortable bed, tv, etc.
We actually ended up spending more there on food than we did on our hotel stay! Haha. Well,the first night there was free with my hotel points, and with that, you do not get breakfast included. It almost makes you wish you had paid for the hotel, because the cost of breakfast alone is around $100RMB/person. So there goes your savings right there, haha.
But, the first night we were there, we indulged ourselves in their seafood buffet. Being as we paid quite a bit for it, we took as many huge shrimps as we could, had excellent pork spare ribs, which were amazing, and cheesecake, and more.
We were definitely trying to fulfill our sterotype of fat americans as we got plate after plate! Haha.
The funny thing too about it was that the third night that we were there, I was joking with Lisa that they didn't like us anymore. The first night that we were there, the staff was excellent and would take our plate away right away. However, after seeing how much we could pack away the first night, it seemed like they were trying to stop us from eating them out of house and home. Haha. The plates began to stack up on our table. Yet, we weren't going to let them get the best of us. I went up 3 times to get a small slice of cappucino cheesecake. It was amazing! (And don't think the cheesecake factory. These pieces were small, so my three were like one slice at cheesecake factory.)
They had had a mexican theme that night, but we were pretty disappointed by it. Lisa actually had to make tacos when we went home just to make up for it. The rest of the buffet was good though.
All in all, it was a great trip. We plan to hopefully go back next year though to actually do the river cruise. :)
We are slowly trying to stay up to date with our blog and posts. We hope anyone and everyone reading this is doing well!
At the end of April, Lisa and I went on our last stretch of adventure and traveling by flying out to Chongqing, China which is the largest city in China. (I know, you would think Beijing right? :) I think that is it up there in the 2omillion category or something, which is pretty impressive considering the largest city in the world is Mexico City and that was around 26 1/2 million. )
So, one of the many good things about China is that the Hilton's over here are not that expensive. I had looked up some of the Hilton's in China and chose this place. It ended up being a beautiuful 5 star hotel for about $40 USD/night. I got it on a really good deal with my credit crd though. I had to book it way back in Jan during a winter sale that they were having. I was hoping to take Lisa there to go on a river cruise along the Yangtze river to see the three gorges.
What we quickly realized is that Chongqing is only one of the major starting points for the river cruise. The shortest cruise they had was a 2 day cruise, and we had already booked our hotel each night. So, we did what I would like to call a "Lisa vacation." Haha.
As some of you may or may not know, my idea of a vacation is to do as much as we can and to see as much as we can, and take as many pictures as you can. That way I will have it all there to remember.
As a child, I did not go on hardly any vacations, so now when I do, and esp since we are paying for it and I don't know when we will ever be there again, I want to really see and experience that place. (This of course caused some difficulties with the travel weary Blair and Debbie when they came to see us last month! Haha)
But, when we realized that our main reason for going to Chongqing was the gorges cruise and it was no longer available, we then decided to just try and stay around the hotel and enjoy its many amenities.
So, we just relaxed and had an absolutely great time just spending time alone together. No cell phone or work to do. Just time with the two of us. We swam in their pool, enjoyed the great bathroom, huge comfortable bed, tv, etc.
We actually ended up spending more there on food than we did on our hotel stay! Haha. Well,the first night there was free with my hotel points, and with that, you do not get breakfast included. It almost makes you wish you had paid for the hotel, because the cost of breakfast alone is around $100RMB/person. So there goes your savings right there, haha.
But, the first night we were there, we indulged ourselves in their seafood buffet. Being as we paid quite a bit for it, we took as many huge shrimps as we could, had excellent pork spare ribs, which were amazing, and cheesecake, and more.
We were definitely trying to fulfill our sterotype of fat americans as we got plate after plate! Haha.
The funny thing too about it was that the third night that we were there, I was joking with Lisa that they didn't like us anymore. The first night that we were there, the staff was excellent and would take our plate away right away. However, after seeing how much we could pack away the first night, it seemed like they were trying to stop us from eating them out of house and home. Haha. The plates began to stack up on our table. Yet, we weren't going to let them get the best of us. I went up 3 times to get a small slice of cappucino cheesecake. It was amazing! (And don't think the cheesecake factory. These pieces were small, so my three were like one slice at cheesecake factory.)
They had had a mexican theme that night, but we were pretty disappointed by it. Lisa actually had to make tacos when we went home just to make up for it. The rest of the buffet was good though.
All in all, it was a great trip. We plan to hopefully go back next year though to actually do the river cruise. :)
2009年5月1日 星期五
Chiang Mai- Part III, Flower Festival
Chiang Mai being so amazing, it requires several separate entries. This is our last full day there- at the flower festival. We had moved out of our very inexpensive hostel and into a moderately priced one, which showed in the very quaint arrangements. It was a dutch hostel and they had expensive (well normal american prices, but for us expensive) and delicious food. Shane even enjoyed Shepherd's Pie. Suekoilya went ahead of us to Phuket, so thus began the part of the trip with just us. Fortunately, that day began a three day "Flower Festival" which we took advantage of, and it reminded me of the Maryland state fair in its atmosphere, but add a whole fleet of floats made entirely out of flowers. It was such a beautiful thing to see and best part-it was free! After traipsing all over town looking for laundry, we found this great fair.
A very old temple.
They had foot massages at the fair- so I had to jump in on that!
Even better...they had ICE CREAM and SORBET for 10 bhat- for us thats like 2 yuan (very reasonable even for us) and for you americans thats like 30 cents. I, needless to say, had 3 cones.
This is our last day in Chiang Mai, on the way to PHuket for the last week of the trip. On the way to our tuk-tuk towards the airport, I tripped on a hose that was left out on the steps, carrying several heavy bags. I severely hurt some muscles in my foot/ankle. Now, 3 months later, I am much better but not totally healed. I am not sure if I will be.
Didn't want to end on a bad note...I LOVE this picture of Shane and I at the festival, and a reminder of sort of a second (or 3rd) honeymoon.
Bankok- Part II
After leaving Guangzhou, Shane, Suekoilya and I embarked on a late night flight to cross over into Thailand. OH, that first blast of warm air was wondrous! (Even though it was 2:30 am in a foreign country in which we didn't speak the language). We learned quickly that if someone is TOO eager to give you a ride, they are planning to rip you off big time. A guy followed us through the whole airport, first trying to sweet talk and then angrily yelling that his price was reasonable. Finally we found one lone metered taxi out of the airport and found our hostel (which was quite nice, btw).
Here is the "black buddha". When we inquired why he was, in fact, gold-looking, the temple worker explained that people buy small, real gold sticker-like things to stick on the buddha in an area they are having trouble or pain. This is how they ask him to heal them in that area. If you look carefully, you will see his skin is not smooth. Notice the entire buddha is now covered many times over in gold. Thats a lot of people...
We went on a personal book tour of Bankok to see some more of the reality- where the people live who aren't living in the high rises.
Suekoilya and I on our boat tour. It is the beginning of february and we are quite warm and content, even with the breeze of the water, in our t-shirts.
Of course, the infamous Tuk-Tuk ride. We always took a Tuk-tuk because they were generally cheaper and a perfect size for 3 people to squeeze into. It would have been slightly terrifying, had we not already been living in China.
Yay-authentic Pad Thai! And actually affordable too-40 thai bhat or roughly 7 rmb. (Which is pretty standard for our lunch/dinner price). We found that at each new location, the prices went up. (For you rich Americans, thats about one dollar.
Here is the "black buddha". When we inquired why he was, in fact, gold-looking, the temple worker explained that people buy small, real gold sticker-like things to stick on the buddha in an area they are having trouble or pain. This is how they ask him to heal them in that area. If you look carefully, you will see his skin is not smooth. Notice the entire buddha is now covered many times over in gold. Thats a lot of people...
We went on a personal book tour of Bankok to see some more of the reality- where the people live who aren't living in the high rises. 
Suekoilya and I on our boat tour. It is the beginning of february and we are quite warm and content, even with the breeze of the water, in our t-shirts.
Of course, the infamous Tuk-Tuk ride. We always took a Tuk-tuk because they were generally cheaper and a perfect size for 3 people to squeeze into. It would have been slightly terrifying, had we not already been living in China.
2009年4月28日 星期二
Phoenix City
Hello everyone!
Lisa and I are terribly, terribly sorry for having not updated this in almost two months now.
So, I am having to backtrack here, but we want to fill you in on some of our many travel excursions that we have taken recently.
April has been a very busy month with us. As some of you know, Lisa's mother and younger sister Blair flew over to see us! It was really nice to see them.
However, haha, at the same time, we learned a lot of things NOT TO DO if and when people ever come to see us again in China, as we plan on staying here for one more year.
They arrived late Wednesday night and we really wanted them to see the Chinese countryside in order for them to get a real feel of China.
Therefore, since we didn't have much time and also not much money b/c we were also hoping to be back on Sunday afternoon for fellowship and we still had to fly to Beijing and pay them back for money that we owed them. Therefore, we finally decided up Feng Huang, or Phoenix City. We had also looked at Guilin where part of The Painted Veil was filmed with Edward Norton.
We also thought about Xian,the terra-cotta warriors, that would be too far and not enough time. Lisa and I plan on seeing that next year. Besides that, thats really all that Lisa wants to see in China. We would like to go to Indonesia maybe to see our Compassion sponsored child. That would be really cool!
Father was really watching over us as we arranged our trip to Phoenix city. It just so happened that the copy lady who works in our school and someone we have become friends with, was planning on taking a bus in that direction as well! So Lisa and her (Becca) went to the bus station and bought tickets for all of us. That would have been difficult for us. She even met us as the bus station Thurs morning and went with us most of the way. (Her hometown is the stop right before ours. )
We also had a small scare, when the school suddenly told us that we could not re-arrange our classes. ( I had been planning on making up my Thurs. afternoon class as well as my two Friday morning classes.) In all the time we have been here, I have never missed any classes. However, my request came at a time when many teachers must have been asking off and I was the last straw I suppose. Also, Friday contains low English level classes for me, so they were afraid that those few students who show up anyways in one particular class just won't come at all to their other classes.
In fact, right now they have had to bring in a chinese translator/ helper for the one class b/c their English is so low. But its also because they don't try very hard.
Anyways though... so we lucked out to have another foreign teacher here agree to teach my classes for me! That was a real life-saver on that one. Also, the following week the school wanted me to help administer a 4hr midterm test to our 2nd yr students! The week that Lisa's parents were here! Yet,we were also fortunate to have the other set of foreign teacher's here step in for that one as well. They had taken a trip last Dec and then all of a sudden the school changed some dates on them and needed them to give their finals.
So I gave the finals to her students so she could go on her trip and now it worked out that they could help us out! Sweet deal!
So, back to the now becoming long story. Haha, several other students from our class just so happened to be going to Phoenix city as well! We were excited about that!
We were told the trip should only be btwn 3-4 hours, but it ended up taking about 5 1/2 hours! The bus also just stoppped in the middle of the town in Feng Huang and we had to get out. Lisa's parents weren't even sure if it was the right stop! Quite a shock for them,but that's how China works.
Luckily, our Chinese friend had already had her mother book us a hotel for the night, and then a cheaper one outside of the old/ traditional city the next night. The problem now was that we didn't know how to get to our hotel.
Once again though, some more chinese english speakers kindly helped us out and got us a taxi to where our hotel was and where the manager was waiting for us after our friend arranged that as well.
The hotel was really nice and right along the beautiful lit up river. (I will have to post pictures about it soon! Am writing this from the school office)
So, the next day our student of ours arranged for us to go on an all day tour of Phoenix city to see 3 scenic points. Although Lisa's mom and sister were tired and still needed to adjust to their jet lag, they decided it would be worth it to have an english speaking guide help show us around this city and see it's scenic spots.
The next day we awoke to pouring down rain and we weren't sure if we should still go through with it, but our friend had already bought the tickets for us, so...what else can you do right? Godo thing Lisa's family are real troopers and braved it out.
(Maybe their motivation came from the fact that there was a chinese guy
will finish later.. have to go at the moment. sorry!
Lisa and I are terribly, terribly sorry for having not updated this in almost two months now.
So, I am having to backtrack here, but we want to fill you in on some of our many travel excursions that we have taken recently.
April has been a very busy month with us. As some of you know, Lisa's mother and younger sister Blair flew over to see us! It was really nice to see them.
However, haha, at the same time, we learned a lot of things NOT TO DO if and when people ever come to see us again in China, as we plan on staying here for one more year.
They arrived late Wednesday night and we really wanted them to see the Chinese countryside in order for them to get a real feel of China.
Therefore, since we didn't have much time and also not much money b/c we were also hoping to be back on Sunday afternoon for fellowship and we still had to fly to Beijing and pay them back for money that we owed them. Therefore, we finally decided up Feng Huang, or Phoenix City. We had also looked at Guilin where part of The Painted Veil was filmed with Edward Norton.
We also thought about Xian,the terra-cotta warriors, that would be too far and not enough time. Lisa and I plan on seeing that next year. Besides that, thats really all that Lisa wants to see in China. We would like to go to Indonesia maybe to see our Compassion sponsored child. That would be really cool!
Father was really watching over us as we arranged our trip to Phoenix city. It just so happened that the copy lady who works in our school and someone we have become friends with, was planning on taking a bus in that direction as well! So Lisa and her (Becca) went to the bus station and bought tickets for all of us. That would have been difficult for us. She even met us as the bus station Thurs morning and went with us most of the way. (Her hometown is the stop right before ours. )
We also had a small scare, when the school suddenly told us that we could not re-arrange our classes. ( I had been planning on making up my Thurs. afternoon class as well as my two Friday morning classes.) In all the time we have been here, I have never missed any classes. However, my request came at a time when many teachers must have been asking off and I was the last straw I suppose. Also, Friday contains low English level classes for me, so they were afraid that those few students who show up anyways in one particular class just won't come at all to their other classes.
In fact, right now they have had to bring in a chinese translator/ helper for the one class b/c their English is so low. But its also because they don't try very hard.
Anyways though... so we lucked out to have another foreign teacher here agree to teach my classes for me! That was a real life-saver on that one. Also, the following week the school wanted me to help administer a 4hr midterm test to our 2nd yr students! The week that Lisa's parents were here! Yet,we were also fortunate to have the other set of foreign teacher's here step in for that one as well. They had taken a trip last Dec and then all of a sudden the school changed some dates on them and needed them to give their finals.
So I gave the finals to her students so she could go on her trip and now it worked out that they could help us out! Sweet deal!
So, back to the now becoming long story. Haha, several other students from our class just so happened to be going to Phoenix city as well! We were excited about that!
We were told the trip should only be btwn 3-4 hours, but it ended up taking about 5 1/2 hours! The bus also just stoppped in the middle of the town in Feng Huang and we had to get out. Lisa's parents weren't even sure if it was the right stop! Quite a shock for them,but that's how China works.
Luckily, our Chinese friend had already had her mother book us a hotel for the night, and then a cheaper one outside of the old/ traditional city the next night. The problem now was that we didn't know how to get to our hotel.
Once again though, some more chinese english speakers kindly helped us out and got us a taxi to where our hotel was and where the manager was waiting for us after our friend arranged that as well.
The hotel was really nice and right along the beautiful lit up river. (I will have to post pictures about it soon! Am writing this from the school office)
So, the next day our student of ours arranged for us to go on an all day tour of Phoenix city to see 3 scenic points. Although Lisa's mom and sister were tired and still needed to adjust to their jet lag, they decided it would be worth it to have an english speaking guide help show us around this city and see it's scenic spots.
The next day we awoke to pouring down rain and we weren't sure if we should still go through with it, but our friend had already bought the tickets for us, so...what else can you do right? Godo thing Lisa's family are real troopers and braved it out.
(Maybe their motivation came from the fact that there was a chinese guy
will finish later.. have to go at the moment. sorry!
2009年3月10日 星期二
Guangzhou- Part I of our vacation
So instead of trying to type and then messing up the words with my poor computer formating skills, I will add the pictures then just add little captions. Guangzhou was the first part of our trip, and very enjoyable, if not already for the fun things to do, for the weather- much warmer than Changsha. This picture to our left is actually a very ornate museum, rebuilt from a building hundreds of years old.
The 5 wheels to the left is actually part of a circus show- an international circus in Guangzhou. It was a last minute decision (we'd been trying to go to a safari but turned out it had closed at least a year earlier) and went here. It was AWESOME! This was the highlight- these guys running on top of what looks like an amusment park ride- with no ropes or anything to protect them. Suekoilya and I were scared for them!
We visited a few temples in Guangzhou. There are more there than in Changsha (but much less than Thailand). We saw many people praying to these stone statues or to statues of Buddha himself. There were also places for people to burn incense to/for their dead ancestors.
Here is a happier moment- Suekoilya upon finding a real 7/11 AND a Slurpee!
Love the Chinglish here- I think my favorite (hear hear women) "Do not diet." I also love that trash throwing is prohibited:)
I love this one (although it is also a temple). Coming here did make me feel like I was in China, but we were too sad to stay a long time. Outside the temple were many vendors selling incense, amulets, and fruit.
This is the museum of Yat Sun... It was very impressive.
Finally our last two pictures are from near our hostel. We happened to be along the Pearl River, and at night it was quite a charming view. Here is also the street- decorated abundantly with red lanterns in celebration of the Chinese New Year, the "Spring Festival.We really enjoyed our short stay in Guangzhou, and did SO many things and a lot of walking. It was nice to be warm (despite the above picture with our coats on, the daytime was warm). Guangzhou also has a starbucks and 7/11. It also had a subway, and the people seemed more western than in Changsha. Of course, the beginning of any vacation always has a certain charm about it that the end does not.
2009年2月22日 星期日
Farmer Lisa and Farmer Shane
So it seems I have done something dreadful with the layout here...maybe Shane can come back and fix it, but for now I can at least caption some of our photos from our trip to the countryside.
One interesting aspect for me (a suberban girl) was to see the whole process of my dinner...stating with the live pig, then the butchered pig meat for sale, then the pig fat being cooked into oil, then the buckets of oil, which they used to cook the pork we had for dinner. These particular pigs were staying in our friend's basement.
When they say, "How about lettuce for dinner?" they mean LETTUCE!
Here's a typical dinner (or lunch) fixed by Lily's mom. They don't just bring out sandwiches...oh no. Lunch and dinner are full-out meals. The dish front and center is my favorite Chinese dish- "Cucumber fried pork".The others are tofu, fish, and some kind of vegetable.
Here is a typical set of apartment buildings out in the countryside.
What we saw was a small gathering of these apartment building (a 'town') then nothing for several kilometers, and then a few more apartment buildings. Each town seemed also to have a hairdresser and a convenience type store. (No grocery stores of course...everything is FRESH).:)
Here is Lily (our 'angel') and myself,
Here is a view of some terrace farming...a beautiful view like this was very
common on our walks. This was the view from "our house".
Here is one farmer taking his cattle out for a stroll and lunch.
Here is "our house", the house we saw abandoned and we loved it.
One interesting aspect for me (a suberban girl) was to see the whole process of my dinner...stating with the live pig, then the butchered pig meat for sale, then the pig fat being cooked into oil, then the buckets of oil, which they used to cook the pork we had for dinner. These particular pigs were staying in our friend's basement.
When they say, "How about lettuce for dinner?" they mean LETTUCE!
Here's a typical dinner (or lunch) fixed by Lily's mom. They don't just bring out sandwiches...oh no. Lunch and dinner are full-out meals. The dish front and center is my favorite Chinese dish- "Cucumber fried pork".The others are tofu, fish, and some kind of vegetable.
Here is a typical set of apartment buildings out in the countryside.
What we saw was a small gathering of these apartment building (a 'town') then nothing for several kilometers, and then a few more apartment buildings. Each town seemed also to have a hairdresser and a convenience type store. (No grocery stores of course...everything is FRESH).:)
Here is Lily (our 'angel') and myself,
before the weather got a warmer.
The picture to the right is Shane playing badmitton, with all the neighborhood kids watching. In fact, he was a little like the pied piper- they followed him everywhere!
A while ago, Lisa and I were able to travel out to the country-side to visit the house of our dear friend Lily. (You can see her from very early posts.)We were going to see another friend originally, but that fell through. Then, Lily called us out of the blue and asked if we wanted to go, so we thought it would be really cool to see the country-side and visit her family.
The picture to the right is Shane playing badmitton, with all the neighborhood kids watching. In fact, he was a little like the pied piper- they followed him everywhere!
A while ago, Lisa and I were able to travel out to the country-side to visit the house of our dear friend Lily. (You can see her from very early posts.)We were going to see another friend originally, but that fell through. Then, Lily called us out of the blue and asked if we wanted to go, so we thought it would be really cool to see the country-side and visit her family.
The journey there did not start the best though. I was tired the night before and did not do any packing. Since I am a morning person, I decided that I would wake up early and pack. Also though, I had been slothful and had not done the dishes from a couple days ago that also needed to get done. (Dishes have been my enemy over here. My displeasure for them has been compounded on the fact that the kitchen is in the back of the apartment, so it is cold in the winter-time. Also, our old faucet used to leak, so water would get on the floor. Finally, the cabinets are built chinese style, which means that they are low and that I have to stoop a little to do the dishes. This still doesn't mean that I shouldn't put them off as I usually do unfortunately.)
So, I got up early and did those, but Lisa ended up packing a huge duffle bag. We were not to be gone for that long; I had only been thinking of a bookbag for BOTH of us. We ended up having both the duffle bag AND a bookbag. It was really funny though in some ways because of our fears of going out into the country-side. Lisa was thinking it to almost be some like ninth-world remote village with no modern things at all. She wanted to bring this heavy blanket, but I said no, so we resorted to a thin blanket.
It is good that we brought so many clothes in some regard because it was indeed really cold at night, and we were wearning like 5 thin layers over another. (I did not bring really warm clothes over to China because I knew that we were going to the southern part of China) However, I did not know how extreme the climate over here gets. Really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter, especially since we live in what I call our "concrete cells." :)
So... we had a fight from all the luggage that I had to carry. (I should have communicated better though.) It didn't make matters any better when Lily commented a lot on how much luggage we had also and then that we had to carry it all the way down to the buses, and then from there...
Lisa taking over the blog, per Shane's request. SO..we made it to a VERY crowded train station- you couldn't imagine the crowds, and onto a long bus ride. I am very glad we went with Lily, because we never would have found it on our own. The bus dropped you off in the middle of some country town, where most people speak the local dialect, not mandarin. Lily got another small van to get us the rest of the way to her home.
It was really great to meet her family- and we saw a lot of her brother especially (who is around 19). I think I was expecting a wooden house with straw roof..but infact they are concrete apartments surrounded by farmland. The weather turned out to be unusually warm- enough to wear only a few layers- and no coat during the daytime! Of course, the house itself was still very cold, so we stayed outside as long as possible. We were able to enjoy full-course Chinese dishes everyday for lunch and dinner from Lily's mom...once she taught me how to make my favoite dish "huang gua chou rou" or cucumber fried pork. (I make it when we got back- it was still good!).
So, I got up early and did those, but Lisa ended up packing a huge duffle bag. We were not to be gone for that long; I had only been thinking of a bookbag for BOTH of us. We ended up having both the duffle bag AND a bookbag. It was really funny though in some ways because of our fears of going out into the country-side. Lisa was thinking it to almost be some like ninth-world remote village with no modern things at all. She wanted to bring this heavy blanket, but I said no, so we resorted to a thin blanket.
It is good that we brought so many clothes in some regard because it was indeed really cold at night, and we were wearning like 5 thin layers over another. (I did not bring really warm clothes over to China because I knew that we were going to the southern part of China) However, I did not know how extreme the climate over here gets. Really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter, especially since we live in what I call our "concrete cells." :)
So... we had a fight from all the luggage that I had to carry. (I should have communicated better though.) It didn't make matters any better when Lily commented a lot on how much luggage we had also and then that we had to carry it all the way down to the buses, and then from there...
Lisa taking over the blog, per Shane's request. SO..we made it to a VERY crowded train station- you couldn't imagine the crowds, and onto a long bus ride. I am very glad we went with Lily, because we never would have found it on our own. The bus dropped you off in the middle of some country town, where most people speak the local dialect, not mandarin. Lily got another small van to get us the rest of the way to her home.
It was really great to meet her family- and we saw a lot of her brother especially (who is around 19). I think I was expecting a wooden house with straw roof..but infact they are concrete apartments surrounded by farmland. The weather turned out to be unusually warm- enough to wear only a few layers- and no coat during the daytime! Of course, the house itself was still very cold, so we stayed outside as long as possible. We were able to enjoy full-course Chinese dishes everyday for lunch and dinner from Lily's mom...once she taught me how to make my favoite dish "huang gua chou rou" or cucumber fried pork. (I make it when we got back- it was still good!).
Most of the time there we walked- EVERYWHERE, because the weather is nice and also becausewe were in the countryside, there are not many activities besides walking, boardgames, or working. So we walked for hours each day, exploring the nearby fields and farms. We also did play a lot of boardgames (ticket to ride) and cards. I was glad to really explore- because if you walked far enough you got to see very isolated and lonely looking places indeed. Shane and I found a more traditional chinese farm house, made from brick wood, and straw (sounds like the three little pigs lol) overlooking a beautiful countryside. It also happened to be sunset, which was very beautiful indeed. We decided that, as it was abandoned, we should buy it, fix it up, and move in. It was very traditional- having a huge iron place for cooking and sections of the inside of the house for the animals! (You know how I"m a romantic at heart). OF course, its easy to think that way when the weather is nice, but no electricity for lights or warm water (or even running water) would present a problem eventually.
I think the saddest thing was the amount of rubbish tossed into the streams and by the farms. There is not really an organized system for waste management, so they either burn the trash or toss it outside. I am not usually a staunch environmentalist, but I do love the world we have been given, and it made me want to start a campaign to help this community. However, inspite of it, we were able to see really amazing "terrace farming" and countryside. We hope to visit again in the spring when the rain brings new and green fields for rice farming. Overall, it will be one of our most memorable trips, I think.
I think the saddest thing was the amount of rubbish tossed into the streams and by the farms. There is not really an organized system for waste management, so they either burn the trash or toss it outside. I am not usually a staunch environmentalist, but I do love the world we have been given, and it made me want to start a campaign to help this community. However, inspite of it, we were able to see really amazing "terrace farming" and countryside. We hope to visit again in the spring when the rain brings new and green fields for rice farming. Overall, it will be one of our most memorable trips, I think.
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