Shanghai

We were able to spend a few days in Shanghai on the way into Wuhan. The hotel where we stayed was conveniently located in the middle of the airport. We picked up our luggage, divided them onto two carts, and rolled them straight into our hotel room. Nice!

We got to our room between 2-3 PM and immediately crashed. I woke up somewhere between 1-3 AM (Brad of course continued sleeping peacefully) and read a little out of my What to Expect When You’re Expecting book. Unfortunately, I read a long excerpt on the importance of healthy eating as I snacked on a bag of candy corn. It wasn’t enough to make me part with the candy corn, as the Halloween sweet was my source of American comfort in a faraway place, but I at least started to take smaller itty-bitty bites and let each morsel hang out in my mouth just a tad bit longer.

The next two days we spent touring the city. A tram / subway stop was right at our hotel in the airport.

Overview:

• Shanghai was HOT.
• There were SO.MANY.PEOPLE. everywhere.
• There were a lot of foreigners walking around so no special attention was on us; we were still treated as being somewhat normal.
• There were just as many Starbucks in Shanghai as any big US city. I rationed my preggo-daily caffeine intake to be a tall (small) coffee (light) frappachino. Oh how that was the very best part of both days…. I’m closing my eyes and remembering my last tastes of real coffee… please excuse for a minute…. Any ideas on how to send me a smokin’ hot Starbucks pumkin spice skim latte? I’ll be your best friend…. Can you wrap it up in a football game-day schedule?
• Starbucks was our only refuge. It was still hard for us to find western-style food to eat the second day. We were told by one China door man that the city had no western food. I didn't 100% believe him, but I was tired, hungry and preggo. Hungry won out.

The days in Shanghai really were great, the first especially. We got on the tram and traveled close to an hour I would say to the center of the city, but at least we had a seat since we were an early stop. We walked down touristy streets, filled with Chinese and non-Chinese faces and strolled into whatever shop we wished. The streets were clean, there was a blue sky overhead (which amazed Brad the most), and the air was devoid of the overwhelming aromas that often plague a busy Chinese city or small town. I allowed my nose to breath at will.

We got back on the tram after dinner each night. OH.MY.LADY.GAGA. there were so many people. About 2/3rds of the way back to the hotel everyone (practically) on the tram had to get off, walk across and get on the opposite one to continue going in the right direction. If you ran fast enough and pushed your way around the crowd, you could hopefully find a seat on tram #2. Night #1, I waited patiently to get off the subway and board the next. Night #2, I knew better and my feet thanked me immensely. Brad finally found a seat next to me about 3/4ths of the way back home at which time I promptly fall asleep on his shoulder.

The airport was the last stop at which time our weary feet made the final trek up the subway stairs and toward the direction of our room. We crashed immediately by 8PM or so… and then I woke up somewhere between 1-3 AM.

Will someone please send me a new bag of candy corn? I promise to take super small bites.

Laoshan Mt. - A trip up a Chinese mountain with American friends

cool viewsI'm hungry, but let's not wake her up... what's next?
never mind, not that hungry
laoshan waterfall.. haha seriously. get excited. how much do you love her? would you engrave your names and throw away the key? brad wasn't with us (work- booo!) so i didn't have to test him.i swear something about this picture makes me think 1965. maybe just the rounded corners- thank you picnik.in america we have mountain trails and you get dirty when climbing. in china you stay clean on the mountain but then get dirty walking through trash and mud on the street. i teach social studies. i can't resist a pic of terracing. i'm sure my students will be SO appreciative someday. you know how excited middle schoolers can be about learning. Oh no! hold on!phew - safe and sound and a tad more normalgetting closer to the top!seriously lady, you can't be shy if you want your stall at the top of the mountain.travis and marissa - cute cute cuteand me too, i'm cute too. (kidding - shout out to sister lindsey)laoshan water or beer. what's your pleasure?pour one out for reaching the top.one last stop on the way down for some good chinese bargaining. adam was going to get his way!... and he did - i didn't... stupid.... i guess it is cost effective to know chinese.awww - back home at the da xue (university) and all back together. do you notice what's in the background???surprise! it's business - i mean cornhole time... brad's so crafty.rock it mrs. ball. show us whatchu got.good times. :)

Tai Shan’s Steps to Heaven’s Gate

After 6,293 steps (officially…more if you go through the temples), 11 gates, 14 archways, 22 temples, and with thousands of Chinese comrades, our climb finished 5,059 feet higher and 4 hours later than we started. At 4:30 a.m. we found ourselves at the summit of the "most revered of the five sacred mountains" in China (as is inscribed on one of the 819 stone tablets found on the mountain). Dana and I set out on this journey to experience one of the many traditions of ancient China, and this trek has been made for over 3,000 years. Traditions don’t die easy here, and from the turn out on this given Monday, this one will live another 3,000 years.

The people of China will gladly tell anyone Tai Shan is known for its sunrise and its bond to birth and renewal. This bond is why worshippers have been making their way to the top dating back to the earliest inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom. And as Chinese tradition would have it, paying homage to the heavens with sacrifices at its summit was a rite of passage for the new emperor. It is no surprise that the mountain’s name, Tai, "泰" means “peace.” It seems peace is the reward received for faithfully reaching “heaven’s gate.”

For those readers that have not traveled to China, don’t believe that China’s government, during any period, has restricted the people’s faith (religion maybe but not faith). Faith is strong here in the People’s Republic. There is evidence of trust in the government, a strong belief in family is obvious, an allegiance to the group is felt and a faith in the

teachings of Confucius, Buddha, Tao, and ancestors are lived out. As a country that lacks Christianity and God, it does not lack gods. As a country that lacks the Holy Spirit, it does not lack spirituality. As a country that lacks the Creator, it does not lack creators.

As I made the steps up the mountain in the darkness minding each step so as not to step into a Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian statue, the stories of Israel and Judah, of their turning from God and his pursuit of their worship, ran through my mind. In my mind I traveled back and forth between modern China and ancient, biblical times. As we passed by each new temple I connected more and more with the stories of the wrath of judgment poured out on His chosen people because their hearts loved gods of their own creation not the God of Creation.

The smell of incense was inescapable as these stories became more alive with each step. I was reminded of Jeremiah 1:16, “I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.”

When we reached the top I looked for Jeremiah. I heard him but I couldn’t find him. I heard him saying, “They say to wood, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.” “…their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.” So many have made this pilgrimage to honor these “worthless idols” and to see the sunrise for with it brings the glory of Good Luck!

So, as I sat waiting for the sun to show itself my thoughts turned inward. Instead of hiding my idols inside, what would life be like if they were out on display? I immediately tried to stop that line of thinking, however it didn’t work. The thought of my idols and having them on display was embarrassing, condemning, and offensive. I was quickly relieved in knowing that, unlike the ones I passed on the way up and in the temples with incense burning all around, my idols

are hidden from public view. I am free to move around and ‘worship’ my idols at any time. I do not need to make pilgrimages to them, but at times I do. I do not need to make sacrifices for them, but I do so often. I do not need to hang flags, give gifts, or make gestures on their behalf, but I find myself doing so time and again. My idols are locked away from the public but not from God. And this truth stung like the mornings below-freezing air. I again heard Jeremiah reminding me that I am like Israel and Judah who “strayed so far…followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” And how I “exchange my Glory for worthless idols.” I was told that I could not look at the idolatry of this mountain (or country) as a foreign practice. I was told, while I sat there, that I must take ownership of it as a familiar practice and repent as was asked of my Christian forefathers.

Tai Shan had once again provided a worshipper a place to worship, to gain understanding, make connections, and offer praise. Though the journey began as a way to experience China it ended with me experiencing so much more than China…I experienced Holy Spirit accountability. As the sun came over the horizon with all its awe and splendor, it did bring a renewal of hope. A hope that brought the words, “because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion.’” This filled my mind like the sunlight filled the sky. It looks as if peace is the reward for those that make it up to heaven’s gate!

Mao Zedong has been quoted for saying, "To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather.” I would like to give one of my own, “To die serving an idol is weightier than Mount Tai, but to die serving the Creator of stone and wood is lighter than a feather.”

Our Cooper River Bridge

While many Southeasterners were concerned with getting over the bridge last weekend, (Cooper River Bridge Run) Brad and I concerned ourselves with getting up a mountain. This wasn’t just any mountain, but the first of five sacred mountains in China, 3^rd in height. Emperors who used to be carried by caravan EVERYwhere, would be carried to Mt. Tai, but then actually get down and make the ascent with their own two feet, so we’ve been told. They would walk up the mountain to extend gratitude and prove fortitude soon after the gods had made them supreme ruler over China.

This mountain is also not like any other mountain in that it has 7,000 (but who's counting) beautiful stone steps. They made me think back to when my dad built a rock patio in our backyard in Connecticut. How I loved that patio! I vaguely remember it being constructed, but I do remember that it wasn’t an easy task. Can you imagine lugging stones all the way up a mountain in order to make steps for an emperor? I guess if your people can build the Great Wall, nothing else seems too much for which to ask.

These steps were not easy and as the hours passed they seemed to increase in difficulty. That wasn’t all that increased! You should have seen all of the people! I know this is China, and granted we were warned that it would be crowded (Monday and Tuesday celebrated the annual “Grave Sweeping” holiday so people had a couple days off of work), but seriously – it was nuts. It was especially nuts about 1/2 of the way up when we reached a MASSIVE group of people getting off buses to make the final trek up themselves. RUDE! Brad and I had already stopped to rest twice and now these people were coming in with excited smiles and fresh legs? Please.

The mass of people who crammed onto these steps was unreal and something I never could have expected. I really felt like I was running the Cooper River Bridge. I got mad at people who were going too slowly, Brad told me once to “get over to the side” because going up the middle was too crowded, and then later we both moaned at a group of college-aged kids who had stopped and sat down right in the middle of the stairs. Seriously, right there in the middle?! Mind you, all this was happening in the dark of night. We didn’t start our hike until close to 12:30 A.M. Not only were those people sitting in the middle of the steps, but they also couldn’t be seen until you basically stepped on them.

Ha. This makes it seem like it was terrible. It was nothing of the sort. It was cold, but the perfect weather for climbing. It was difficult, but not unable to conquer. It was crowded, yet just like on the bridge, being surrounded by so many people was intoxicating. Everyone was in it together. You felt badly for those who seemed too tired to keep going, and you felt proud of those who looked as if they should be too tired, but were still persevering.

It took us right about 4 hours to get to the top. We were up there for about 2 hours. In that time the wind picked up, our fingers neared frost bite, and our toes went numb. Also in that time, the stars gave way to the sun’s rays, the sky began to blossom with light, and more and more people successfully summitted the mountain, gathering round for our communal reason for this exertion.

He was slow coming. He took so long I began to question if maybe he never really shows himself at sunrise, maybe he just sends up his rays and calls it a morning. After all, he’s too busy cooking up Jimmy Dean sausage for his family. I saw him on TV once. His daughter is such a cutie.

We all waited… and waited. I knew something had to be coming because the Chinese people were a l l still there, gathered around on the rocks with their cameras ready. This was not their first rodeo. They had to be waiting for something more than just a lit up sky. After what seemed like forever, I heard a gasp and cheer and then lots of chatter. I looked up and there was the tip of the beautiful red sun, in all of its glory, rising upward in a picture perfect, blue sky. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

My heart smiled as I thought it was just like God to make us wait on one of his miracles. He promised it, and it would come, but was I willing to wait, frozen fingers and all? I know I’ve made mistakes in my life when I have not waited long enough. I’ve rushed down the mountain too soon, just missing God’s miracle that he had planned to give me one minute later. Thank goodness, no thank God, this morning Brad and I decided to grin, bear it, and wait. Waiting is worth it.

And then we had to get down the mountain… with 10,000 of our closest Chinese friends.

o.h. m.y.

It's not a religion - Our days with the Sister.

Last month, Feb. 3rd to be exact, was the Lunar Chinese New Year. (Shout-out to all you Rabbits!) Brad and I decided to leave behind the land of dancing dragons, dumplings and firecrackers, to accompany our dear friends Travis and Marissa to the Philippines. Marissa’s parents are both originally from the Philippines, but immigrated to the United States after college. They met once in the U.S. Neither has been able to go back to visit their dearly loved and missed families, and none of their three children have been able to meet the majority of their huge extended family, until this past week. Marissa, my friend who is pure gold in heart and mind and spirit, was the first in her immediate family to make the pilgrimage back home to their motherland. Brad and I were beyond lucky to be part of this trip.

At the very least I can tell you that 1) not a minute was wasted, and 2) I did not go hungry. I will start by introducing Marissa’s Tita Inday, her mom’s sister. Marissa’s mom’s immediate family (parents and siblings) all moved to the U.S. some time ago, but Tita Inday became the lone ranger of her family and stayed behind in the Philippines in order to serve the poorest and neediest there.

Tita Inday is soft spoken but strong, quiet but courageous, humble yet extremely talented. She is steadfast in her pursuit of a life pleasing to the Lord, but she does not judge those whose lifestyle choices are different from hers. She is a servant to the needs of Manila, yet she is a leader of the people. She is revered and she is loved.

“People here won’t mess with you since you’re with the Sister. I mean it. They would think twice about doing anything to you if you were with a priest, but you’re three times as safe being with a sister.” That was told to me by a friend of Marissa’s cousin.

We absolutely did feel safe, but the impact of traveling with Tita Inday didn’t stop there. Taxi drivers felt compelled to tell her (and thus us) their life stories to which she graciously listened and asked questions. (I took advantage of these situations and asked questions as well.) University students greeted us with “Hellos” in English because they also greeted her as they walked by. Tour guides gave us reduced rates because we were just humble traveling missionaries as Tita described to them. (“That’s what you are you know, teaching English in China, you’re missionaries.”)

Tita is in her early 60s. She has been a nun for 40 years. She felt her calling when she was in nursing school, but followed the advice of her mother to first finish her degree before entering the convent. Thinking back upon that time she said, “I was just so in love with the Lord, so in love with Jesus.” She has enjoyed serving the poor, sick, and working with troubled children. She has performed a variety of jobs and held a variety of roles (including Mother Superior), but at the current time she is assigned to teach and carry out managerial duties at a school about 3 hours from Manila. The school has about 5000 students, grades kindergarten through college. (In the Philippines the school structure is K-6 grades, then four years of high school. There is no middle school. Also, a ‘university’ is superior to a college.) There are over 200 employees at this school. She works in the religious studies department. She loves her job.

I asked about her funniest story. She laughed and flashed her amazing beautiful, big smile as she thought back on the silly story. She was running to catch a bus, but saw she could not make it. She knew the bus would be turning the corner so she ran across to the side street instead. There was a police officer on the side of the road. She asked him if he could stop the bus to let her get on. He of course obliged her request (the Philippines are 90% Catholic and NOBODY messes with a nun!). As the bus turned the corner the police officer flagged him to stop. The driver obeyed, opened the door towards the officer, and Sister Rosalyn stepped up the stairs. Sister giggled as she recalled that the passengers made fun of the driver, all saying “Ooooooh…” because it was obvious he was nervous about being stopped by a cop. Sister said she made sure to never put herself in that kind of situation again!

About a decade or so ago, Tita (aunt) was afflicted with breast cancer. I asked her about the history of the disease in her family. She said there was not a history, that she was the only one. She explained at that time in Manila her responsibilities were great in number and stress. She was becoming tired and worn out and pleaded with God for rest. Sheknew that just a week or even a month would not be long enough. She was completely worn out and running on empty. One night she had a dream that she had cancer in her left breast. She went in to see the doctor and although he thought she was healthy he also determined that there was a small possibility of cancer in her right breast. She told him he was wrong, that her dream had told her she had cancer in the left. He respectfully responded, “Okay Sister, we will check.” She was given a mammogram and it turned out that she in fact had cancer in her left breast. She flew to Marissa’s house in the States for better treatment than she could find in the Philippines and allowed her sister’s family to take care of her. She went through all the things women go through as they fight cancer. Her fight was victorious; she was healed, and then sent back to work in Manila.

Brad asked her how she has seen the role of religion change in the past 40 years. Her facial expression made it obvious that a lot has changed over the years. She mentioned that modern-day media (especially American movies and TV) has destroyed the family. She said that it is harder to teach religion now because people are actually more pious than they used to be. “But,” she added, “People are also more hungry for the Lord. There is a big difference between religion and spirituality.” I told her the pastor at our church in Charlotte, NC, has been saying the same thing: It’s not a religion; it’s a relationship. She agreed.

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I wrote this journal entry on February 7, the night we returned from the Philippines. How coincidental that on that following Sunday our Charlotte Pastor, David Chadwick, spoke on this exact topic. You can check it out if you wish by viewing the past series here: http://www.foresthill.org/southpark/message-video.cfm RELIGION VS. RELATIONSHIP Feb. 12, 2011

Nothing's better than friends, especially if they bring chips and guac!

You know your friend is a special one when she scours through Chinese high-priced grocery stores to make sure that you have a feel of normalcy in a faraway place where fancy things like chips and salsa are rare and considered a delicacy. Back in sweet Caroline I couldn't possibly even begin to imagine how many gallons of salsa, guac, and cheese dip, no less pounds of tortilla chips I consumed with friends, coworkers, and sisters. Thanks Marissa for giving me that taste of home... I mean Mexico.

This past weekend China celebrated its national holiday. In honor of the country's official call to Communism, Brad and I decided to utilize this time off of work to travel and visit friends. Yes, we actually have friends in China. There are three people, all once teachers at JT Williams in Charlotte, NC, who teach at a private English tutoring school in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. We flew (how fun it was to be a 'domestic' flier in China. Yeah, I live here.. :) ) in order to save the many hours it would have taken us to travel by train or bus instead. We arrived on the 1st (actual National Day) and stayed through the 5th.

We had no idea what was in store for us. First of all, here in Qingdao we live a pretty isolated life. Not that we are isolated from other people, we ARE in CHINA, but we are not around a lot of 'expat' people like us. That is NOT the way it was in Hangzhou. There were so many (it seemed) 'ex- pats’ in Hangzhou who all hung out together. Many of them work at one of the two campuses operated by “Bear” school. (I realize now that I’m not 100% sure that b-e-a-r is the correct spelling, though I know it is the correct pronunciation.) They were so much fun and appeared to get along really well with each other. Brad and I met people from El Salvador, Australia, the U.S., England, Japan, etc. Most of them had been in China already for longer than a year. It was a reallycool community of friends. Brad is sure that we can find a similar group of people here, but I just don’t think it would be the same.

There was also a lot to do. There were many non-Chinese restaurants, a cute coffee shop outside a college campus that also served hot-dogs, fun bar/pub spots where expats hung out together, and of course LOTS of great street food. (The first night we were there we went to an Indian restaurant to celebrate the birthday of a guy who worked at the Bear school part-time but is also a full time student at the art school in the city. Ballpark – we ate with about 80 people, all foreigners. That was nuts.) There were also beautiful tourist things to do. Hangzhou apparently is a HUGE Chinese and international tourist destination. The city is situated around a series of lakes (the biggest entitled “West Lake”) andthey made the scenery A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Each day our hosts had planned outings. On the firstwe walked along the lake, were tutored in the history of the lotus flower and leaf, and had lunch at this adorable place called the Tea House, situated rightly so in a huge tea field off the side of the lake. Talk about great food – wow. (One option we ordered was this warm, freshly-baked loaf of white bread with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. It was served coincidentally before anything else and came cut up into bite-sized squares and served with toothpicks. Move over Applebees!) The next day we did a little hiking up to a temple of some sort, but more importantly the view of the city from this location was enough to make you stop dead in your tracks, which we did for a while, just looking out over the city and the roads we had walked just the day before. The third afternoonwe were taken to a Buddhist monastery. It was first founded there in the 300s A.D. by Indian monks, though the grounds and temples we saw were built sometime in the 1700-1900s. The place was unbelievable. I cannot believe I have beenso blessed in my life to have experienced something so drastic and oppositeofmy culture and belief system. To sayI felt lucky to be there would be an understatement. The grounds were massive and included temples, multiple statues of different Buddhas, caves, and of course tourist market stalls. It was crazy busy with people so I loved taking video footage and am already excited to be able to show the videos to my future students back at home.


Towards the end of the afternoon we ventured all the way up the mountain (though more the size of a really big hill) to the top monastery / temple. This view also overlooked the outline of the lake and the tall city buildings behindit all – breathtaking. But something else happened here. A monk who was given the task of watching the grounds walked up to me specifically, said hello, and welcomed me to his ‘beautiful city’. The girl from the Bear school who was with us, and really appreciates the philosophy of Buddhism, about died. She said that was her favorite moment of the day which was so sweet of her to say. (I sort-of felt like the main character of Avatar on his first night in Pandora when all those special flashy things fell on him... Sorry,

that’s the extent of my memory on that one.) Since the monk didn’t know that much more English and I didn’t know any (for the most part) Chinese, our conversation pretty much ended there. I asked if we could take a picture and he said yes. Afterwards I had this urge to give him a hug, but I didn’t. I still wish I would have. Being there was powerful for me; it helped me to understand why some people say ‘I am a follower of Christ,’ rather than, ‘My religion is Christianity.’ It reaffirmed to me what it was to be a follower. Touring the Buddhist compound has made me a stronger Christian. Love how that worked.I do have to say, the most thrilling story happened at a bar. We were taken to see a band. The people in the band do not speak any English, though the lead singer is studying Russian so I’ve been told. The band sang Chinese songs at first, but then transitioned into English songs as the evening grew later. This band sings heavy metal, mixed in with some Bon Jovi (that's right, Lisa. You can hear Bon Jovi live, even in China!) and sings them …really well! The band members are really talented! This was the first time that Brad actually thought that our brother Mike Brown would actually LIKE being in China. (On another family note, an expat we met that night was named Addie. Of course she was super-cute. Can't wait for my niece Adelaide to get here!!) One of the last songs of the night was Enter Sandman by Metallica. Our quiet yet observant new El Salvadorian friend Nestor COULD NOT BELIEVE what he was hearing. I heard more words out of that boy’s mouth in the short time we were together after that show than the whole time I was around him the previous two nights. We even were given hugs by him as he left that night. Turns out everyone likes the feel of home from time to time, no matter what country they’re from or even how long they’ve been gone.