Me, 3-Self and I…or, Sunday in Chengdu, Texas
Today we were planning to attend a church near our hotel, but the services started at 6am and so the plan was adjusted and we join with Ma Min and Kim to go to the 3-Self church that Ivan and Victoria Ho (CBM Missionaries) attend when they are in Mainland China. It is a very introspective day for me for several reasons, (1) this is the church Juli and I would have attended if we had gone to China with CBM and (2) we ate lunch near Sichuan University which is probably where I would have taught (in the Foreign Languages Department, the Canadian Studies Program or the new Christian Studies Program). It was a very difficult decision to stay in Canada and, although I was sure it was the right one, part of my time in China has been to confirm that in my own mind. The service at the 3-Self church is truly worshipful – it may have been because we are better rested and acclimated, it may have been that the songs were familiar songs we sing on Sunday mornings, it may have been that Ma Min translated the sermon as it was preached. Whatever it was it felt good to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday.
After we leave the church we go in separate directions – Greg and Russell go off to become international models – I am dying to tell this story but won't because you have to hear it from them!!! The rest of us head off to eat at a place Kim and Ma Min have discovered near Sichuan University, called Peter's Tex Mex. I go with a mix of thrill and fear – I remember finding a 'dead on Western' hamburger place in South Korea that Juli, my wife, informed me was nothing like the burgers at home – it seems taste buds are prone to amnesia.
The hamburger is amazing – it tastes very much like the ones Fuddruckers used to serve (I think they had them in Alberta). It is amazing how a little bit of home can encourage you to continue on in an adventure. Fully "westerned" up we leave Peter's for Computer City – multiple blocks and floors of the latest doodads, gadgets and gizmos that, once you see 'em you can't live without 'em. I am a good boy and don't spend money there. Truth be told it is really because I have found a foreign language bookstore that has a linguistics section…Juli, send more money please.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
The quietest place in China
Since landing in the PRC I have been overwhelmed by the fact that, day or night, you are always in the middle of a crowd. On Monday I have a meeting scheduled with the Communist Party Secretary of Sichuan University. This is a very high political position at the largest and most prominent university of southwest China (I think I have that right). I have absolutely no idea what to expect, but she is the classmate of a friend who now lives in Canada – and because good people are friends with good people, I am assuming she will be good people ('cause Eric is definitely good people). I meet her and her daughter near the west gate of the university and we take a tour past several buildings including the Foreign Languages Department and the Intensive Language Education Centre. Because the weather has shifted from hot and humid to hot and humid and raining, we change gears and get a ride to the Sichuan University Museum – which has either just opened or is just getting ready to open, I'm not really sure which. At any rate we spend the next hour or so walking through the displays. At one point I am asked if I really want to continue the tour – I assured her that my first undergraduate degree was in anthropology / archaeology with an undeclared minor in Aboriginal Art History and it would take all six of the guards to haul me out from the displays of Tibetan and Sichuan Minority articles dating back to 300 BC.
What made the time at the museum more enjoyable is that we were the only ones there – we had the whole place to ourselves. As culturally adaptable as I pride myself in being, I still love my three feet of personal space.
I am brought back to reality at supper when we go out for chou sho – Sichuan-hua for hundun or wanton. The restaurant is crowded – but for good reason the dumplings are absolutely delicious.
Since landing in the PRC I have been overwhelmed by the fact that, day or night, you are always in the middle of a crowd. On Monday I have a meeting scheduled with the Communist Party Secretary of Sichuan University. This is a very high political position at the largest and most prominent university of southwest China (I think I have that right). I have absolutely no idea what to expect, but she is the classmate of a friend who now lives in Canada – and because good people are friends with good people, I am assuming she will be good people ('cause Eric is definitely good people). I meet her and her daughter near the west gate of the university and we take a tour past several buildings including the Foreign Languages Department and the Intensive Language Education Centre. Because the weather has shifted from hot and humid to hot and humid and raining, we change gears and get a ride to the Sichuan University Museum – which has either just opened or is just getting ready to open, I'm not really sure which. At any rate we spend the next hour or so walking through the displays. At one point I am asked if I really want to continue the tour – I assured her that my first undergraduate degree was in anthropology / archaeology with an undeclared minor in Aboriginal Art History and it would take all six of the guards to haul me out from the displays of Tibetan and Sichuan Minority articles dating back to 300 BC.
What made the time at the museum more enjoyable is that we were the only ones there – we had the whole place to ourselves. As culturally adaptable as I pride myself in being, I still love my three feet of personal space.
I am brought back to reality at supper when we go out for chou sho – Sichuan-hua for hundun or wanton. The restaurant is crowded – but for good reason the dumplings are absolutely delicious.
The Chengdu Stampede
We teach two night classes a week. The first two we spent working on pronunciation. The second set we smartened up and went downtown to the evening market and shopped with our students (an exercise in Active Learning that I could readily defend if anyone questioned its pedagogical efficacy!!). Tonight we spent the night celebrating the Calgary Stampede. We watched video presentations on the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. Margaret ( a.k.a. Cookie) turned the front desk into a chuckwagon and we had our very own stampede breakfast complete with pancakes and maple syrup. We momentarily worried about setting off a fire alarm, but considering we couldn't see any smoke detectors through the haze of cigarette smoke on our non-smoking floor, we put away our worries and went back to flipping flapjacks!
We teach two night classes a week. The first two we spent working on pronunciation. The second set we smartened up and went downtown to the evening market and shopped with our students (an exercise in Active Learning that I could readily defend if anyone questioned its pedagogical efficacy!!). Tonight we spent the night celebrating the Calgary Stampede. We watched video presentations on the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. Margaret ( a.k.a. Cookie) turned the front desk into a chuckwagon and we had our very own stampede breakfast complete with pancakes and maple syrup. We momentarily worried about setting off a fire alarm, but considering we couldn't see any smoke detectors through the haze of cigarette smoke on our non-smoking floor, we put away our worries and went back to flipping flapjacks!
Yellow Dragons and Jumping Snakes
It is Saturday again and we are off to the countryside. The university has been very good at providing us opportunities to see Sichuan beyond Chengdu. Today we are traveling out to Huanglongxi or Yellow Dragon Stream. It is an old city that has lots of shopping and some old temples. As we walk to the town site we pass an amusement park – there are kids' rides and animal rides and ATV rides. All seem exciting, but nothing can compare to the thrill ride that is Chengdu traffic so we move on. Each of the shops has an interesting assortment of things to sell – but after a few blocks it seems like a bit of a fractal image as the shops seem to repeat themselves. I want to dispel the myth that all Chinese people do not look the same, but after awhile the Chinese shops sure do.
We tour through the old part of the city that has a restored court where trials, decisions and beheadings would take place. It is still used in movies made in China. Our class monitors point out some clothing we could put on if we wanted to look the part of the local governor or mayor. We spend the next fifteen or twenty minutes amusing the locals while Judge Russell condemns several people to death by beheading, relegates others to the stocks, and doles out several fines before he is forced out of office – something about lunchtime.
Our meal is largely made up of wild foods – the greens are grown on the side of a local mountain, the mushrooms came from the wild, the fish were caught in the wild as well – everything is wild right down to the fly in Margaret's soup (which is good because I hate the taste of those domesticated hatchery flies). It was really quite a good meal – although it is hard to eat in the heat …have I mentioned the heat?
In front of many of the shops there are basins full of fish and other such stuff. As we walk down one street one of those 'other such stuff' jumps out in front of Greg. With little reaction the old man sitting next to the basins reaches out and grabs the snake to put it back in the plastic basin. We discuss whether that may have been something we just ate down the road – but leave it as an unconfirmed item. We now take pride in the width and breadth of our 'stuff we ate' list.
We spend the rest of the afternoon touring shops and going on a boat ride before going to a temple upstream. As we walk up to the temple we are struck by the number of 'shoot the balloon with a pellet gun' games are in front of this peace-oriented temple. More that a few people suggest this might be a good thing to set up in our home churches when we get back. I dissuade this missions fundraising initiative - as someone who regularly fills the pulpit I don't relish arming any possible critics!
It is Saturday again and we are off to the countryside. The university has been very good at providing us opportunities to see Sichuan beyond Chengdu. Today we are traveling out to Huanglongxi or Yellow Dragon Stream. It is an old city that has lots of shopping and some old temples. As we walk to the town site we pass an amusement park – there are kids' rides and animal rides and ATV rides. All seem exciting, but nothing can compare to the thrill ride that is Chengdu traffic so we move on. Each of the shops has an interesting assortment of things to sell – but after a few blocks it seems like a bit of a fractal image as the shops seem to repeat themselves. I want to dispel the myth that all Chinese people do not look the same, but after awhile the Chinese shops sure do.
We tour through the old part of the city that has a restored court where trials, decisions and beheadings would take place. It is still used in movies made in China. Our class monitors point out some clothing we could put on if we wanted to look the part of the local governor or mayor. We spend the next fifteen or twenty minutes amusing the locals while Judge Russell condemns several people to death by beheading, relegates others to the stocks, and doles out several fines before he is forced out of office – something about lunchtime.
Our meal is largely made up of wild foods – the greens are grown on the side of a local mountain, the mushrooms came from the wild, the fish were caught in the wild as well – everything is wild right down to the fly in Margaret's soup (which is good because I hate the taste of those domesticated hatchery flies). It was really quite a good meal – although it is hard to eat in the heat …have I mentioned the heat?
In front of many of the shops there are basins full of fish and other such stuff. As we walk down one street one of those 'other such stuff' jumps out in front of Greg. With little reaction the old man sitting next to the basins reaches out and grabs the snake to put it back in the plastic basin. We discuss whether that may have been something we just ate down the road – but leave it as an unconfirmed item. We now take pride in the width and breadth of our 'stuff we ate' list.
We spend the rest of the afternoon touring shops and going on a boat ride before going to a temple upstream. As we walk up to the temple we are struck by the number of 'shoot the balloon with a pellet gun' games are in front of this peace-oriented temple. More that a few people suggest this might be a good thing to set up in our home churches when we get back. I dissuade this missions fundraising initiative - as someone who regularly fills the pulpit I don't relish arming any possible critics!
Old Dams and Panda Bottoms
We are teaching in the evenings so that it would free up our Saturdays for traveling (which freed up our Sundays for rest and worship). Each Saturday we have plans to explore the history and natural splendor of Sichuan. The first Saturday we went out to a 2000 year old irrigation system that is still in use today. We had the chance to wander through temples and wilderness – we even watched a traditional Hip Hop Tibetan dance troupe!!
In the afternoon we travel to the Panda research centre to see…you guessed it Pandas – of both the Giant and Red varieties. When we arrive we wander through extensive bambooed sections to see Pandas sleeping in air conditioned enclosures. As a side note (and it may be a point of further study for some zoology student looking to do his or her doctoral work on Giant Pandas) sleeping Pandas NEVER face the windows – so if you come over and I ask if you want to see my collection of Panda photos say, 'No.' – once you've seen one Panda bottom you've seen them all.
But I really don't blame them – the climate is incredibly hot and humid. I really have not ranted and railed about the heat enough – I almost dehydrated the other day while trying drinking a bottle of water – I felt like one of those cartoon cowboys that takes a drink after a gunfight and leaks out from all his bullet holes. Humidity is no friend of a fat man!
If I could find a way into the climate controlled cage I would join them. I really feel sorry for them – I am only growing a beard and contending with ample back hair – they have a full length fur coat on.
Somewhere there is a website that lists the ten dumbest places to grow facial hair and Chengdu is listed eighth.
We are teaching in the evenings so that it would free up our Saturdays for traveling (which freed up our Sundays for rest and worship). Each Saturday we have plans to explore the history and natural splendor of Sichuan. The first Saturday we went out to a 2000 year old irrigation system that is still in use today. We had the chance to wander through temples and wilderness – we even watched a traditional Hip Hop Tibetan dance troupe!!
In the afternoon we travel to the Panda research centre to see…you guessed it Pandas – of both the Giant and Red varieties. When we arrive we wander through extensive bambooed sections to see Pandas sleeping in air conditioned enclosures. As a side note (and it may be a point of further study for some zoology student looking to do his or her doctoral work on Giant Pandas) sleeping Pandas NEVER face the windows – so if you come over and I ask if you want to see my collection of Panda photos say, 'No.' – once you've seen one Panda bottom you've seen them all.
But I really don't blame them – the climate is incredibly hot and humid. I really have not ranted and railed about the heat enough – I almost dehydrated the other day while trying drinking a bottle of water – I felt like one of those cartoon cowboys that takes a drink after a gunfight and leaks out from all his bullet holes. Humidity is no friend of a fat man!
If I could find a way into the climate controlled cage I would join them. I really feel sorry for them – I am only growing a beard and contending with ample back hair – they have a full length fur coat on.
Somewhere there is a website that lists the ten dumbest places to grow facial hair and Chengdu is listed eighth.
Hide the children, Gigantor is on the loose
After a number of days my system is adjusting to its new life. In fact I am finally able to do the one thing I love to do when traveling in a new culture – I go out and stroll through the neighbourhood. As I walk I quickly realize that as much as I am scared of Chengdu drivers, they may be equally scared of me. Simply put, I am the largest things on Chengdu's road that doesn't have a motor or harness strapped to it.
At first I felt like a salmon swimming upstream through a river of bikes, mopeds and taxis. (Taxis seem to float between the major roads and pedestrian ways like they are the vehicular equivalent of amphibians.) I now realize that I need to enter the stream and not hesitate – show no fear. With a sense of entitlement I cross even the most congested major intersections. As a side note my prayer life has never been so vibrant.
I find the night is a better time to wander. I have a fairly simple set of "Rules of Engagement" for conversation: (1) if eye contact is made and held…we will converse (2) if you say "Hi," "Hello" or "I Love You" in ear shot of me…we will converse and (3) if your job requires you to talk to customers and I can therefore have a free Chinese conversation partner…we will converse. (Rule 3 is the one I always tell ESL students – make use of store clerks they're the easiest, cheapest tutors a language learner could ever hope for).
My favourite conversations are started by moms and dads that drag their child by the arm down the aisle of the Chain Store to say "Hello." On occasion they are dragged back to show the advanced standing their child has in the English class – with much consternation on the child's face (or that may just be pain from a now dislocated shoulder) and an equal measure of pride on the parent's face – I hear, "Happy Birthday!" When the parents let go of junior to pat each other on the back I attack. I begin by complementing the child's English and then drag out my own set of well-worn Putonghua phrases. To show my own advanced standing, I lay down a few words in Sichuan dialect - mostly I compliment them on their child, haitzi, which is the word for shoes in the rest of China. If I am feeling they are a particularly good crowd I repeat my sentence and point at their child and then at their shoes. We share a laugh and move on all parties feeling quite multilingual.
After a number of days my system is adjusting to its new life. In fact I am finally able to do the one thing I love to do when traveling in a new culture – I go out and stroll through the neighbourhood. As I walk I quickly realize that as much as I am scared of Chengdu drivers, they may be equally scared of me. Simply put, I am the largest things on Chengdu's road that doesn't have a motor or harness strapped to it.
At first I felt like a salmon swimming upstream through a river of bikes, mopeds and taxis. (Taxis seem to float between the major roads and pedestrian ways like they are the vehicular equivalent of amphibians.) I now realize that I need to enter the stream and not hesitate – show no fear. With a sense of entitlement I cross even the most congested major intersections. As a side note my prayer life has never been so vibrant.
I find the night is a better time to wander. I have a fairly simple set of "Rules of Engagement" for conversation: (1) if eye contact is made and held…we will converse (2) if you say "Hi," "Hello" or "I Love You" in ear shot of me…we will converse and (3) if your job requires you to talk to customers and I can therefore have a free Chinese conversation partner…we will converse. (Rule 3 is the one I always tell ESL students – make use of store clerks they're the easiest, cheapest tutors a language learner could ever hope for).
My favourite conversations are started by moms and dads that drag their child by the arm down the aisle of the Chain Store to say "Hello." On occasion they are dragged back to show the advanced standing their child has in the English class – with much consternation on the child's face (or that may just be pain from a now dislocated shoulder) and an equal measure of pride on the parent's face – I hear, "Happy Birthday!" When the parents let go of junior to pat each other on the back I attack. I begin by complementing the child's English and then drag out my own set of well-worn Putonghua phrases. To show my own advanced standing, I lay down a few words in Sichuan dialect - mostly I compliment them on their child, haitzi, which is the word for shoes in the rest of China. If I am feeling they are a particularly good crowd I repeat my sentence and point at their child and then at their shoes. We share a laugh and move on all parties feeling quite multilingual.
3-Self or is that 3-Cell Church
We went to church today. The experience is thoroughly surreal due to jet-lag, culture shock, the above mentioned supper and the fact that we wander through several rooms in different buildings and up and down stairs before we find ourselves in a room with a TV. As we sit there the room starts to fill. When the singing begins again we are handed hymnals – if my Chinese speaking skills are anemic, my reading skills are non-existent- and I try hard to make sense of the book, but I fail miserably.
I am not proud of it but I lose my battle to keep conscious and I find myself drifting in and out. I would feel worse if I didn't see people doing the same thing during my sermons on any given Sunday!! If it were not for cell phones constantly going off through out the service I may still be snoozing now. [editor's note: I had a much better experience at a 3-Self Church later in the trip when I was more awake and adjusted]
We went to church today. The experience is thoroughly surreal due to jet-lag, culture shock, the above mentioned supper and the fact that we wander through several rooms in different buildings and up and down stairs before we find ourselves in a room with a TV. As we sit there the room starts to fill. When the singing begins again we are handed hymnals – if my Chinese speaking skills are anemic, my reading skills are non-existent- and I try hard to make sense of the book, but I fail miserably.
I am not proud of it but I lose my battle to keep conscious and I find myself drifting in and out. I would feel worse if I didn't see people doing the same thing during my sermons on any given Sunday!! If it were not for cell phones constantly going off through out the service I may still be snoozing now. [editor's note: I had a much better experience at a 3-Self Church later in the trip when I was more awake and adjusted]
Yi-haw Ride 'em cowboy
Chengdu is home to 17 (or so) universities, one of them is the South West Nationalities University. It is home to the largest Yi culture programs in the world. Through a friend Maggie and I are able to visit an instructor of the Yi language.
It does not take long for me to revert to my field work training as a linguist. As I ride in this phonological rodeo I am reminded of Eric Liddell's quote, "I know I was made for China, but when I run I feel God's pleasure." I, too, know that I am living out what God has called me to – to pastor in a local church, but when I am working with language research I feel God's pleasure. The others in the room dissolve and it is just Ms Wang and I going through the sound system of this fascinating language that has received limited study – almost exclusively by Chinese scholars and a couple from SIL that are currently working in a remote village somewhere in SE Asia.
As we head back to the hotel I have to admit there is an added swagger to my step – after all I am now one of the English-speaking world's foremost experts on Yi phonology.
Chengdu is home to 17 (or so) universities, one of them is the South West Nationalities University. It is home to the largest Yi culture programs in the world. Through a friend Maggie and I are able to visit an instructor of the Yi language.
It does not take long for me to revert to my field work training as a linguist. As I ride in this phonological rodeo I am reminded of Eric Liddell's quote, "I know I was made for China, but when I run I feel God's pleasure." I, too, know that I am living out what God has called me to – to pastor in a local church, but when I am working with language research I feel God's pleasure. The others in the room dissolve and it is just Ms Wang and I going through the sound system of this fascinating language that has received limited study – almost exclusively by Chinese scholars and a couple from SIL that are currently working in a remote village somewhere in SE Asia.
As we head back to the hotel I have to admit there is an added swagger to my step – after all I am now one of the English-speaking world's foremost experts on Yi phonology.
And the list keeps growing
I have confidence that the culture will eventually stop spinning or at least slow down enough that it will no longer be a blur, but I woke up today with an overwhelming sense of traveler's vertigo. We head out on a tour of the facilities with Angel and the head of the Foreign Affairs office, Victor. We also wander through the neigbourhood and go to the university campus. To cap off the day we join together for a meal.
I have always thought of my self as a regular Joe – if that is true in Canada it is doubly true in China. The food that I know and love is that of the Lao Bai Xing or 'common folk' (literally 'Old Hundred Names'). As we dive into the 'welcome meal' we eat everything with legs except the table!!
I have spent a good part of my life avoiding organ meat – and as a kid growing up in an Aboriginal community that is no easy feat. Speaking of feet…we ate chicken feet and pig feet and...Long story short (as Brian likes to say) we ate every part of the pig but the oink – and I am not sure if I didn't taste a little oink in one of the sauces.
Within 12 days of entering China we have eaten: dog, frog (both Chinese and American), donkey, talons, hoofs, duck bill & tongue, several chickens and ducks, both as "whole in the bowl' soup and as the separated bits such as artery, liver, gizzard, bowels, heart, lung, and then there was the stuff we were too scared to ask ' zheige shi shenme?" (What is this?)
I have confidence that the culture will eventually stop spinning or at least slow down enough that it will no longer be a blur, but I woke up today with an overwhelming sense of traveler's vertigo. We head out on a tour of the facilities with Angel and the head of the Foreign Affairs office, Victor. We also wander through the neigbourhood and go to the university campus. To cap off the day we join together for a meal.
I have always thought of my self as a regular Joe – if that is true in Canada it is doubly true in China. The food that I know and love is that of the Lao Bai Xing or 'common folk' (literally 'Old Hundred Names'). As we dive into the 'welcome meal' we eat everything with legs except the table!!
I have spent a good part of my life avoiding organ meat – and as a kid growing up in an Aboriginal community that is no easy feat. Speaking of feet…we ate chicken feet and pig feet and...Long story short (as Brian likes to say) we ate every part of the pig but the oink – and I am not sure if I didn't taste a little oink in one of the sauces.
Within 12 days of entering China we have eaten: dog, frog (both Chinese and American), donkey, talons, hoofs, duck bill & tongue, several chickens and ducks, both as "whole in the bowl' soup and as the separated bits such as artery, liver, gizzard, bowels, heart, lung, and then there was the stuff we were too scared to ask ' zheige shi shenme?" (What is this?)
In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree…
We are met at the Chengdu airport by two representatives from CDUTCM (the university we are teaching for). As weary travelers (jet lag is setting in) it is encouraging to be met by Angel and Rebecca – two names nice to hear upon entering a new city in a new land.
We head off for the hotel. I hope it is good – we will be sleeping, eating, and teaching there for the next three weeks. As I enter the room – being an experienced traveler in Southeast Asia – I check for the essentials. The room has both an air conditioner and a western style toilet – everything else is details!!
We finally meet the other members of the teaching team – Maggie is from Nairobi, Kenya and James is from Cambridge, England. We set off to eat.
A stately pleasure dome decree…
We are met at the Chengdu airport by two representatives from CDUTCM (the university we are teaching for). As weary travelers (jet lag is setting in) it is encouraging to be met by Angel and Rebecca – two names nice to hear upon entering a new city in a new land.
We head off for the hotel. I hope it is good – we will be sleeping, eating, and teaching there for the next three weeks. As I enter the room – being an experienced traveler in Southeast Asia – I check for the essentials. The room has both an air conditioner and a western style toilet – everything else is details!!
We finally meet the other members of the teaching team – Maggie is from Nairobi, Kenya and James is from Cambridge, England. We set off to eat.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Shifting Gates and Sweaty Seats
The days of the week have completely blurred and I have no idea what day it is. Fortunately this is a feeling I remember from my university days. I don't mean this as an endorsement of the life I used to live as some sort of missiological training – I just mean I learned to operate with few of my faculties firing on all cylinders because of it.
One of the fun games we like to play in airport terminals is "What Gate is Our Flight at Now?" This is Air China's way of amusing non-Chinese Speaking foreigners. Randomly throughout the waiting time they will move the gate for boarding a flight. There is no warning and to keep it as interesting as possible they don't even let other Air China staff know.
As a group we assign one person to watch the information at the gate we are parked at and another to watch the flight information board and I, by default, am charged with listening for our flight number in Chinese (( have mastered the numbers 0-20 in Chinese!!!). Luckily there is never a fear of being late for a flight – I fully expect that they will still be holding the plane to Harbin for Passengers Li and Liu when we fly back through Beijing!!
The service on Air China has been wonderful – but I am not the target audience that they have geared their seating plan on. I don't fit comfortably into most Canadian jets, but being both fat and tall is really not working to my advantage in the PRC. For the first time since we landed in China I am glad for the 97% humidity - it allows me to squeeze into my seat. I am not sure the person sitting next to me shares my joy!
We are headed for Chengdu. We will spend the next 24 days in this city. It is the economical, political and educational centre of Southwestern China. It is also hot!!
The days of the week have completely blurred and I have no idea what day it is. Fortunately this is a feeling I remember from my university days. I don't mean this as an endorsement of the life I used to live as some sort of missiological training – I just mean I learned to operate with few of my faculties firing on all cylinders because of it.
One of the fun games we like to play in airport terminals is "What Gate is Our Flight at Now?" This is Air China's way of amusing non-Chinese Speaking foreigners. Randomly throughout the waiting time they will move the gate for boarding a flight. There is no warning and to keep it as interesting as possible they don't even let other Air China staff know.
As a group we assign one person to watch the information at the gate we are parked at and another to watch the flight information board and I, by default, am charged with listening for our flight number in Chinese (( have mastered the numbers 0-20 in Chinese!!!). Luckily there is never a fear of being late for a flight – I fully expect that they will still be holding the plane to Harbin for Passengers Li and Liu when we fly back through Beijing!!
The service on Air China has been wonderful – but I am not the target audience that they have geared their seating plan on. I don't fit comfortably into most Canadian jets, but being both fat and tall is really not working to my advantage in the PRC. For the first time since we landed in China I am glad for the 97% humidity - it allows me to squeeze into my seat. I am not sure the person sitting next to me shares my joy!
We are headed for Chengdu. We will spend the next 24 days in this city. It is the economical, political and educational centre of Southwestern China. It is also hot!!
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Frog Dumplings, Terracotta Warriors and Omelets
We leave Beijing and head for Xi'an. Xi'an is one of those destinations I have always wanted to get to. When I was in grade seven I lived in Ontario and I can remember going to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The big display at the time was a handful of figures from the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an. I fell in love with the idea of archaeology as a career choice. The Indiana Jones movies that came out in the following years helped cement it when I went to university. My BA in anthropology was the first in a long line of thoroughly unemployable degrees (or so I thought – thanks for hiring me FBC!!). All of them can be traced back to a group of clay soldiers from central China.
We head out for dinner at a restaurant that is four floors high and specializes in dumplings. We choose from meals named 18, 20 and 24 Dumpling. And true to the name there is a steady stream of dumplings. Admittedly the western palette loses its ability to distinguish the differences after the first 14. Of note are the frog dumplings and walnut dumplings and one we aren't entirely sure whether it is [Monkey Head] Mushroom or Monkey Head [comma] Mushroom Dumplings.
Our hotel in Xi'an is incredible – the service is wonderful. We wake up to a buffet that includes western and Chinese foods. After eating, we head off to the Terracotta Warriors Museum. It is a fascinating trip as we snake our way through the streets of Xi'an. We are quickly learning that China has a set of Traffic Guidelines (loose suggestions in the rural areas) more than Traffic Laws per se.
The day spent at the archaeological sites is marvelous – it was all I could do to keep from climbing over the railing and inspecting the digs a little closer. The presence of flesh and blood soldiers keep me from getting too close to the terracotta ones.
We leave Beijing and head for Xi'an. Xi'an is one of those destinations I have always wanted to get to. When I was in grade seven I lived in Ontario and I can remember going to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The big display at the time was a handful of figures from the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an. I fell in love with the idea of archaeology as a career choice. The Indiana Jones movies that came out in the following years helped cement it when I went to university. My BA in anthropology was the first in a long line of thoroughly unemployable degrees (or so I thought – thanks for hiring me FBC!!). All of them can be traced back to a group of clay soldiers from central China.
We head out for dinner at a restaurant that is four floors high and specializes in dumplings. We choose from meals named 18, 20 and 24 Dumpling. And true to the name there is a steady stream of dumplings. Admittedly the western palette loses its ability to distinguish the differences after the first 14. Of note are the frog dumplings and walnut dumplings and one we aren't entirely sure whether it is [Monkey Head] Mushroom or Monkey Head [comma] Mushroom Dumplings.
Our hotel in Xi'an is incredible – the service is wonderful. We wake up to a buffet that includes western and Chinese foods. After eating, we head off to the Terracotta Warriors Museum. It is a fascinating trip as we snake our way through the streets of Xi'an. We are quickly learning that China has a set of Traffic Guidelines (loose suggestions in the rural areas) more than Traffic Laws per se.
The day spent at the archaeological sites is marvelous – it was all I could do to keep from climbing over the railing and inspecting the digs a little closer. The presence of flesh and blood soldiers keep me from getting too close to the terracotta ones.
Forbidden City and New Friends
We wake up and head off for downtown Beijing. It is early, but day and night are irrelevant categories when you have just crossed the International Date Line. We crowd into two taxis and hope that we all wind up at the same place – I have to admit I am less worried than the other cab because I'm riding with Michael. We squeeze into a Beijing Subway. It is not as crowded as usual because the heat has been so extreme that employers are rotating days off to conserve energy – there's a good news bad news in there somewhere, but my brain isn't working so well.
We seem to move from one crowd into another as we surface at Tiananmen Square. There are thousands of people queuing in serpentine line that stretches back and forth across the square. As we move around the square we run into an English School from Mongolia visiting Tiananmen Square – we talk to the teachers for a bit and pose for pictures with the students. We soon make more friends as people come up to sell us little Red Books in Chinese and English!!! One particularly dedicated salesman is relentless until he is told we believe in "the wisdom of another book." Undaunted he puts away the red book and pulls out a set of Mao watches – apparently even we Christians need to know the time of day!
We wake up and head off for downtown Beijing. It is early, but day and night are irrelevant categories when you have just crossed the International Date Line. We crowd into two taxis and hope that we all wind up at the same place – I have to admit I am less worried than the other cab because I'm riding with Michael. We squeeze into a Beijing Subway. It is not as crowded as usual because the heat has been so extreme that employers are rotating days off to conserve energy – there's a good news bad news in there somewhere, but my brain isn't working so well.
We seem to move from one crowd into another as we surface at Tiananmen Square. There are thousands of people queuing in serpentine line that stretches back and forth across the square. As we move around the square we run into an English School from Mongolia visiting Tiananmen Square – we talk to the teachers for a bit and pose for pictures with the students. We soon make more friends as people come up to sell us little Red Books in Chinese and English!!! One particularly dedicated salesman is relentless until he is told we believe in "the wisdom of another book." Undaunted he puts away the red book and pulls out a set of Mao watches – apparently even we Christians need to know the time of day!
Putting on the Dog
The hotel we are staying at is the Guizho Mansion and it serves up Guiszho foods. Michael, his wife Sally (who is returning to Calgary in November to defend her M.Eng.) and their daughter Julia host us for supper. It is good to join together and talk about people at FBC. When Michael heard we were coming he said "I'm glad our church is sending a team to China." It made me realize that our membership reaches further than we think – there are a number of people in China that still consider themselves to be part of the Family at First – and they are.
One of the specialties of the house is dog so we try it. I am a dog lover – and I always will be – so it is hard to think of eating dog. I set my jaw and decide that if my mom could raise animals on the farm to eat, then I could certainly eat some puppy I have never met. Throwing caution to the wind Russel announces that if we going to eat dog we might as well just get to it – and he digs in…it is at this point that Michael assures him it tastes better if he waits to cook it!
Before the meal started the waitress bought a bag with a live fish in it – Michael explains that this is to show that it is fresh. I am sure glad they didn't do that with the dog!
The hotel we are staying at is the Guizho Mansion and it serves up Guiszho foods. Michael, his wife Sally (who is returning to Calgary in November to defend her M.Eng.) and their daughter Julia host us for supper. It is good to join together and talk about people at FBC. When Michael heard we were coming he said "I'm glad our church is sending a team to China." It made me realize that our membership reaches further than we think – there are a number of people in China that still consider themselves to be part of the Family at First – and they are.
One of the specialties of the house is dog so we try it. I am a dog lover – and I always will be – so it is hard to think of eating dog. I set my jaw and decide that if my mom could raise animals on the farm to eat, then I could certainly eat some puppy I have never met. Throwing caution to the wind Russel announces that if we going to eat dog we might as well just get to it – and he digs in…it is at this point that Michael assures him it tastes better if he waits to cook it!
Before the meal started the waitress bought a bag with a live fish in it – Michael explains that this is to show that it is fresh. I am sure glad they didn't do that with the dog!
I'm a Foreigner!
As we go through the Chinese customs we queue up in the lanes marked 'Foreigners' we are now officially Lao Wei!!! But even though we are foreigners we are not alone. As we come through the baggage claim we see a very familiar face. Michael Wang used to work at CILC and attend FBC is waiting for us. The heat and humidity wraps itself around us like a winter sweater as we step out into the streets of Beijing. Michael talks to a taxi driver and then tells three people to hop in. He then has a similar conversation with a second and tells us to jump in. My mind is swamped – everything is new, everything is different and yet familiar because the billboards boast suburban living in places with names like Central Park, Palm Springs and Eagle Vista; McDonald's still reminds me that "I'm lovin' it" and Pepsi is still "the choice of the new generation."
As we go through the Chinese customs we queue up in the lanes marked 'Foreigners' we are now officially Lao Wei!!! But even though we are foreigners we are not alone. As we come through the baggage claim we see a very familiar face. Michael Wang used to work at CILC and attend FBC is waiting for us. The heat and humidity wraps itself around us like a winter sweater as we step out into the streets of Beijing. Michael talks to a taxi driver and then tells three people to hop in. He then has a similar conversation with a second and tells us to jump in. My mind is swamped – everything is new, everything is different and yet familiar because the billboards boast suburban living in places with names like Central Park, Palm Springs and Eagle Vista; McDonald's still reminds me that "I'm lovin' it" and Pepsi is still "the choice of the new generation."
A Familiar Face
At the Vancouver airport I found a clerk who could understand my feeble efforts at Poutonghua (standard Mandarin) and so I overstayed my welcome and nearly miss boarding the flight to Beijing. When we get on I am ready for some much-anticipated sleep. I settle into my seat and talk with one of the team members going to Heqing (a village of 100,000 in Yunan) and a student from the U of A that is returning to Chengdu for the summer. Sleep comes and goes – exhaustion and adrenaline do a dance for the first few hours of the flight as I fall into and out of sleep.
Brian comes to talk about some paperwork with me (and stretch his legs) and when he moves forward a voice calls out "Brian?" As Brian later notes when traveling in a country of 1.3 billion people you would expect to know somebody! The voice belongs to Ocean, a Chinese man who was among our very first conversation corner regulars. His wife and daughter are also on the flight and we spend a good amount of time catching up – there will be opportunities for sleeping later.
It is good to be reminded that we do not orchestrate this trip. It is also good to remember what we are doing now (teaching English in China) is a direct outgrowth of what we started doing in a corner of the Ladies' Parlour.
At the Vancouver airport I found a clerk who could understand my feeble efforts at Poutonghua (standard Mandarin) and so I overstayed my welcome and nearly miss boarding the flight to Beijing. When we get on I am ready for some much-anticipated sleep. I settle into my seat and talk with one of the team members going to Heqing (a village of 100,000 in Yunan) and a student from the U of A that is returning to Chengdu for the summer. Sleep comes and goes – exhaustion and adrenaline do a dance for the first few hours of the flight as I fall into and out of sleep.
Brian comes to talk about some paperwork with me (and stretch his legs) and when he moves forward a voice calls out "Brian?" As Brian later notes when traveling in a country of 1.3 billion people you would expect to know somebody! The voice belongs to Ocean, a Chinese man who was among our very first conversation corner regulars. His wife and daughter are also on the flight and we spend a good amount of time catching up – there will be opportunities for sleeping later.
It is good to be reminded that we do not orchestrate this trip. It is also good to remember what we are doing now (teaching English in China) is a direct outgrowth of what we started doing in a corner of the Ladies' Parlour.
The first day
It is exciting, thrilling a coming together of plan I thought I would never see come true and at the same time it is overwhelming. I spent the last few days in Canada trying to finish up some proposals for CILC and FBC- South Gate and trying to track down information on my grandfather's family that lived in Shanghai (one of the cities we will visit). In effort to follow the advice given us to sleep on the way over I have been awake for the last 48 hours. As we say goodbye to family and friends at the airport my mind drifts back to an even earlier memory of going to the Brandon Exhibition as a kid. After a day of foot-long corndogs and tilt-a-whirl rides, my friends decided it would be fun to go to the haunted house. I hated the idea, but went along. Within two minutes of entering a man in a poorly fitting gorilla outfit jumped out – it was enough for me. I turned and ran out. Luckily I was the last of my group to enter so they weren't among the people I knocked over as I went 'out' through the 'in' door. At the end of the day no one was any wiser (I hope my brother doesn't read this blog). At the beginning of big trips and new ventures I still feel like that kid in a cheap haunted house - I always want to at least check for a place to run. But I don't.
It is exciting, thrilling a coming together of plan I thought I would never see come true and at the same time it is overwhelming. I spent the last few days in Canada trying to finish up some proposals for CILC and FBC- South Gate and trying to track down information on my grandfather's family that lived in Shanghai (one of the cities we will visit). In effort to follow the advice given us to sleep on the way over I have been awake for the last 48 hours. As we say goodbye to family and friends at the airport my mind drifts back to an even earlier memory of going to the Brandon Exhibition as a kid. After a day of foot-long corndogs and tilt-a-whirl rides, my friends decided it would be fun to go to the haunted house. I hated the idea, but went along. Within two minutes of entering a man in a poorly fitting gorilla outfit jumped out – it was enough for me. I turned and ran out. Luckily I was the last of my group to enter so they weren't among the people I knocked over as I went 'out' through the 'in' door. At the end of the day no one was any wiser (I hope my brother doesn't read this blog). At the beginning of big trips and new ventures I still feel like that kid in a cheap haunted house - I always want to at least check for a place to run. But I don't.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Thursday, June 16, 2005
I guess I should introduce myself and the general scope of the future rants posted here. My name is Jeff Logan and I live/work/play in Calgary Alberta. I have had the opportunity to travel and work various places around the world. No matter where I am though I still remain that Chinese-Japanese-British-Norweigian Kid that grew up in a First Nations Community in rural Canada...I will always remain a Glocal Yocal, aka a well travelled hick.
Mostly this will be a place where I can talk about random thoughts that make there way into my head but don't fit as a sermon illustration that week (I am a pastor at First Baptist Church in Calgary) or books I am reading. I will also put up some stuff from my travels - I will start with my recent trip to Sichuan China where I taught at a medical university.
Migwec
Jeff
Mostly this will be a place where I can talk about random thoughts that make there way into my head but don't fit as a sermon illustration that week (I am a pastor at First Baptist Church in Calgary) or books I am reading. I will also put up some stuff from my travels - I will start with my recent trip to Sichuan China where I taught at a medical university.
Migwec
Jeff
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