Going to China to Play In The Dirt

Where ever you find a dirt pile - you can bet that children will find an adventure.

This dirt pile outside the apartment complex is left over from a new road they have put in. The local children come equipped with kitchen spoons and pails to build castles and play "King of the Mountain."

There is no language barrier when it comes to playing in the dirt.

Modern Day Rain Dance

Here is Beijing, it rains about 5 days per year because it is positioned between two mountian ranges along side a desert.

One night it sounded life firework, however, it was explained that they were shooting dry ice high into the sky to generate rain. Modern day rain dance.

In an effort to reduce pollution they have planted thousands of trees, and trees and grass need water. So due to the lack of rain they have begun seeding the clouds to make it rain.

Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alters the microphysical processes within the clouds. The substances used are usually include silver iodide and dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide).

Give A Man A Fish

Peering into a Coy Pod I explained that back in the U.S. these large "gold" fish could be valued at $1,000 to $10,000. An older chinese woman with me was confused....

"Why would you want fish you could not eat?"

Good question. However, I had no good answer.



I laid awake last night, reviewing the day and our adventure....and pondering the old woman's question. Why do we as American's require so many things?

One of my friends said that I would come back a changed person and as we have travel and see how people live and move about in this country - I do see myself looking inward more. Reflecting on our standard of living and why we do the things we do.

A few weeks ago I heard a sermon on "giving things up." That perhaps we had too much "stuff" in our lives and that it was crowding out the work the Lord has for us. Don and I at lunch after church were discussing the sermon - and I asked, "what do you think we have that is excessive? what do you think we could give up?" We both thought, and thought, and the only thing that we could think of was the premium cable we enjoyed. I mean we do not want to give up things that make us more comfortable, do we? After all in our eyes we do not live very high, at least by America's standards.

Its funny, I asked Don this morning, "what do you think we could give up?" His reply without too much thought - "a lot." Our preception of what is necessary has changed. We have only been here a short time, however, we see that much of what we do and have creates more stress then pleasure.

The children notice it too. At home the lights go out and we jump to start the generator. They have learned here sometimes the lights go out or the internet is not available and there is nothing to do but wait. Little Donny says he realizes how "blessed" he is.

As we have traveled and seen the old and new Beijing we have seen that the older people here are happy even with less. I see the younger generations with the same focus and want as Americans.

In a country that has only been under this leadership for a few decades, things are changing very quickly. They have a saying here, "here today, gone tomorrow." In the eyes of a watching world we expect China to be as "civilized" as our own. However, we fail to realize that progress takes time. If we were to look back over our own countrys history we see regrettable behavior and actions - errors of judgement and prejudice...even today.

We do what we do with what we know. And when we know better, we do better.

The Main Attraction

I had told the children that people might stare at us because they are not used to seeing Westerners, however, I was not prepared for being bombarded by people with cameras and wanting to touch us as we came off of the airplane in Beijing.

When we stepped off the plane we were literally surrounded by fifty teenage girls with camera phones out. Flash bulbs where popping and people were pointing and waving. Talk about being the "Main Attraction at the Zoo."

In a sea of black hair and black eyes - our children with lighter brown hair, fair skin, and lighter brown eyes are stared at wherever we go. Kate with her curly hair draws attention and all of the girls and women want to touch her.

Kate is loving the attention, however, Donny in his "proper ways" thinks that it is rude to point and stare and tells them as if they understand him.

Every new place we go - people will join in our family photo - just to have a picture with Westerners. It cracks me up! My father taught me to say "don't touch" to keep the people from touching the children.

Yes, that is a local jumping into our family photo as her family took her picture with us!

The culture here is very touchy - and as many of you know - I do not like to be touched or hugged. I have a defined personal space that I enjoy having respected. That personal space does not exist here. First there is no room for personal space, second, it is the culture for woman to hold hands, and caress each other as a sign of friendship...nothing more.

All of the woman here carry umbrellas. They do not use sunscreen, but see it as a social symbol to have fair skin. Having fair skin means that you do not have to do manual labor and have the status to stay out of the sun.

So we bought the children umbrellas ($1.oo U.S.) in hopes of keeping the sun off of them and to keep people walking by from staring. We thought perhaps we would blend in. Not! The people just simply would bend down and look under the umbrellas as the children rode in strollers...getting even closer to the children.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman

We went to Tai Yuan where the "locals" shop wholesale yesterday. I learned where all the purses, sunglasses and everything you find in New York City's China town comes from. In one building there were 6 floors of vendors. It is much like a U.S. Flea Market - however they sell in bulk for others to resale elsewhere.

Here is China they batter for everything. You want a bottle of water, you batter, you want a Barbie doll, you batter. Little Donny was a little taken back by it all. First, it is very overwhelming because there are so many people. Then we stick out like a sore thumb. And everyone stares or comes up to us and wants to take our picture!

Donny did not understand all of the talking/yelling that went with battering. He believed we would find something and just buy it. When we went up to a toy vendor and began battering and then just walked away appearing to be mad and uninterested - he melted down. He thought that they would not sell us something because we were Americans. He started yelling at the vendor - "Your just being mean to us, because we are Americans.

We had to get out of the store - however, even outside in the street the children were overwhelmed because of all the people. We decided that it would just be best that Don and Dad take the kids home and Min and I would continue to shop.

Spiderman to the Rescue

What we did not realize that I took the backpack that had the house key in it. So when they arrived home - about a 1/2 hour drive they were locked out.

No worries. Thankfully the house is only on the second floor! Don crawled up a pipe on the side of the building, onto a little ledge, and in to a bedroom window.

The Chinese women that sit outside ran up to us when we arrived and told me, "two seconds." Meaning that Don scaled up the side of the building in two seconds. When we came back outside that evening everyone was pointing at Don and talking - that was more excitement then the old ladies had seen all week!

Kate and Dora are now calling him Spiderman! However, Donny lectured his father that climbing up a wall is not "thinking safety."

Hungry for Chinese?

Today we went to Wang Fu Jing (The Knight Market), the biggest tourist actraction for shopping in Beijing. We spent the day shopping in all of the new/modern shops.

Many of the "old" city is being torn down to make room for the modern shops. However, we found a little alley back behind the new buildings into the "old" city.

Personally, I would rather see the "old" Beijing - the culture and people.

It was around lunch time and we were really hungry. So we looked for a little restuarant that we all would enjoy.

If you have ever been to the Orient you will recognize a certain smell that floats in the air. It is almost a spicy smell, much like a soy sauce smell.

I think you either love it or hate it. However, regardless of the smell the children were very hunger - so wanting to experience authentic Chinese cuisine we found this vendor that sold...deep fried sea horses...

We took a picture...then decided to eat at KFC Chicken instead! Seeing the Sea Horses and Scorpions on a stick were authentic cuisine enough!

Seeing in The Dark

Picture in your minds eye - the "pay at the pump" gas station. You put your credit charge in and prepay for your gasoline.

Now picture that the electric in your home here is just like that "pay at the pump" credit card machine.

That is where our story begins:

We have been running since we arrived, and no one remembered that now that the air conditioner is on that the house would be using more electricity....and around 6 p.m. last night we realized that the "power low" light was flashing BRIGHT RED on the electric meter! And oops....we did not recharge the prepaid card to insert into the electric meter to pay for the electric. So we went into electric conservation mode.

We turned off the air, t.v. and most of the lights - it gave me an excuse to make the children go to bed at a reasonable time.

We estimated that the electric should go off by 1:30 a.m. - I began to pray that we would not lose any power....at 8:30 a.m. we were able to recharge the card at the local service center....we never lost power - it was like the oil that Elisha gave to the widow - it just stretched and stretched.

Favor, Favor all around.

The Golden Arches

Thank Goodness McDonalds is everywhere! The children are surviving by eating McDonalds every morning! They fill up for the day and enjoy PB&J and melon for dinner.

I wish that they would try the local cuisine, however, they have not worked up the courage yet.

When we go into the rurual countryside the adjustment might be a hard one for them. They have already gone through most of there snacks - it is going to be a long month for them.

Welcome to Asia

Before we left the plane I thought that perhaps the windows of the plane were just foggy, however, that was not the case. The fog was not on the windows, the fog was not that at all - it was a haze of pollution that hung in the air.

What amazed me when I stepped off of the plane is that I had to take a moment to catch my breath. As many of you know I have struggled with Asthma for many years. It was hot, humid, and a smell that I can not describe hung in the air.

When we arrived in Beijing I was a little taken back to say the least. The airport is brand new, and very modern. In fact it is one of the largest buildings in the world. It is very clean, bright....and HOT! I do not believe that it is air conditioned...or it was not keeping up with the mid-90 degree heat wave.

Yes, we had to arrive on the hottest day of the year!

I was surprised by the friendly attendants through out the airport. In the restrooms, elevators, trains, etc. Most of them speak broken english and there are english signs throughout the airport.

I just wish someone would have told me about the lack of Western Toilets! My children refused to use the restroom until I found one equipped with something they could recognize.

Immigration and customs were not as horrible as I thought they might be...infact they did not really question our documents. However, when we arrived we had to register with the local police station within 24 hours since we were not staying at a hotel. I was surprised by this, however, my father explained that even in the U.S. if visitors arrive on a foreign visas they too must register with the police, however, it is not enforced.

We decided not to tackle taking a bus to our destination in the city and hired two taxi's to take us to my father's home. Unlike the U.S. they do not wear seatbelts or require child seats. The kids were freaked out. As many of you know little Donny is a black and white rules type of kid...the fact that the cars were not equipped with seat belts kind of threw him off. The rules are the rules, and everyone must follow them ....and he expects to enforce the rules. So....We shoved him into the car despite his protests and were on our way.

And the culture shock begins.

Donny really has a hard time adapting to change and Big Don is not much different. The last comment Don made to me on the airplane....was "your lucky I love you." I just smiled, and said, "you said you would follow me half way around the world when you married me." I guess he did. :)

Going in Favor

As many of you know this trip was blanketed in prayer and the blood of Jesus. As the date came closer I began to pray that God would grant to us favor. Despite the delay at the airport, and the fact that I put Don's cell phone on seasonal before we left (bad mistake) we had several blessings that appeared on our 22 hour journey.

On the plane from Detroit - which was delayed on the run way for over an hour - I had the opportunity to sit next to a young man (probably my age LOL) who was going to be on our connecting flight to Beijing as well. I peered at the paperwork he was reviewing and saw that he was reading a term paper on "wealth management" - come to find out he was a professor in the U.S. who taught finance and economics at a Viriginia University. I read several of his students works and explained the difference between the text book examples and the "real" world. It was amazing to me that even through he had never actually managed wealth - he was attempting to teach our young people the principles of management.

Then we had the most delightful conversation on the changing economic condition of China and the U.S. He really helped to clear up some of my concerns of going to Asia. He explained that he moved to the U.S. 4 years ago and as he continued to return home to China he was happy to see that the mind and heart of China was changing. We talked about the polution issues - and how any industrialized country goes through the growing pains of progress.

As we landed at our lay-over we said goodbye and I was happy to have made a friend. Then as we "RAN" to caught our next flight - that we almost MISSED! We had a pleasant surprise. As we waitied in line with the other 500 passengers boarding an older business man came up and introduced himself - he was very pleasant. During our flight he came to check on us several times and when we landed in Beijing he explained where we had to go and what to expect.

Meeting these people in my eyes were divine appointments....we were very scared going to a foreign land where we did not speak the language, however, meeting these strangers helped us to relax and take in the experience.

Pictures are Forecoming

Good Morning. I am trying to upload pictures, however, I am having trouble. Hopefully I will figure it out so that you all can see the sights....too bad we do not have smell-o-vision yet.

As well, I do not understand why the time is still "EST" - so the posts are coming out on Michigan time - we are 12 hours ahead here.

Year of the Dragon

O.K., so I can not spell and I goofed up when I listed China, as the "Land of the Rising Sun." It is not, that is Japan....oops. So I can not spell and now all of you know that I did not pay attend to 8th grade geography.

A Side Note on The Election

This is a side note to my Christian friends that are following our silent death march to the upcoming elections. Check out our pastor, Nate Elarton's blog, under: "My Blog List."

Less is More

Today is the day that we are laying out everything that most go into a suitcase for the trip. {LOL, LOL}

It is laughable! Every travel suggestion I have read says, "Less is More." The thought of taking only what you need is a wonderful idea. However, traveling to a foreign country, where you do not speak the language and can not ask for what you need is a frightening thing.

Will we need a first aid kit? How many pairs of shoes? My feet are huge - the Chinese are known for their small feet. Can we just buy shampoo there? What if I can not find my brand - do I really want my hair to be forever immortalized in our family photo albums due to lack of proper products?

These things are trivial in the grand scheme of life I know. But the thoughts cross your mind and lead you to ponder even further on the term, "Less is More."

Less is more, traveling light. A good lesson for us all...to not allow the things of this world to weigh us down.

Traveling To The Land of The Rising Sun

We are preparing to leave for China in the coming days. List have been made, checked, and rechecked. The question still remains, "Have we prepared for everything?"

I have begun to allow my mind to go to the: "Worst Possible Scenario."

• letter comes from a government agency, I miss the deadline
• my business implodes on itself
• my staff quits
• my "wifi" cell phone does not work abroad

But as YODA states: "Named must your fear be before banish it you can."

So since "Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." (Benjamin Disraeli) we are off on an adventure I never planned...so at this point I am just closing my eyes and going with it. Geronimo!