Back from the mainland for a few days now, and we have been debriefing in Hong Kong. I have so much to share and have been wanting to get a blog up, but spending every moment I can with my world race family has been my priority. So, I am excited to share so SO much more with you when I return to the states in now a matter of hours!
I will give you just a little overview on China, as we are limited in what we can put up online as far as photos and details…but I would love to share more with you in person! 🙂
Sleeper train in to mainland China!!
Fun times! 🙂
“Cultural Exchange Students” at a college
China is one populated country, home to around 1.3 billion people (almost 25% of the world’s population), in comparison with the @ 350 million in America.
China is a
closed country to the Gospel, however, the government has approved a
governmental church which is allowed to operate passively in plain
sight. They are highly regulated, however, and
are forbidden to preach certain doctrines that might be threatening to
the peace of the country. Aggressive evangelism is illegal, especially for foreigners. Secret police are assigned to tail groups that appear suspicious. That
being said, it was a danger to our “friends” in mainland China for us
to stay in any location for longer than a couple weeks or to travel in
large groups. We were asked to stagger our entry
into the country to mask the fact that fifty people were coming in so
crossing the boarder took several hours.
It was fun being a student again (for just 2 hrs/day, with no tests or homework!!)- my favorite classes were tea art and calligraphy!
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Due to the crowding, we encountered much smog and pollution from both the many vehicles and the cultural norm of most men smoking (everywhere- vehicles, in buildings, trains, etc.)! Loud, hawking spitting is another cultural norm…this actually was convenient since we all got colds our first week in mainland due in part to the cold weather and heavy pollution. Even in the hospital, I was shocked to find the doctors smoking as they were talking to their patients with respiratory illnesses! Sanitation- not really a priority here as evidenced by the squatties. Below won the worst smelling, but the most memorable squatties were out in the villages where you were always kept company by the big hog next to you- one time I had a hog jump up on the wall within inches of my head! “Is this even real!?” has been a frequent question I’ve asked myself all year! 🙂 Talking about sanitation- on our 12 day backpacking trip, we went 10 of those in the same clothes and without showers! Considering mountain women only shower once every 2-3 months because, well, I don’t really know why (other than it’s freezing cold and you have to boil the water and there’s not such a thing as a “shower room”). This made for a lighter pack since we didn’t have to pack extra clothes! 🙂
The Chinese are very curious people and personal space is of little consequence. Being a foreigner made us the center of attention almost everywhere. Our
pictures were requested constantly and even those without cameras would
stare at us for minutes on end before carrying on with their business. On our train ride, we turned to find a Chinese couple in the next train over taking our picture and waving at us! Our
knowledge of English was the best inroad to the country as it is a
coveted language for the Chinese (English is the language of
business and thus the language of money). Students and businessmen alike would come up to practice their English with us so small talk became a norm for our conversation.
The harvest here is so ripe! Literally, the soil is very fertile and produces healthy and rich produce all over, which was a reminder and evidence to us of the spiritual climate that is changing as the ground is faithfully plowed!
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Amazing food!! We ate a lot of hot pots (big center boiling pot you through everything in)- these also served the dual purpose of a center space heater!! I got to try chestnuts roasted o’re an open fire, tofu prepared in many ways (including stinky tofu- that made me gag!), chicken feet, bees and bee larvae (ya, that was odd- we saw them preparing this one!), frog legs, pig fat (no meat, just fried fat- can’t get much healthier than that one! But when they have so little, this provides for filling the belly quite well), lots and lots of rice (as in almost every country all year), many colorful vegees, dumplings (yummy!! one of my favorites!), and much more. We became quite good at using chopsticks as we would go quite hungry without this skill! This of course makes sense, but I was surprised to see even the little ones using them so easily!
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This gives a whole new meaning to flame-grilled!!
Our purpose in China was to “learn about Chinese culture and meet Chinese people.” We
were forbidden to use certain words that would betray our intentions
while in everyday conversation and absolutely in any communication
venues such as phone calls and e-mail. For the
sake of perspective, the Chinese government has over a million
employees whose sole responsibility is to monitor all e-mail
communication. While the worst case scenario for
us as foreigners would be to be escorted out of our city or potentially
the country, our errors in these areas have the more devastating
consequences of exposing or threatening the operation of our “friends”
in the interior. 
We got to backpack a little bit, and travel to a few villages to visit people in their homes. One of my most memorable visits was to this lady, with whom we got to sing, talk with our Father about and just sit around her fire…not able to communicate with her in a language she understood with her ears…but her heart was moved!
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Our time in mainland ended with a journey north to Beijing and… |
Mal, Steph and I
| We took an “off the beaten path” tour, so we saw the wall in it’s original form without any of the remodeling that is done in all of the tourist areas. This was the ONLY place in China that we were ever alone, it was amazing when we realized that we were not being crowded, pushed, stared at, or surrounded by the many people! We even got to “help build” a section! 🙂 |
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The whole country is getting ready and counting down for the Olympics!!
Back to Hong Kong for debrief- first night back we got to see the famous light show!
