Thanksgiving, or something along those lines.

It's been an eventful week.

Aunt Janet decided to come across the world to visit me while over her week off from teaching, so we've been visiting a lot of her old friends and meeting some new ones in the process. It's been fun to see and hear about how Xiamen and China has changed over the last 20 years, for both the better and the worse.

On Wednesday night (and shown) Leo, I, Spino, Perry, Tim, Jacob, and Matt decided to go camping on Gulanyu island. None of our Chinese friends had ever done such a thing, so it was an experience to go with them. These guys had also never had the pleasure of eating the staple camping food: S'mores.

After attempting futilly to explain what these melted pieces of goodness were, and finally getting across the humor of its name(you want s'more smores?), "chocolate," strawberry marshmallows, and buttery cookies combined to make the culinary combo. Leo tried the first one and answered, "I'm so confused...."

It was much colder than we realized. We had no tents and two blankets to split between the seven of us. We didn't sleep very much. Bamboo suffices as firewood, but it pops violently and burns really really fast.

In the morning we made our way back to XiaDa, but not before Matt and I stopped by Mai Dan Lao for an exceptional breakfast.

Janet knew some people through her school that were affiliated with an orphanage in town, so she and I went and visited it. They work mainly with the handicapped children who will probably not be adopted. It is a really great thing they are doing. Remind me to tell you more about it.

Janet, with Mom's help, also managed to bring the materials for an authentic Pumpkin pie, which she made and gave to me on my birthday. It was really great.
Our Thanksgiving celebration was a hodgepodge of Western fast food and Chinese dishes, which, combined with our team that has gotten pretty close over the past months, it was a really great and fun evening. After dinner and a birthday cake we watched Elf and listened to Christmas music.

Today Janet, I, Jeanette, Matt, Dan, and Nate managed to get a personal ride(thanks to Janet's former student, now business owner) to Yongding, a town with Hakka ethnic minority rounhouses. Many were build during the Ming dynasty and are still used. Think about a three-story circular house with an open courtyard made completely out of wood and you might get something close to the Hakka houses.Janet leaves tomorrow afternoon for home. We're going to the First Protestant Church in China(in Xiamen) tomorrow morning before she departs.

Its impossible to escape the influence of history, for everything we do will forever be apart of it.

Xi'an - 西安 - "Western Peace"

I apologize for slacking on my updates-

We've been on our "trek" for about a week now, visiting Shanghai, Beijing, and arriving in Xi'an today. These cities all have a different feel to them - Shanghai: the whirlwind of the free market and "new China." Beijing - The "center of the world" and pride of the country. Xian - the old capital before Beijing, the central hub of the Silk Road and the port of the West.

We flew from Xiamen to Shanghai and spent a few days there. I found a new hero of Chinese history - Sun Yatsen. Check him out. He had a house in Shanghai and a few guys and I toured it while we were there. Not far down the street was the place where the first Communist Party meeting was, so it was interesting to see these two places in one day.

We took the overnight train to Beijing. Taking trains makes me feel like I'm in the 1800's. I wish we would improve our train system, they're really great. While in Beijing I still felt like I was in "China," just with 15 million people. Hong Kong and Shanghai have a different feel about them. People in Beijing seem to make time for tea, and the older people make time for leisure and community, whether reciting Tang dynasty poems, singing propaganda songs about "the good ole' days," or playing hackysack (they were way better than I). Remind me to tell you about seeing Mao's body.

We traveled last night by another overnight train to Xi'an. This city still has its city wall intact, build in the Ming Dynasty around 600 years ago. Today we went about an hour and a half out of the city to see a Nestorian pagoda(Nestorians came to China around the year 600) and to see the place where Laozi allegedly wrote down his thoughts that later became the "Tao te Jing," one of Daoism's main texts. Both places were majestic and surreal.
Hope you all are doing well. I sure am.

China.

So... I'm in Xiamen, China.

And I'm enjoying my trip more and more with each passing day. I miss you all back at home, and look foward to seeing you when I get back, but I really am loving it here.

There's things that you can only learn by getting away: seeing and thinking about issues from an outsider's perspective allows you to become so much more aware of your own biases and inconsistancies in your thoughts, beliefs, and motives.

China is a perplexing place, And i won't understand it all by the time i get back. This was my goal before coming here for the semester: to see and understand this place that is becoming more and more involved in everyone's lives.

What is happening, however, is that i'm becoming more aware of the mystery and complexities that is China. In the same breath, i'm realizing issues that i never had before. I'm starting to develop a mindset that will hopefully shape my thoughts in a global perspective rather than an American or even Western one.

And this is my goal now. To begin to become aware. To realize that this step will last the remainder of my life. To allow Truth to transform me.

And i think i'm ready.

Quanzhou: Port of the World

This Shaolin temple was awesome to see! It is the home of Southern Shaolin KungFu, and taking pictures with this monk was pretty sweet...

This place had a remarkably different feel than that of Xiamen, even though the cities are only a two hour bus ride away from each other. In Xiamen, honking and motorcycles are not allowed, however, people seem to make up for it in Quanzhou. The frenzy and bustle of this place, though, is only just an echo to the port city that it once was: the greatest and most important on earth.

Whereas the silk road traveled through western China, across deserts with nomadic peoples, the maritime silk road began in Quanzhou. Because of the massive trade happening in this city, people from all over the world made Quanzhou home, bringing their lifestyles, customs, and religion with them. Quanzhou was the melting pot of the world in the early 1400s, having a population of over 1 million people. Meanwhile, Europe was relearning how to tie their shoes after recently emerging from the dark ages. Marco Polo allegedly came here during this time, journaling about things he saw. Polo referred to the city as "Zaytan," which is where we get the word "satin" from.

Zheng He, the legendary eunuch Chinese explorer/trader in the early 1400s sailed through this city, making stops at the many Islamic mosques before sailing on to Malaysia, India, the Middle East, and eventually down the coast of Africa. His fleet, often numbering over 60 ships and 25,000 men, traded for Persian spices and herbs used for Chinese Medicine and exotic animals like giraffes, exchanging them for silks and porcelain. The treasure fleet opened ports near Sumatra and gained nominal authority of "all under heaven" for the Dragon Throne of the Ming Emperor. This picture roughly shows the size of one of the main Treasure Fleet vessels. The other ship is Columbus' Santa Maria.

More Pictures! Yeah, I know...It's Been a While.

Matthew and I decided rent some bicycles last Saturday afternoon and try to explore the island. We figured out the price was 5 Yuan per hour, per bicycle, with a 200 Yuan deposit each. We started to ride down the island ring road, which follows the coast. We later decided that it would be good to turn around and go explore downtown for a bit. On our way there, the chain on my bicycle broke, debilitating the machine. We were close to the rental store and managed to walk the bike there. They fixed the chain, and we were on our way again. After exploring downtown for a few hours, during which we stumbled onto Sun Yat Sen Park...super cool, we realized that we were lost, it was getting dark, and we didn’t know when the rental shop closed. We needed to get a taxi. After no driver would take two people and both of their bicycles, we each got a cab. The driver was rather rough with my rental transportation, forcing it into the trunk. After we arrived and the taxi left, I noticed that the “derailer” of the chain had completely broken off of the frame and was dangling, helplessly.

I carried the bike to the store front, and, for the second time today, pointed at the mishap. He halfway concealed a concerned look, and began working on the bike. It took several minutes to fix, and I was sure they would not be as forgiving the second time around. The woman asked for 35 Yuan, and I began asking how much the repair fee would be. This took quite some time, and I began to get frustrated by the fact that she wasn’t even beginning to understand what I was asking her, even with my seemingly obvious hand motions. I eventually asked for a pen to attempt to write the price down. She brought back one and also their business card, circling the phone number. She wasn’t trying to charge me any more but was only eager to get our business again.

I was getting upset at my lack of being able to communicate such a simple topic, while I couldn’t understand what she was trying to convey either. It was such a surprise to not be charged extra for breaking their bike... twice. Also, they allowed me to wash my bike-greased hands in their personal bathroom, which was above and beyond what I expected from them. Even though I am a foreigner, who is often treater better than locals, I have been completely blown away by the hospitality of the people here. It has been very refreshing to begin to feel exposed to this culture. I think about my first China trip so often, and it was only for three weeks. I am positive that this semester will change my outlook on how i view other people as it already has. It is always a good thing to take a step back from things and put yourself in different and bending ways. These frustrating circumstances and ocurrances don't make you act a certain way, they just reveal what you really are like. Its uncomfortable to be confronted with buried aspects of yourself, but its good also.

Ni Hao Typhoon

So we're about to get demolished...
not really, but its really windy and we're supposed to get rain for the next few days. We were planning on going to the Buddhist temple near campus today, but it might have to wait.

Our lecture went really well this morning. Our professor was an older man that studied at Cornell and also was sent to the countryside during the cultural revolution. Very interesting to hear him talk-some guys and I are planning on eating lunch with him sometime to talk some more.

There's a restaurant on the second floor of our dorm AND THEY DELIVER, so right now we're waiting on our lunch.

For all those concerned, we're not drinking any milk and/or baby formula.

The history presentation I am going to give in a few weeks is about "When China Ruled the Seas." It follows the story of the explorere, Zheng He, and discusses his travels to Africa 80 years before De Gama. So that should be interesting.

Lunch is here. Hope you are doing well. I got some Skype money, so if you message me your phone number, I would like to call you.

-Park

Xiamen Daxue (Shah! Men? Dah shweigh)

The group made it to Xiamen on Saturday evening and started official class on Monday morning. Classes have been going well. Its interesting to listen to our teachers' accents; you can tell where they learned English : from either Australia, the UK, or from the states.

Our group is staying on the third floor of the international students dorm and from the top floor you can see almost the entire campus, which is really pretty and well kept.

We've been trying out the local restaurants around campus and have found some good ones nearby. My favorite thing to get currently is Ji Rou Jaozi (chicken dumplings).

Its been good to finally be able to settle in: buying some much needed groceries like coffee, tea(xiamen is a famous exporter of tea) anime coffee mugs, and some asianish wall posters.

We had the first English corner last night. They're kind of awkward and I was apprehensive about going, but after getting swarmed as soon as we got there, the whole thing was pretty enjoyable and 2 hours went by without me realizing it. Some people and I are planning on talking more on Friday when the next corner is.

We found the underground pirated DVD market today; it was awesome. We walked down this back alleyway where there was an unmarked door. Inside were two completely filled rooms, one of which the ceiling was so short i couldn't stand all the way up. I wanted to take some covert pictures and videos, but couldn't. I will the next time I go, which will be soon.

I'm taking pictures of the campus and around the area. I will upload them soon.

Zaijian,

-park

Macauboys

We had the day off yesterday.

Four other guys and I decided to take the TurboJet ferry to Macau for the day. Macau is a strange and bizarre and fascinating place. Portugal, Asia, Las Vegas all rolled into one island. We had no expectations and really just wanted to get another stamp on our passport. We decided to try our luck, all 20 Hong Kong Dollars(3 USD), at the grand emperor casino.

I won 100 Dollars on my first try at Roulette... I decided that was enough.

We took a taxi to Fernando's restaraunt, an open air Portuguese barbecue sitting on the bay of a nearby island. It was the best meal I've had in a long time. A whole chicken, suckling pork, ribs, and the best french fries on earth. A friend and I got in a pickup basketball game with some local boys and had a good time thoroughly kicking their tushes....who cares if they'd hit puberty.

It was a good Saturday.

Sweat.

Hong Kong is a humid place.

We're staying at the YMCA in HK and its a pretty cool place. We found the game room, complete with multiple ping pong tables, and even 60 yr old men are awesome.

The downtown skyline is unbelievable. We rode the public transit system to the tip of Kowloon and then took the ferry across to HK island. It was so nice and clean, but it should be since spitting is a 5,000 dollar fine.

The banks of Hong Kong make the currency instead of a government mint, so the bills have the banks on them. Some say HK is the most capitalist place in the world.

Mom, my first food purchase was some apples from a grocery store. Fuji, to be exact.

I'm in a KFC down the street to get the internet. They have iced red bean drinks. They are not good.

The scenery is really unbelievable. The mountains seem to jut straight out of the ocean, accompanied by high rise apartments and buildings.

Hong Kong

Hey there everyone,

I just got into Hong Kong. I'm really confused about the time because its 7:45 in the morning, and I totally missed tuesday. But I'm here and alive.

And on the way from San Antonio to LAX I sat next to Katy Perry. No lie. So that was random and interesting.

How to find Xiamen on a map:

1. Zoom in to find taiwan
2. Look directly over on the Chinese Coast

I put a map of China up so you can see where I am and will be going.

-p

Hello All

I'm planning on updating this journal every several days in order to keep everyone up to date with my semester at Xiamen University in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. I also plan on posting online photo albums to this blog, so everyone who wants to can get a better idea of where I'm living and what I'm doing. I would love your comments telling me how things are going where you are, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.



-Park