sino journal three

Thursday morning June 8th the group went out to Sichuan University clear across town in Chengdu. I missed some lectures so I could meet with Tom’s friend from last summer, Joshua. We had a nice talk about what I could do in Chengdu for the last few days of my trip. For the afternoon, the group went to a panda research center outside of town where they have both the giant panda and the smaller red panda. The red panda looks something like a giant raccoon but is the color of a fox. A guide told us that the giant pandas do not know how to mate and must be taught. Therefore, they give them an apple to eat and turn on a big wide-screen TV so they can watch adult pandas copulating (panda porn?).

In they evening we went out to a Sichuan restaurant followed by a performance of a Sichuan opera. At the end of dinner, they had everyone try a toast with just a thimble of some very strong Chinese liquor. Everyone, that is except me. I had agreed in writing that I would not drink while in China. I would have liked to take part with the rest instead of looking like a Christian stick in the mud. I think most know I am a believer because on the plane to Chengdu I shared my testimony with my seatmate. He is a sociologist who teaches the sociology of religions and asked me how I became a Christian. (Please pray: I think behind the academic interest is a seeker’s heart.)

Friday June 9th we left for Mount Emei. This is a beautiful mountain with several Buddhist temples. Have you ever seen Chinese paintings of misty, craggy mountains? That what this area is like and one of the most beautiful in China. Some students from the local university joined us on our trek up the mountain. I talked with a young woman whose major was tourism management. She was from the capital city of a very poor province. Her hometown is “very small” and had a population of only one million. She bought and gave several of us a red necklace that is supposed to make us miss our wives or girl friends. (It works!)

Later that night a couple of us met with them again to tour the campus. It is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen and certainly the loveliest in China. The young tourism major was very excited about getting an award. To both thank her and congratulate her, I gave her one of my copies of The Richest Man Who Ever Lived.

We also ate in our seminar leader’s favorite restaurant in China: The Teddy Bear. It is the best food I have ever eaten. I thought it was Chinese until I notice that a young Chinese woman assisting with the group did not care for it. Then I realized that this is a restaurant that catered to Western backpackers. Although the food was Americanized Chinese, it was far above the best Chinese food in the USA.

Tomorrow, Saturday June 10th, we leave early to take a plane to Kunming, Yunnan province. There I want to meet Aaron, who hails from Herkimer County, New York, and is a friend of Joshua’s. We hope to discuss my post seminar plans.

Be blessed!
RB

chinglish 2

Earlier I wrote about how I should not make fun of Chinglish. I have always been able to figure out what was trying to be communicated. However, in a Shanghai store I found an example that had me stumped. A package of vacuum-packed fish had on the label "inebriated fish." I would have never guessed its meaning unless one of my colleagues had figured it out.

What do you think it meant?

sino journal two

Sunday June 4th, I woke up early to go to the Great Wall. I wanted breakfast and more importantly, coffee. The nearest McDonald’s was closed at 6 a.m. so I went across the street to a 24-hour Chinese fast food place. I ordered coffee, an egg, and spring rolls. Food is really cheap here. McD’s food is relatively expensive but they have the deal on coffee. My coffee was as expensive as the whole Egg McMuffin meal. Now I have a new rationalization: I buy the coffee and McD’s throws in the food for free.

I was again jet-lagged, my foot was sore but now taped, and I was not prepared to deal with a guide (i.e., I wanted limited human interaction) so I checked my Lonely Planet guidebook (no pun intended) for how to get just a bus to the Wall. By 7 a.m., I was at the Beijing Bus Tour office next to Tiananmen Square. The prices were higher than the guidebook quoted but still reasonable. The bus was completely full and all Chinese except for four Pakistanis and me. Our tour guide spoke nothing but Chinese and she spoke that lot.

On the bus ride out of town I noticed again all the beautiful parks. I also noticed that the expressways have flowers and manicured shrubs and in the median and on the sides. I especially enjoyed the roses planted along the side of the highway. (Can you imagine downtown Syracuse with roses in bloom and other shrubs along the side of I-81?)

At the Wall, it was very touristy. I took pulley cars up rather than walk. These were like a small car that went up a roller coaster track. The walk on the Wall is steep and tiring. I am very glad I went early in the morning. Beijing is very hot and muggy this time of year and I was very glad I took an early bus.

On the way back, we stopped at Ming Tombs and some other nonscheduled stops where the guide got a cut of what people sent. I did hang out with the Pakistanis, an older man in his 70’s and three twenty-somethings, since I was over my anti-social attitude and they spoke English. The older man was very charming and funny. He had lived ten years in Beijing before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution. He had plenty of stories, all told with a wonderful sense of humor. However, it was obviously painful for him to recount some of the things he saw during the Cultural Revolution.

We had a coffee together during one of the longer unscheduled stops. After we had established a good relationship, the old guy set me up by asking about the Iraq War. I hesitated but then told why I thought our civilian leadership guaranteed the present debacle and why we could not just pull out. The younger guys were polite and asked questions but did not like what I said.

The older man later pulled me aside and spoke quietly to me, “This younger generation is so ‘romantic.’ They are not interested in facts.” Then I was sure the three were fundamentalists and that he wanted them to be exposed to an American viewpoint. I was used but it was for a good cause.

Monday June 5th was rather uneventful as I just traveled back to Shanghai. In the afternoon, I did walk over to another wonderful Chinese park/garden less than a block from the new hotel. There were basketball courts, very crowded, at one end, hidden by trees from the rest of the park.

Tuesday June 6th I went tto the park at 7 a.m. for some quiet time. Bad idea. The park was crowded with people exercising and even two groups of older women doing jazzercize. We had a briefing in the morning and met the other seminar participants. The afternoon was a bus tour of Shanghai. We also went to the observation level of the tallest building in China. Later we stopped at a classical Chinese garden in the oldest part of town.

There was one woman who I thought looked very familiar but I could not place her. Then I realized she looks very much like the mother on That 70’s Show. She even has some of the same mannerisms. She is a very neat person. 18 years ago, she spent a year in SW China and visited most of the places we will visit. Today she was sitting on a bench looking vacantly into the distance. I went over, sat next to her, and asked if she was in some sort of culture shock. She was. Nothing she remembers is here anymore. It is like a different country. The once quaint provincial capital, Chengdu, looks like just another big Asian city with skyscrapers

Today, Wednesday June 7th, we left the hotel at 5:30 a.m. to catch an early flight to Chengdu in Sichuan Province. We had a lunch banquet of Sichuan food. It is the spiciest and many think the tastiest food in China. One dish was memorable. It had chicken, peanuts, chopped onions and these little red raisin-like things. I ate a couple of the red things mostly because they were the easiest thing to pick up with chopsticks. Soon after my mouth was burning, I was in pain; I started sweating profusely. Then my ears started ringing.

The others at the table commented how brave I was to eat the dried peppers. (When they said this, they had very concerned looks on their faces.) They then told me that people are not supposed to eat the peppers, that even the locals do not eat them.

After awhile my ears stopped ringing, the pain subsided, as did the activity of my sweat glands. However, I had this mild sense of euphoria for a couple of hours afterward (post pepper buzz?) The rest of the afternoon was kind of cool even though I do not think we did anything worth remembering.

I did call a man Tom Story knew from last summer. I am to meeting tomorrow morning to discuss plans for a stay in Chengdu later this month.

I went out for a walk tonight. I love walking in cities. However, this place does look like just another big Asian city. However, I do not think I will ever get tired of Chinese parks and gardens.

Be blessed!
RB

chinglish

Many people like to read butchered English translations which are usually good for a laugh. There was a great example in the hotel I stayed in last Thursday in Shanghai. It was a notice or warning from the Shanghai police to beware of a certain scam victimizing tourists. I mean, word usage was weird.

I was about to copy it so I could email it home when the Lord brought me under conviction with a question, "Why is this funny?”

Anyone with a little effort would be able to figure out what the sign meant. Why did this make me laugh? Could it be that the“humor” allowed me to feel superior? Was I putting down someone else so I could I felt better about myself? Why laugh and put down someone"s good faith effort to help?

Here I am in a country where all I can say in their language is“thank you" and much of the time, I do not get that right. My table manners were never the best, but here I eat with chopsticks as if I were 18 months old and a palsy victim. People have been nothing but gracious and understanding, desiring to help me while I make buffoonish hand gestures.

And I am making fun of their English?

So, what did the sign say? I do not remember but I know what it meant. I know on a couple of levels.

sino journal one

The day before yesterday – both Wednesday May 31st and Thursday June 1st -- was extremely tiring. I left Syracuse Wednesday morning after three hours of sleep, and not a full night’s sleep for days before that. Since I wanted to get an emergency row seat for the Shanghai leg, very important for a 14½-hour flight, I rushed to get to the gate in Chicago. Found out the flight was delayed from 12:30 to 4:00. At 2:00, I hung out at the check in counter unit someone showed up and I was able to get an exit seat. Being tall helps. Always remember to stand up straight when requesting to sit in the emergency row. Especially when the clerk is barely over five feet in heels

United Airlines lost my luggage. How could they lose the luggage with an extra three and half hours in Chicago?

I stayed in a nice three-star hotel in the business district of Shanghai. Friday morning June 2nd Steve Robinson and I met with the man who runs the Shanghai program SLU uses. The program is in a nice part of downtown. Within a block of each other are the offices, classrooms, and student residences. They rent luxury four-bedroom, 2 bath with kitchen, apartments for the students. Very nice. The director said that they get the apartments cheaper per student than if they had to pay the local university for dorm rooms.

I was leaving for the airport and got the courage up to take the Metro (subway) rather than a cab. It turned out to be pretty simple. You buy tickets from a machine like in Washington, DC –English is an option. I had plenty of time so I got off the Metro at People's Park. Chinese parks are absolutely lovely. They are more like gardens with beautiful ornamental shrubbery, trees, and ponds. A work of art using landscaping; a beautiful and peaceful place to stroll or sit. Wonderful. Most in the park are older people reading or visiting. Occasionally in a quiet, more secluded spot, you'll find a young couple kissing on a bench. (Hey, where else can they go?)

I got back on the Metro and made the connection to the Maglev train. This train goes about 300 mph and takes only eight minutes to get to the airport. Did you ever try to put two magnets together the wrong way so they repel each other? That is the principle behind this train. It floats over the tracks. You don't feel like you are going 300 mph other than by watching the scenery whiz by. Very quiet. Very smooth. Very cool.

In Beijing, I'm staying at a no-frills two-star hotel a dozen blocks and a 10 rmb ($1.25) taxi ride (the minimum, taxi fare) from the Forbidden City. This is sort of a Chinese version of an Econolodge. AC, TV, sparsely furnished, no wall decorations, but it is functional. No one here speaks English. The clerk who checked me in had to show me numbers on a calculator so I knew how much to pay. The room also has a small, 4'x4’ bathroom with a sink, toilet, and shower. No shower stall, the shower area is the bathroom. Different but it works.

I went for a walk in the evening just to look around, stock up on water and snacks, and maybe get some dinner. It started to rain so I was looking for a store and went into a drug store. Now, how would you ask for an umbrella? Think about it. I made a tent-like gesture over my head and then made a movement like opening an umbrella. The woman clerk got it, shook her head no, and pointed up the street.

I felt like a linguistic MacGiver. Who needs the language?

Now the store up the street had no language problem. They saw a foreigner walking in the rain, said “Umbrella?” and handed me one before I could see what was coming. BTW, a small collapsible umbrella is 10 rmb ($1.25).

Saturday June 3rd, this morning, I went out for breakfast and I went back to the drug store to get some athletic tape. (I have a lingering foot injury and should tape it if I am on it a lot.) How would you communicate athletic tape? How about tape? I couldn't figure it out. Now I knew they had something like it. I played charades with four young clerks at a time. They came close with bandages. One even tried elastic ankle wraps. I couldn't find them and gave up.

I guess I ain't no MacGiver.

I also did something I promised myself I'd never do. I had breakfast at McDonalds. Oh, the shame of it! I am the gauche American tourist rather than a serious academic undertaking a cross-cultural experience. I never do fast food abroad. (Starbucks in Hong Kong doesn't count.) I was tired of walking, I wanted something fast. I wanted something filling. I wanted something clean. Mostly, I wanted coffee. (In tea-drinking China, coffee is kind of iffy.) So I got the Egg McMuffin meal: 9.5 rmb ($1.19).

After breakfast, I walked to a five-star hotel to take a cab to see Mao's tomb. Now that I had lost my McGiver title, I thought at a five-star hotel all the bellmen would speak English. Sure, enough, the cab driver couldn't figure where I wanted to go and the bellman successfully intervened.

Mao's body lies in state in a colossal building at the south end of Tiananmen Square. There is a two-block line of people waiting to see him but I heard it moves fast. Basically, you walk at a slow pace rather than stand in line. I went up to the line and an older man asked me if I had a camera. He then led me away form the line and was trying to get me to cross the street to deposit my camera. Yeah, right. I figured out it was a scam where he’d take me out of the way and have a friend “hold” it for me. Who'd think that they'd have someone cross a 6-lane highway with no streetlight? China traffic goes by the survival of the fittest. The bigger vehicle has the right of way. Bicycles don't even stop for pedestrians.

I got within a hundred yards of the building when an army private pulls me out of the line, passes a metal detector wand over me, and discovers a camera in my pocket in its case. He then uses his complete English vocabulary, “No!” and points to the back of the line a couple of blocks back. So I had to walk back, every one knows why the dumb foreigner is walking back. I then cross six lanes of traffic and pay a small fee to have my camera stored.

I did get in to see Mao. He's still dead.

This is a good thing. He is responsible for more deaths and human suffering than Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, and Saddam Hussein combined. Despite this, many Chinese, particularly in this part of the country, worship him. 99.9% of those in line to see him were Chinese.

I spent the rest of the day at the Forbidden City. This palace complex at the other end of Tiananmen Square is about two-thirds of a mile long and about ¼ of a mile wide. I rented an audio guide player instead of hiring a guide. I was jet-lagged, my foot hurt, I wanted to take my time, rest when I wanted, and not have to put up with a human being. Sometimes machines are just easier.

I can't really describe it. It is much bigger than I expected. The audio guide had an electronic map that let you know where you were and had lights for all the sights. It also kept track of where you have been. Very helpful in a place that big. Building and exhibits were impressive but my favorite part was the imperial garden.

The hotel staff did something very sweet while I was gone. Hotels in China always have these disposable slippers to wear in the room. They are made out of a sort of very thin stryofoam material. With no luggage and therefore no shower shoes, I wore a pair in the shower and then threw them in the trash. Today when I came back to my room, in addition to the usual slippers, there were pair of new sandals, basically a nice pair of rubber slides for me to use as shower shoes. This was really thoughtful, especially considering how little I’m paying for this room. I know how to say thank you in Mandarin, but how do I let them know what I'm thanking them for?

This evening my luggage arrived! After three days, I can change my underwear. This is a good thing. It was wonderful to shave and wear clean clothes.

Be blessed!
RB

off to china!

I’m going to China for the month of June. SLU is sending me to a faculty seminar in SW China. You can check out my tentative schedule. I’m also able to add 12 days for travel and study on my own after the seiminar. I am working with someone to make contacts and this appears to be bearing fruit. If you are in the old elementary school in Madrid, New York the evening of June 21^st I believe you will be able to meet her husband.

Please keep me and my travels in your prayers during month of June.

I’ve made travel plans for this weekend to go, all on my own, to Beijing. It is a bit of a challenge to maneuver and cope in a city I’ve never been to and where the signs do not have any letters that are recognizable to me. I have made reservations on an airline I’ve never heard of (Eastern China) and for a hotel just a few blocks from the Forbidden City.

I was told about a couple of Chinese travel websites, kind of like Expedia or Travelocity. I made my Shanghai-Beijing plane reservations though one and saved about $100. However, within hours I started receiving Chinese spam on my email account. I quickly got a gmail account and put that for my “membership profile” for the Chinese travel sites. The Chinese spam has stopped.

I’ll have my laptop so I should be in contact, but how often I don’t know.

Now, I must go back to running around, being the unprepared preparing for the unpreparable. I leave very early tomorrow morning, Wednesday May 31^st, for the Syracuse airport and then about 19 hours of air travel with one stop in Chicago before I'm due to arrive in Shanghai.

Be blessed!
RB

p.s. my slu web pages are back up and running.

operation walk in the spirit

The Plan:

One night last week I decided that the next morning I would get up and try my best to focus on God’s Spirit all day long in everything I did.

The Objective:

To be lead by God and walk in the Spirit.

The Result:

I overslept by a couple of hours and missed most of the morning before I got to work.

The Conclusion:

Either I failed miserably as a diligent servant of the Lord

Or God is really, I mean really, very cool.

personal pages down

For some reason my web pages on the SLU's server for myslu.stlawu .edu/~blewett/ won't load.
Sorry. I may have to wait until i.t. at slu is open on Tuesday

good news, good memories

The past week I've been emailing with a brother who used to attend CFC. He knew I was going to be in China for the month of June. He mentioned in an email this morning that he and his wife were adopting a baby girl from China and would probably be traveling there in January or February.

That brought back some memories. Very sweet memories.

In January 2004 I visited Hong Kong and Guangdong Province in P.R. China. We toured the city of Guangzhou (formerly called Canton) and stayed at the White Swan Hotel, a really nice hotel overlooking the Pearl River. All Americans adopting in China have to work through the U.S. Consulate just down the street and must stay at the White Swan. As a result the hotel was crowded with these very, very happy couples holding their little Chinese daughters. It was wonderful seeing that and being around it. I even felt very much out of place not having a baby to hold!

Just reading his note this morning brought back those wonderful feelings from the White Swan. I'm very happy for this couple. I'm even happier for their Chinese daughter who will be blessed with great parents.

Be blessed!
RB

another death, another tragedy

A neighbor of mine died on Saturday at home. Suicide. Depression. He was in a very dark place. He left a wife and two sons. Great kids – one just finished his freshman year at college and the youngest is in grade school. Supposedly the youngest one found him in the bathtub, wrists slashed. Please pray for the family.

They live at the end of my street and I walk by their house at least twice a day on my way to work and back. Although we’ve known them since they moved into the neighborhood, we didn’t socialize other than chatting when we met somewhere. My daughter babysat for them a while back. I remember when they adopted the youngest from Russia. Good memories. They are neat people.

I really enjoyed seeing him walk his dog, a long-legged beagle, usually accompanied by his youngest son. I enjoyed it more if we were able to stop and chat. He was a great guy, devoted to his family, cared about people as individuals as well concerned about and involved with his community.

I admire him.

What he did was wrong. Very wrong. He hurt his wife. He hurt his sons. There is absolutely nothing good about what he did. The thing is, he probably thought killing himself was doing the best thing. He was deceived that ultimately people, although they might not realize it, would be better off without him.

Some people will exhort you to do what is right for you and to follow your heart.

What a crock.

If your heart is your compass, then what happens if your compass is out of whack? What if it is wrong? We need an external compass to check our all-too-often faulty and deceptive internal compasses. Following our hearts without outside verification is something we all do too frequently. It is also something very ignorant and quite arrogant. Potentially, this is an all too deadly combination. We think we’re smart. We think we have deeper insights, better understanding, than others. No one else has walked in our shoes so no one can come close to fully appreciating our true perceptions of reality. So why bother trying to explain? We know what we know.

The Word also says the heart is deceptive and it is evil when people do what is right in their own eyes. We need an external compass that is true and stays true.

Depression is deceptive. Depression relies on deception.

I saw her the other day on my way to work. She and the youngest were walking the dogs. I said “I’m sorry.” What else do you say? She was about to start crying and didn’t want to. I didn’t want her to. I quickly commented that the beagle wasn’t so skinny anymore. She laughed, “You mean fat?” “No, she’s buff.” I got out of there.

Most stuff we tell ourselves about ourselves is a bunch of crap. Anyone else would recognize it as such but the easiest person to deceive is yourself. After we feed ourselves enough crap, everything starts to look crappy.

What foolishness.

What evil.

This is going nowhere. I’ll stop.

Final word: You’re full of crap. I’m full of crap. The world would be a better place if we all realized that. The world would be a better place if we all accepted that we are neither very insightful nor very intelligent; self-deception is the rule not the exception. Our internal compasses are junk and we need to check the external compasses provided by others and the Lord.

That may appear to be a rather negative conclusion. It’s not. It’s actually quite freeing.