Photos posted

Just added photos with captions to another picasa site. I'm having to upload photos 5 at a time because of some glitch. More photos to come. Check it out!
:D

http://picasaweb.google.com/111109148587648793693

tea and leather

As the winning group of our “Beijing Race” we had the great privilege of traveling with our teacher to a teahouse across town. Our culture teacher met the tea house owner who sings in the choir at the local church about seven years ago. The picture shows us enjoying our prize: we experienced a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Our teacher said, “Be prepared to drink a lot of tea!” We started off drinking Oolong tea. There is an entire procedure/ritual about pouring the hot water in the tea pot, straining off the tea into the public pouring vessel, smelling the aroma from the aroma cup, then sipping the tea from the drinking cup.

The tea ceremony (cha2 yi4) is performed in seven rounds where each round symbolizes a distinct step in the cleansing and washing of the physical body and of the soul. During the last round, our tea instructor emphasized that we need Living Water to sustain us – without it, we are empty and cannot live. When we do allow the Living Water (metaphorically and literally the tea) to pour into us, we must let what goes in come out, or our bodies will pass away. Therefore, we must share/live out/and pour this Living Water into others.

One afternoon, after class, we and two others left the hotel. After much train hopping and map deciphering, we arrived at the “Silk Market and Pearl Market.” The eight floor market was directly connected to the subway terminal.

We were on a mission to get Hui a purse (this is a first, usually I dump my cell phone, wallet, and knick knacks into a backpack). As we weaved through the halls, we looked up and we saw stalls and stalls and stalls and stalls of bags! We squeezed by all the foreigners (we've never seen so many foreigner's in China before!) and managed to smile and ignore all the sales people telling us, “take a look at a bag.” “What kind of bag would you like?”

“Would you like a watch?” Gordon replies, “No, no, I like my watch thank you.”

“Would you like a pen?” “No, no, thank you, I have a pen and I like it very much.”

“Would you like a wallet?” “Actually, I have a wallet and I don't need another one, thank you.”

“A belt sir?” “The belt that I am wearing is a nice belt, see? I'm very pleased with my belt. Thank you.”

Sensory overload.

We stepped in one of the stalls and told the lady that we wanted a small black purse. She showed me a potential bag and said, “the price used to be ¥360, but because you're my friend, I'll let you have it for ¥260.” I couldn't really decide if that purse was the style I wanted, so I started walking away. As I walked out of the stall, I heard a faint, “here, best price is ¥100.”

We walked to the stairwell to talk about our plan of action and we decided how much we were willing to pay and what bag I wanted. Finally, I figured out that the Chloe purse I saw would suit me and I found it in another stall. The saleslady there started: “Usually, the price is ¥360, but because you speak Chinese, I'll make it ¥280.” I smiled at her and said, “no, no, how about ¥80.” She said, “How did you jump so low, here ¥185 is the best price.” Meanwhile, Gordon is laughing and saying, “We could get this purse for ¥100 next door!” I continued, “Mmm, I could get that price for ¥90 in another stall.” She continued, “come on, add a few yuan,” Meanwhile, I'm looking at Gordon next to me, and smiling, enjoying the moment. I look at her and say, “90Y.” She said, “¥100.” I came back at her with ¥90 and then she finally said, “¥95.” I smiled and said, OK. As I'm pulling my ¥100 bill out of my pocket, she asks us where we're from and we tell her we're from America and that I'm a Chinese American. She also told Gordon, “You drive a hard bargain.” We gave her the 100 and told her to keep the change – the fun was in the bargaining, and Gordon's a softie. We walked away with everybody smiling.

August 7

We've officially moved into the Ruyi business hotel here in Beijing. :D
Our parkas are flaked out in the closet, our handwashed clothing hang on the line in the bathroom, and the hum of the Chinese news goes on in the background as I think back on these past few days.

This morning we enjoyed our daily buffet breakfast in the hotel with three of our teammates (we have a total of eight on our team). We were encouraged to hear that even though it may be cold in Harbin during the winter, the heat inside is abundant. We heard we will be living in a foreigner's dorm on campus, 15 min. away from our classrooms.

We've had 2 full mornings of culture classes with about 50+ English teachers meeting in the hotel conference room. We've discussed and analyzed our own worldviews and how to live and be immersed in a new culture and way of thinking with the attitude of a learner. We ask ourselves, how can we be respectful to those around us as we learn to adjust to the new language, new way of doing things, unfamiliar sights, interactions, smells, and experiences? Our learning curve has been exponential because of our ability to communicate with the locals. This is a blessing!

After lunch with three of our families near the hotel, we enjoyed some ping pong (with our new paddles) in the fitness center in the hotel with a couple and their son. Afterwards, we continued our venture from yesterday to find a cell phone for both of us. The same lady we saw yesterday helped us in the electronic appliances shop and her salesperson friend seemed surprised that I couldn't read the Chinese, much less understand some of the lingo they used! HAHA. We thoroughly enjoyed bargaining down the price from 530 RMB to 450RMB and got a Nokia phone that has an English/Chinese dictionary on it.

So the day before yesterday, our first day out in Beijing, we were sent out to do the "Beijing Amazing Race." Our team consisted of another couple in our organization and two other Chinese students. We had an assignment to visit our assigned neighborhood, observe the traffic patterns, the fashion, and public social interaction, and other activities in an effort to gain the most points and win the prize of eating at a teahouse with our teacher. Guess what?! Our team won! Actually, there was a three way tie and the tiebreaker was that whichever team wrote down the most expensive tea was the winner. So we won with finding the most expensive tea to be 30,000 RMB for 500 grams!

Transitions

Here we are stuffing our parkas back into their stuff sacks because we let them puff back up after arriving here at Colorado State University this past week. I hear the laughter coming from down the hall because some of our teachers are playing Apples to Apples and Last Word. Gordon's at his desk in our two bunk dorm room scribbling away on his essays that are due in a few days.

I'm sitting in the middle of the room looking out our dorm room door. I can hear the constant rush of air conditioning blowing out the vent above our heads. How comfortable we are here! In just a few hours, we along with our bags will be herded onto a bus packed with English Teachers. I can feel the anticipation and excitement of this transition.

This past week, we have been at Colorado State University for training.