July 7, 2008
I'll admit, I don't feel like I have anything interesting to share right now, but I feel I should post a new blog just to give you something new to read.... to reward those of you who actually check in on this website regularly.

So here's some pictures I've taken in the last week or two that I can share with y'all.

   
Here are my friends who are students at the school where I study language. We have a study of our own each week, studying the Book. I really love these girls and have been thrilled to watch them grow in Dad and their understanding of the Word.

Here is my roomie and I out in the countryside. Two of our new friends, who are English teachers at the local high school, went out for a drive with us. I got to ride with our friend, Jackie Shan, on his brand new motorcycle. And he let me drive! I was shocked at how extremely different his motorcycle is from mine. It helped me realize how much my bike truly is a piece of junk. Oh well.... gives me something to look forward to if I buy a new bike someday. My roomie tried to drive the scooter for a while, but the whole "turning and stopping" thing stressed her out a little, so she took the passenger seat for most of the time.
    

I went over to Lucy's house last weekend and hung out with her family while we did some online shopping for plane tickets (which was a whole ordeal which I won't even try to explain). Then this past week I took them out to dinner at Pizza Hut. Her little boy is like most children in this country in that he wears "split-bottom pants." This just means that all his pants have been cut open between the legs, so that any time he has to go to the bathroom, he can just do it, and it'll go all over the street, or the floor of their living room, or wherever he is at that moment. As for me; I see lots of reasons why diapers might be a better choice, but sometimes there's no changing thousands of years of tradition for children to go to the bathroom on the street of any and all public places. But for the pictures below, I have fixed his pants (in Photoshop) so you won't have to experience the "full view" that we have here in this country every day.
     

       

This random picture is just to let you know that rat-tails are still in fashion here. Especially on little boys. but this man was sporting the multi-colored tail, so I had to take a picture.

For the 4th of July, I hung out with some local American friends. We had a great dinner with barbequed chicken, pumpkin pie, and all that kind of good American food. The next day we wanted to go somewhere together for lunch. Of course, we went to Pizza Hut! What else would Americans do when we get together??? But at Pizza Hut in this country, the salad bar works a little differently. You get one bowl and you can put as much food in it as the bowl can hold, and everyone at your table can enjoy the food from that bowl. But you only get ONE trip to the salad bar, so people in this country have developed major architectural skills in building salad mountains from these tiny bowls. When we went out to eat yesterday, my friend just ate a normal sized bowl of salad.
    
But in the past, we have really tried to join in the festivities of huge-salad-making projects!
       

       

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July 12, 2008
School is on break right now, and I am on a two month summer vacation. This frees up my schedule and allows me to travel out during the week, instead of only on weekends. I spent a few days in the countryside this past week. It was a lot of fun. I have been developing my relationships with the local English teachers, and this week we got to have a barbeque out in the countryside of the countryside. What I mean is, we went out from the small town I like to travel to, into an even more remote part of the county. It was very beautiful and we had a lot of fun together. Our group was composed of some teachers and other professionals, including a city judge, another city government worker, a police inspector, and more. I was in good hands, for sure! In fact, we rode in a police van out to our picnic.
       

   

   

      

      

   
While we were hiking out to our scenic picnic spot by the river, I got a call from my friend back in America. One thing that is so awesome about this country is that we have perfect cell phone service EVERYWHERE. It really shows me what a rip off the cell phone companies are giving us in the States. Anyway, I was walking through this bamboo forest and was chatting with my friend back in America, and the craziness of the moment made me take a picture of myself, so she'd know where I was while we were talking.

We had a common barbeque in the style of this country. We bought a ton of meat (mostly pig tongues and some kind of seafood creature) as well as fruit, and brought it all out to this spot in the countryside. The local people there provide barbeque boxes for us to roast our meat and fruit on. We take the strips of meat, put them onto little skewers, and place them over the fire. As they cook, we paint oils and various spices and sauces onto our meat. It's delicious food. We all had a blast. It was a nearly perfect day.
         

The previous night we had met up with our friends in the town square. We ended up going to this cool open air restaurant, which served delicious fruit drinks, ice cream, fried noodles, and other types of snack foods. I was munching away happily when my friend ordered some less-appealing snacks for us to eat. They brought some barbequed duck feet, and steamed snails to the table. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but somehow I got put on the hot seat and everyone was pressuring me to eat some of their traditional snack foods. I eventually gave in, in an effort to be polite, and ate the snails. I couldn't do the duck feet, though.
       

Earlier that night, we were walking around town looking for a friend of ours, and ended up hanging out in a little store on the side of the street. We had walked in looking for some headphones, and the woman got so excited at us being there that we decided to stay for a while. She and her friend were eating cucumbers, and they cut us off some to snack on. The cucumbers are quite large in this country, and people often eat them like this for a snack.
   

 

When we came home from our trip to the countryside, it was raining heavily. It has been doing that a lot lately. I keep waiting for the rainy season to end, but it just keeps on going! Something I don't think I've shared with you is the way people drive their motorcycles and bikes here in the rain. In this country most people can't afford a car, so they ride bikes, scooters, or motorcycles. If it rains they don't have a choice, they have to ride in the rain. So they have made raincoat / ponchos to fit over them and their bikes. They often have a clear plastic area in front to let the headlight shine through, although they don't use their headlights in this country because they think it'll drain the battery.
It was pouring on our way home from the bus station, so I thought it was a good time to grab a bunch of pictures of people modeling their bike raincoats. Another thing they like to do here is ride their bikes while holding an umbrella over themselves with one hand. I think that is pretty hilarious, mostly when they're on a scooter or motorcycle and it starts going too fast and then the umbrella flips inside out or something.     Any way....   enjoy!
      

      

 

            

Last night I was back in my home city and went to my favorite coffee shop to hang out and play with my American friends who live here too. First we went out for sushi. I loved it! I haven't had sushi since I lived back in Oklahoma, so this was like a taste from home for me. Then we went to the coffee shop where they give us free refills on all coffee, lattes, milk shakes, ice cream, teas, etc. You pay the equivalent of $2.50 and can drink all you want from the above list. I really like that place! So we played monopoly there until about 12:30am.
   

   

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July 25, 2008
My closest friends came to visit me here in this foreign land for the past week and a half. I have had so much fun spending time with them, and seeing this country through their eyes. Today they have been traveling all day long, and still are an hour away from taking their flight back across the ocean to their home in Oklahoma. Meanwhile I am happily resting in my apartment... my home sweet home.

I am so grateful for all the hard work they did in preparation for their trip, and while they were here. We packed in their schedule and kept ourselves on the move every day of their visit. We had such a busy plan that I will tell you about our time together with a day-by-day recap. You can try to imagine yourself coming along for the adventure and wonder if you could have found the energy to keep up!

Day 0

I'll start with their arrival in my city at 10:30pm. Their flight was delayed an hour, so after a very long journey with 5 different flights and a train ride, they came in. My roomie and I waited around in the airport for them to show up.    It was boring.

      
We went to their hotel and had a late night snack at McDonalds before hitting the sack.

Day 1

The next morning we met for breakfast bright and early (7am) and then went on a walk through the town square. We had some good time to talk and I introduced them to my American friends who live in the city with me.
 
We met up with my local friend, Lucy, and climbed the mountain which is downtown and has a beautiful view over the whole city. It was a really special time because Lucy had been looking forward to meeting them for a long time. We loved hanging out with her, and she asked them questions non-stop throughout our hike. When we reached the top of the mountain we joined together as family and talked to Dad about the city, the people who live there who don't know him, and the people who live there who do. It was really special to share that experience with our sister Lucy. I know it meant a lot to her - and to me!

   
     
    
It was extremely hot and humid every day of the trip. I feel that I adequately prepared my Oklahoma friends, though, by warning them in advance that they would probably be dripping with sweat the entire time they were here. My advice turned out to be very accurate!
On the way down the mountain we saw a man doing some hardcore push-ups!
     
We also checked out a few Buddhist temples on the mountain, and in one of the caves.
   

After hiking up and down the mountain we went to a nearby restaurant for dumplings. It is a restaurant I have been to several times. It has a very low ceiling.   VERY low.

After lunch we enjoyed some quiet time sitting near the river and reading our books and talking with Dad. After that, my friends walked around nearby department stores seeing if they could meet some English-speakers and make some new friends. Then we all went back to my apartment to have a jam session, playing guitars and singing songs to Dad. It was so much fun! I used to be in a music group, and my friends visiting me from Oklahoma used to perform with me. I enjoyed singing and playing guitars with them again. All of us had a special time singing and talking to Dad together. Lucy came over and joined us.
Later that evening we met up with several of my local friends and teachers for dinner.
We went to a restaurant I really like because it overlooks the downtown city lights, which are beautiful at night. We had a great meal and then played Mafia together. It was so much fun, even though my friends were totally jet-lagging and loopy. But during that dinner we were able to have lots of good conversations with my teacher friends!
   
   
    

Day 2

We traveled out to my favorite small town in the countryside near my city. It is always a beautiful and scenic drive, but the driving style and winding mountain roads often do a number on people's stomachs if they're not used to it.

When we arrived, we checked into the local hotel and then met some high school English teachers for lunch. These teachers are friends that I made when my roomie's friends from Texas came to visit us two months ago. Having my Oklahoma friends here was so great because it gave us a chance to spend several days with these new teacher friends. The teachers ordered the food for our lunch, and it was a pretty adventurous meal even for me! I was so proud that my friends jumped right in and ate crazy and strange food like old pro's. Here are some pictures of us eating frog legs, doing a cheers with our frog legs, fishing snails out of the shells, and other fun moments from lunch.
      
     
      
After lunch we traveled to a town I call "Sipper" to see the sights, walk around the town talking to Dad about the people who live there, and visit with our old teacher friend who lives there who became our brother several months ago. While there, our friends picked up some baby shoes that all the children wear here in the summer. They squeak with each step.
   
We went back to my favorite small town and walked around for a little while longer.
That night we had dinner with BinBin's family. I was so excited to see her again and treat their family to a special meal at a nice restaurant. It is a rare thing for their family and the kids got overly excited. They ran around like maniacs the whole night. BinBin has entered a new phase where she wants to do lots of kung fu moves rather than her cute little dance moves.
   
I played a famous drinking game with BinBin's dad after dinner. He was so happy to have something fun to do, because he can't speak English and we didn't have much we could say to him down on my end of the table. He was gracious enough to let me drink Sprite every time I lost, which was often. After dinner we took some pictures all together.
       
   
People here always expect to see their picture immediately after it is taken.
       

Day 3

In the morning, we got up and hiked up the tallest mountain in my favorite small town. I often enjoy climbing this mountain when I travel out to this town on the weekends. It is quite steep and the steps are very narrow, but the view at the top is gorgeous. We had a great time once we made it up. We spent time singing together and talking to Dad about the town and the people. It was so special to me to have this time with my friends, and to show them the beautiful places I spend so much time traveling to.
   
      
   
       
After climbing the mountain we had to rush back and check out of our hotel and check into a small motel. The hotel was all booked up the rest of the week and had no room for us. So my friends got to experience a slightly lower standard of living for the rest of the time we stayed in my favorite small town. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the town's high school. We taught in the English classes for an hour and a half, and then played volleyball with the teachers. I really enjoy playing with a big rubber ball much more than the standard ball.
      
  
      
   
After climbing the mountain, teaching, and volleyball, we were starting to smell pretty gross! and my friends were really feeling wiped out from all the activities in a new time zone.
      
We headed back to our motel and on the way we bought some bug killing rackets. Then we went on a bug killing spree in all our motel rooms! After that we went out for dinner near the town square. We had a great time playing Mafia and just enjoying good friends.
   
 
   

Day 4

See - I wasn't kidding when I said that we really filled each day with as much as we could fit in! On this day we went on an outing with several of our teacher friends. We traveled out to a tiny town about an hour and a half away. It is the place I have been to once before with the most beautiful scenery in this country, and the natural land bridge to go rafting under. We had a great time together and it was a special time of making memories with my teacher friends. We had some very good conversations while we traveled around, and I can't wait to get back to my favorite small town to follow up on the talks we had!
                        
      
    
          
One of the teachers grew up in the area with the land bridge. After rafting we all went to his family's house for a very "special" lunch. Again - my friends were very adventurous with diving right in and eating the true local food. I was very proud!
  
That night we hosted an English corner at a local coffee shop. Unfortunately only one person showed up. We visited with her and played games together for a while. After that we all went and got massages. For about $3.75 per person, we each got an hour long massage. It was a fun and special experience because four of us were in one room together (fully clothed) and our massage ladies were all talking and laughing together as they worked us over.

Day 5

We broke into three small groups and set out in the morning to go exploring small villages around the county. My friend Renee and I stayed in my favorite small town on this day, because her stomach was not handling all that adventurous eating very well. But we had a great day together. We had dumplings for lunch, which was Renee's favorite food in this country. Then we walked around the town all day long talking to Dad about the different people and places we came across. At some point in the afternoon, we were walking by an appliance store and the sales girls greeted us with "hello" as we passed by. We sat down and talked with them for a while. They spoke various levels of English, and we had a great time getting to know them. They were very friendly and eager to get together again soon.
   

Day 6

Renee and I set out early the next morning and headed out of town on foot. We walked through a couple tiny villages along the main road outside. It was a beautiful walk but we didn't run into anyone who wanted to have a conversation with us so we headed back towards town. When we got back to town we were near the appliance store where we had met our new friends the day before. We headed to their store and they were so excited to see us! We ended up staying there and talking to them for well over an hour. Renee was able to have some great conversations with them, and I helped translate whenever they couldn't understand each other. Renee and one of the girls, Lisa, talked about Dad quite a bit. Renee told her about the ways Dad has been a part of her life in the past and how he is the most important thing in her life today. I was so happy to have a new friend in my favorite small town that I can go visit each time I travel there.
   
      
We met back up with our other adventurous friends and decided to go back to my city after lunch. When we got back to the big city it was a refreshing change after staying out in the countryside for several days. We were so happy to be back in "civilization" that we decided to celebrate by eating dinner at Pizza Hut! My Oklahoma friends even tried their hand at the legendary salad bar. Their salad wasn't very impressive in size, but it still tasted good.
    
After dinner that night, we headed home to get some laundry going and to play Settlers!

Day 7

We traveled out to a small tourist city full of great things like coffee shops and ice cream. It was really fun. We were so ready for a break, we had a blast in this city! My Oklahoman friends bought several things here to bring back to their friends and family. We played lots of games - mostly Mafia and Mao. It was a great time!
       
     
      
     

Day 8

We went on the legendary river driftage trip in the morning. It was much scarier this time because my boat didn't have any drainage holes, so it just filled up with water and kept wanting to sink! Every time we hit a slow part of the "river" we used our helmets to bail water out of the boat. It was another exciting trip down the river, and no one had any injuries!
One of the buses we rode was the true definition of a chicken bus.
   
     
    
The rest of the night we did some more shopping and game playing.

Day 9

Two of my Oklahoma friends, Jason and Crystal, had to fly out of a nearby city in the morning. We had a delicious breakfast and then took a bus to the airport.
 
After saying goodbye to them, the rest of us headed back to my home city. When we arrived we ate at McDonalds, went home, started several loads of laundry, and got unpacked after a long week of traveling! I'll give you one guess as to how we spent the rest of the day:

Day 10

We gave ourselves some much needed rest in the morning, and then met up with some local friends for lunch and badminton. We played Mafia while having lunch with Lucy and another teacher of mine, Rose. After lunch, Lucy had to leave, and Rose went with us to the badminton courts for some major competitive play - or maybe not. But we took some really fun action shots! We also played volleyball for an hour, spending 20 minutes of that time standing in a circle trying to play hacky sack with the big rubber volleyball. What fun!
    
    
                    
That afternoon we all definitely showered.
We had dinner with a some friends that I haven't hung out with very often, but would like to get to know better. We had a nice meal and then went walking along the riverfront, enjoying the lights and the company.
     
     

This morning I got up and enjoyed some coffee and breakfast with Renee and Cory before they had to leave for the airport.

I know this blog has way too many pictures and stories, but this past week and a half is one of the weeks that will always stand out from the time I live in this foreign country. This will probably be the only time that any of my friends or family come here to visit me. I have appreciated Cory, Renee, Jason, and Crystal so much for all they sacrificed in order to come here and join me and my friends in our lives here. And because they came, it helped us so much and in so many ways. We planned lots of events and gatherings with local friends, which were a success only because we had American visitors with us. Having the chance to spend time making memories and building on our friendships with local friends is so important to me! In just a few months I will be living here without any other American friends to keep me company. Those local friendships are going to be all I've got! And I'm so glad that we were able to maximize our time with them by having many great conversations that I can continue to build on in the future.
Thank you for coming to visit me! I am so glad you came! I love having something exciting planned for the future. It helped me stay energized as I look forward to the time when you arrived. Spending time with good friends has made me feel a little homesick today, but I know there is still so much I want and need to to while I'm here! So I just want to make the most of every day I'm here, and I will have plenty to look forward to when the time comes for me to return home.