Me in China with Matt in the background before we loved each other or even thought we'd love each other. We were married about 3 months after this was taken.
So before the year ends and I print out the 2010 blog posts, I wanted to include a (very long) post about the study abroad in China where Matt and I met and fell in love. Much of it is stuff I had on facebook that I forgot about. It was my blog before I had a blog. Our study abroad focused on Globalization and the role of China and engineering in that process. It was an amazing and life-changing experience for more than one reason and worthy of being remembered. Much of this will be copy and pasted posts from facebook, but any other after-the-fact commentary, especially things about the development of "me and Matt" is in grey.
An active map of places we went.
Let me first set the stage. When I think back on what it took for Matt and me to fall in love, I am in awe. I really don't think that under any other circumstances it would have happened. We had met with our study abroad group several times before we actually left to do some prep classes, etc. There were about 20 of us. I was one of two girls, and the other girl, Krystle, was engaged. My initial thoughts were, "Boy, the odds are good, but the goods are kind of odd or married". They were all engineering students... need I say more? Matt, I thought, was probably the cutest of them all, but he was pretty jockish-looking, not my type. I was a little more into the artsy-fartsie type. I also assumed he was a nerd based solely on the fact that he was an engineering student. Come to find out, Matt thought the same about me. He mistook my (fake) glasses as nerdy instead of artsy and cool. And he thought, "Wow, a returned sister missionary, engineering Master's student... nerd bomb!". I had no hope or intention to fall in love on the study abroad, and neither did Matt, though BYU study abroads are infamous for that. I also was a little bit unavailable. The day before I left for China, I went on two dates. One with a guy from my ward that I had had a crush on ALL semester, AND after that date, I went over to another guy's house I had kind of been dating, and we were probably headed toward "couplehood", but there's no way of knowing now. All my wildest dreams were coming true. I figured that both those options would be on hold for me after I got back since it was only a 6 week thing but, I didn't need them...
China....thoughts, comments, impressions, journal entries
May 11th 2007
Shanghai...here I orient myself by skyscrapers rather than mountain
I'm in China now. I arrived in Shanghai at 8:30 pm, took an hour bus ride through Shanghai to the train station. I was actaully really surprised at the cleanliness of the city. (Shanghai is not really that clean... having lived in Taiwan, my standard for cleanliness was set pretty low.) There are a lot of skyscrapers with neon lights everywhere. It looked like Vegas on steroids. It was kind of a feast for my Civil Engineering eyes. There were freeways stacked 4 high and really strange traffic patterns. I was surprised that there weren't very many scooters like in Taiwan. Everyone rides bikes or drives a car. Most of the traffic on the road was busses and taxis.
L to R...me, Krystle, Justin, Ren, and a chinese dude waiting for our train
Anyway, luckily my chinese teacher, Zhao Yuan, her husband, Justin, and my soon to be roommate Krystle met me at the airport, cause it was quite the adventure getting to Nanjing from Shanghai. We waited till 1:30 am for a train. It was REALLY DIRTY, no AC, and everyone was smoking inside. We opened our window, but it was debateable which was better. The most putred smell of sewage would waft in, but at least that isn't cancer-causing. Our train rode 50 yards and stopped for nearly two hours for no apparent reason. We asked the workers on the train what was going on but they wouldn't answer us, or said they didn't know. We were thinking of jumping off, walking back to the station and catching the bullet train, but we stuck it out. We met a lot of foriegners who didn't speak chinese and wanted to know what was going on. We sat and laughed together. It was pretty funny. There were people from Pakistan, India, and Canada. (I left the book Julia had given me for Christmas, "The Joy Luck Club" on the train. I was so mad!!) We ended up at our hotel at 8:30 am. I hurried and showered and then went to class at 9:00 am. I wanted to die, but was happy to be there. The university is really pretty. Nanjing is a fairly be city. You gotta watch out for bikes. The first day, there was a crazy lady with no shirt that followed us around. (All the guys were very embarrassed... I was loving watching them blush.) I love foreign countries!
bikes out the taxi window
Our Pad
Our Room
Entrance to Nanjing University
We have eaten a lot of Peking duck and other great treats! The food here is SO cheap. Last night I had 2 baozi's for dinner. It's meat inside steamed bread. They are probably about the size of a soft ball and SO good. They were only 1 yuan each so I had a big dinner for what is about 25 cents. Today for lunch, my roommate and I bought some mangos....I have missed those!
Nanjing University Museum
My classes surprisingly kinda hard. I'm not gonna lie, I thought it would be kind of a joke...but there's no joking. My chinese class is a lot of technical terms. My professor is Chinese professor from Nanjing University. She is a REALLY good teacher, but it's been pretty tough. I'm not very familiar with what all the economic terms mean in English, let alone in Chinese, nor am I very familar with Chinese history. We've been talking about a Mao and the planned economy and why it failed and then the shift China has made to the (semi) free market economy, and the effects both good and bad. It's pretty intense, and I just sit there and listen and try to obsorb everything that's going on, and write down all the stuff I don't know. I think I'd be doing the same thing, even if the class were in English. Everyone else seems to know a lot about either economics, Chinese histroy or both, so I feel like the special-ed kid in the class. It also doesn't help that I don't have a text book. I've been trying to borrow people's but I feel bad if I have it for very long. I think my teacher thinks I don't know what's going on cause I hardly ever talk or make comments and try to avoid eye-contact when she asks questions, so today at the end of class she said, "I'm going to pick a student to explain all that we've talked about in the past two days to someone who is unfamilar with Chinese history and the Chinese governments policies of today regarding the free market and all of it's pros and cons...you have 5 minutes to reveiw what we've talked about". Yup, she picked me. I was sweating bullets, but I think I impressed her. I impressed myself.
Some guy that wouldn't stop following me around.
Yang Zhou: Shou Xi Hu / Da Ming Temple and Church
May 12th 2007
This weekend we took a two hour bus ride to Yang Zhou. There are some beautiful gradens there. A lot of history, etc. I tried to do my reading on the way for school...but about lost my lunch so I kicked it with my i-pod. It was funny cause people were sitting on the floor in the aisle of the bus. The chinese guy sitting next to me in the aisle kept "reading" over my shoulder....well more like looking at the pictures over my shoulder. My professors wife was sitting across the aisle from we. We kept talking over him. It was pretty awkward. I tried to make small talk with him and offered him a piece of gum but he was kinda shy.
A bridge at the Slender Lake. SO BEAUTIFUL!
Anyway, Shou Xi Hu translates to "Slender West Lake". It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I wasn't at the top of my photography game that day...the light was not good for my camera, but it was great! We got a tour guide, and had to pay extra for it. I was against the idea from the get go, but everyone insisted. No one understood a thing she said cause she was just reciting her memorized script. She couldn't dumb it down for us. LAME! I did understand one thing she said, though. She talked about how some emperor...I think during the Qing Dynasty, loved to go fishing there. She took us to his favorite spots. I guess some people put leaves on their heads and would swim around in the lake and when he threw in his line, they'd swim down, and hook a fish on it so that he'd keep coming back there to fish. Chinese have weird history and stories!
After we went there, we all went to geat some chao fan (fried rice) at this little hole in the wall. Some Islamic minorities owned the shop. Their skin was a little darker and they had more of a bridge on their noses. Their Chinese was really hard for me to understand them. It was really cool to watch them make noodles from scratch. They'd roll the dough out a little and shake it till it stretched as big as their arm span and fold it in half a repeat the process until the folded strands were as skinny as noodles....very cool.
Sweet Pagoda at Da Ming Temple
Then we went to the Da Ming temple which is a Buddhist temple. There were TONS of monks there. They were telling us that all their money comes from donations. A lot of them were really young...my age-ish. I guess after they've been a monk from a while, they will pay for them to study abroad/college. Good incentive.
the monks telling us their doctrine
Da Ming Temple...LOTS of incense burning!
Big Buddha inside Da Ming Temple
Church today was interesting. There was a lady who teaches Spanish at Nanjing University. She is a Catholic Chilean. VERY sweet. She loves our church but is very catholic. There were a few Indians there...mostly med students. The girl in relief society was dressed in beautiful traditional Indian clothing. Most of the people there were older couples from Utah. There were 2 families. One of the dads works for Ford. Most people teach english or something at the university. They were VERY excited to have us. We more than doubled their numbers. I already got called to be a primary teacher/pianist. I'm excited. I'm teaching one 3 year old little boy. He is SO cute! We had church in the basement of a nice hotel. I saw Ethan Plater...the Divine's nephew there. Unfortunately he's leaving this week to go back home.
The weather has been awesome! It rained one day and is a little humid but all in all...not bad, however, I've still managed to break out in an itchy humidity rash like I did in Taiwan...hmmm. Where we live there is a track...I'm gonna start training for the TOU marathon starting tomorrow!!! yeah!
love ya'll!!!!
globalization...thoughts etc.
May 14th, 2007
i'm not gonna lie...i secretly thought that the classes that i'm taking were gonna be a breeze and pretty much an excuse for a month and a half vacation in china....not the case. i've been having a lot of the same feelings that i had when i just got to the mission field...totally inadequate. my classes are pushing and stretching me in ways that i never really anticipated or even desired for myself.
i've never really been up on current events or the hot political issues. i guess i just figured that everyone else can worry about that and i can ignorantly float through life doing what i like to do and being what i wanted to be with little regard for the rest of the world. i am ashamed to say that i have just recently discovered that the WTO and IMF are in existence. i am a disgrace to the Mecham name...a family of politicians, lawyers and scholars...people who read not only one, but multiple newspapers...daily.
today in class, we were discussing neo-liberalism and all sorts of economic philosophies in combination with the globalization phenomenon that's occurred in the past few decades thanks to fiber-optics and other technological advances. what began as a discussion turned into a lively debate. i guess that most everyone else in my class are newspaper readers...more of the Mecham breed than myself. i had done the reading but spent so much time wading through all the acronyms and history behind it that i missed the big picture and had no opinion and nothing to contribute. i was just trying to grasp onto what the issues were.
sometimes i feel like i spend way too much time doing things i don't like to do. something inside me says that life is meant to be enjoyed...lived with passion and anything unpleasant should be ignored, and if it can't be ignored, it should be dealt with as quickly as possible. another smaller but perhaps more important part of me suggests that i spend too much time doing what i want to do, disregarding the needs of others. i have had a bit of inner turmoil the past little while after having read "the world is flat" by thomas friedman as well as the book i'm currently reading called, "globalization: a very short introduction" by manfred steger. there are a lot of big problems in the world. as a person who is living in the most fortunate of times, places, families, and economic situations, i feel a serious responsibility to do something big for the world...hence the engineering major and goal to travel to other countries providing them with drinkable water...but the pathway there has been unpleasant for me and often dark, not to mention boring. what i really want to do is to open an artsy little boutique, refinish antiques, do floral design, fashion design, graphic design...anything with artistic flare and have babies and a fun husband. but who does that help? ...mmmmm.... me.
maybe all this sounds dumb, but it's a real concern in my mind. it's been said that people do things for three reasons...out of fear, duty and love. fear is the worst reason...doing the right thing for fear of being caught doing the wrong thing. duty...doing things cause you know you should, and love...doing things cause you love it, and desire it. i LOVE the arts. doing that kind of work would hardly be work to me. right now i'm doing what i do out of duty. i guess that this trip to china has done one thing for me so far...it's given me the desire to have a desire to care about world events, political issues, and to be an educated voter. i'll be interested to see what the future will bring. so far it's been very far from what i've expected.
Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum, Huang Shan and Hong Cun
May 27th, 2007
Me and Wendy Nelson. This photo looks down the stairs away from his tomb. Supposedly there are 392 steps leading up to the tomb....one for every day Sun Yat Sen was in office.
On 5/15/2007, we went to Sun Yat Sen's Memorial. Sun Yat Sen headed the revolution of China in 1912ish and started the Republic of China. He is revered by both China and Taiwan. It was interesting to me to note the presence of symbols of the Nationalists flag in the mausoleum despite China's current. His body is actually in there. His casket is in the shape of his body. Very interesting.
Sun Yat Sen's memorial
My former Chinese teacher at BYU, Yuan Mitchell, was giving us a tour of Sun Yat Sen's Memorial. Some seriously funny Chinese guy decided to join our tour. Loved it.
Chinese guy doing what Chinese (and Taiwanese) guys do, and my ear.
Resting at the top after climbing all those stairs
Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain)
On 5/17/2007, we all jumped on a bus drove 5 hours to Huang Shan or Yellow Mountain. China really is all that appears to be in photos. On the drive down, we saw all sorts of farmers out in the fields with their water buffalo. I hardly saw any motorized farming equipment. Lots of people had a hoe in hand, hacking away at the soil. I saw a lot of people burning their fields to get the nutirents back into the soil so they can plant again. Lots of people were harvesting and beating the rice out of the husks...i think. The country is A LOT differnt than the city. It was INCREDIBLE!!!! That night we stayed in a REALLY nice hotel for seven dollars each! it is so cheap here. They tell you to bargain, but i feel so badly paying 5 dollars for a shirt that would cost at least 20 in the US.
Dinner at the hotel. L to R: Jonathan Goodsell, Kevin Ellsworth, Ryan Sydenham, Spencer Shore, and Eric Goodrich
Frog legs for dinner. Too bad the camera focused on the wrong thing.
On 5/18/2007, we went to a city called Tang Kou that is just at the base of Huang Shan where there is a restaurant owned by a guy who spent some time in the UK. He made us banana pancakes. We were all in heaven.
Tang Kou with Huang Shan in the background
We were not sure what the purpose of this vehicle was.
We hiked up Huang Shan. It was HUGE! I have never seen so many stairs in my life! The whole way was paved. At the top there's a network of trials from peak to peak.
It is incredible that the way China's ecomony is, it is cheaper to hire 100 plus or minus men to hike 6 km to the top of huang shan with fresh goods, laundry, rebar and bags of concrete for construction and maintenance of the hotel on top than it is to use the electricity to power the existing cable car. (ben o'brian right)
Check out his CALVES!!!!
On the way down, we ran across a 67 year old man from Beijing. His accent was so thick I could hardly understand him. Anyway, he hiked it by himself and then couldn't find his way down. We had to go up to get down, and I swear he was about to have a heart attack. he was crawling up the stairs on all fours. i held his stuff so he could. i was starting to get nervous cause by then it was already around 5 pm and it gets dark at 7 here, and we were still at least 7 km from the bottom. we had to stop and rest with him every 50 m. luckily, we found a cable car that went down and sent him down on it. he was grateful too. when we hiked up it was clear skies and quite hot, but then when we got to the top, but bunch of mist and cool breeze blew it. it was SO incredible!!!!
Asians love the double peace sign.
We took a Tai Qi class at Nanjing University. Matt was for sure the worst. The teacher was always coming over and touching his bum cause he was always sticking it out much too far. We were practicing atop Yellow Mountain.
L to R: Kellen Moulten, Richard Reid, Skyler Chamberlain, me, Ryan Sydenham, Krystle Farnsworth, Ben O-Brien, Eric, Matt, David Matsumura, Austin Hill and Paul Dixon
"with cherishes" ...classic
Matt and I kinda started to hang around each other a bit after this trip. I won him over by making fun of his "poopoo-peepee" outfit, as we lovingly refer to it. Not his best choice of color combos.
L to R: Richard Reid, Paul Dixon, Ben O'Brien, Matt, Austin Hill, and Skyler Chamberlain
L to R: Austin Hill, Matt, Skyler Chamberlain, old man we helped, Paul Dixon, Ben O'Brien, Richard Reid.
Hong Cun
5/19/2007 we went to a place called Hong Cun where parts of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was filmed as well as the nearby bamboo forest where parts of the movie were filmed. The town was founded about 800 years ago by a people with the family name "Wang". some guy that was expert in "feng shui" helped them lay out their city. They layed it out in the form of a cows digestive system, the lake being the cows stomach...
the "cow's stomach" in Hong Cun
...and the little canals were the digestive track. Lots of people still live there. I got some undercover shots of some of the people that live there:
grandpa watching tv, grandma making dinner
baby eating raw instant noodles
This place was incredible!!! more photos in my albums!
Matt and I did A LOT of bargaining together
This is nearby where Matt bought me my set of Mao Zedong plates similar to those shown in the photo below. I forgot my wallet (surprise surprise) and REALLY wanted them, so he loaned me some cash. Now I'm not sure what to do with them... display them in my home, serve appetizers on them... don't know. On some of them, Mao was made to look like a god. Craziness.
Here's the bamboo forest...more photos in album:
bamboo
Shanghai
May 22 through May 26th 2007
At "the bund" looking across the Yangtsi (Chang Jiang) river at the "Oriental Pearl" TV tower.
Tuesday afternoon we all took a bullet train from Nanjing to Shanghai. It was a MUCH different experience than when I took the train from the airport in Shanghai to Nanjing. It was VERY posh: assigned seats that would lean back, AC, no smoking, and plenty of leg room. It traveled at a top speed of 120 mph so it only took 2 hours instead of the 5 it took last time. VERY nice! They even had "airsickness" bags for the potentially rough take-offs and landings. ha ha ha!
The bullet train equipped with "airsickness" bags
Tuesday night, we walked around town to Nan Jing Xi Road which is very ritsy. We wanted to eat Indian food and asked a few people. The locals have a very weird accent. Older people are almost completly impossible to understand. They actually have their own language there. Anyway, we walked around forever trying to satisfy our craving but realized that the restaurant everyone was telling us about was in a VERY expensive hotel, so we succumbed to the typical chinese cuisine. Right across the street from where we ate, there was an awesome hotel with a glass elevator. We walked in like we knew what we were doing and took it to the top floor where there was a revolving restaurant. They wouldn't let us take pictures there so we just took them in the elevator. very cool!
Krystle Farnsworth in the elevator
Later that night we took a cab to a place called "the bund" which was settled by Europeans. A lot of the architecture in Shanghai is very western. It is AMAZING at night! It was very windy. My friend bought a kite but as soon as it got up pretty high, it would swoop back down and dive-bomb the crowds. SO funny!
"The Bund" Little did I know at the time that this would be where Matt and I would have our first date, first kiss, and where my passport and belongings would be stolen.
Our friend, and Matt's roommate, Paul, insisted on flying a kite in the crowds of people at the Bund and would say "bu hao yisi" (sorry!) every time it did a nose dive into someone which was many, many times. Matt and I about wet ourselves laughing.
L to R: Paul Dixon, Krystle Farnsworth, Matt (why is he doing Tai Qi in every picture?), Skyler Chamberlain and Kellen Moulten
The view from the Bund across the river
The next day we woke up early and went to HP software development and met with the guys that are over HP in Asia. It was VERY interesting. Both of them are native Chinese, but one graduated form BYU and one from USU and spent 10 plus years in the states. Although they are very americanized, it's interesting how loyal they are to the Chinese government and believe that lots of people are misinformed about government operations in China which could be true. It was also interesting to hear how they handle Intellectual Property issues. I think it is easier for HP because they are a wholly-owned enterprise, but they are still very cautious. They give their employees limited access to the software code so they can work on what they need to but wouldn't be able to reproduce the software without access to the entire code.
That day we also visited Paytac which is a joint-venture with General Motors. We didn't get a whole lot of time to ask questions about the challenges of setting up a joint-venture in China, but one thing that was interesting to note is that Buicks sell like MAD in China. It is equivalent to the BMW or Mercedes Benz in the eyes of Chinese. It astounds me how different the markets are there. A designer from Paytac gave a presentation on how he designed the latest Riviera. It was just a concept car that they showed in the latest Shanghai car show. It was INCREDIBLE. Afterwards all the guys were making fun of how flamboyant the designer was and thought he was off his rocker, which just confirmed my recent feelings that I'm in the wrong profession. I was WAY more into the design process of the car than I was in HP or the manufacturing of the cars. We later went to GM...the wholly-owned section and had a tour of the manufacturing plant. I'm so sad they would let us take pictures! It was just like Monster's Inc. They had some automated welding machines that would do spot welds in hard to reach places. It was so cool to watch.
GM factory showroom
Wednesday night we went to an area called Xin Tian Di which is where all the foreigners hang out. There was lots of outdoor concerts, fancy restaurants and lots of fun people to watch. Big cities make for good people watching. We had some FABULOUS Thai food!!!
Thursday morning, we took a bus to a tunnel that they are working on to connect a smaller island to the mainland. It was AMAZING!!!! It is apparently the longest and widest tunnel in China. There are actually 2 tunnels under construction. Each will service 3 lanes of traffic. They are 13 meters wide. They have a HUGE drill that is 13 meters wide that just plows on through. It moves at a rate of 12 meters per day. That is FAST! They have huge pipes that transport all the slurry out of the tunnel. Pretty amazing.
the drill. guess the guy was hot.
Later that day we went to another software development company called Hanna Strategies. It's main clients are AutoDesk (which developed AutoCAD) and Microsoft. The owner is Chinese but graduated from Georgia Tech and started the company there but then saw that there was A LOT of money to be made in outsourcing. He decided to go the Shanghai because his brother already owned a huge laptop manufacturing company and had lots of "ins" with government officials and other relations. His brother's company he says manufactures 90 plus % of all "notebooks" in the world!!! Having an established network especially with government officials is CRITICAL in doing business in China. If you don't have the connections it is VERY difficult to get things done and you'd probably run out of money before your business took off. So, to him, having his brother there made ALL the difference. Otherwise, he wouldn't know who to trust or where to turn for things like good quality desks, tech-equipment etc. Almost all business done in China is on a referral basis and rely a lot on trust because litigation here is difficult if not impossible so you just work with people that you are familiar with and have a good name in the market place.
Thursday night I went with my friends Paul, Matt and Richard to some weird underground (literally) market where they were selling knockoff adidas, polo, north face etc. stuff. We got off the subway and then walked up one floor and then were swarmed by a group of people whispering "Prada" or "Rolex" in our ears. And then when we said ok, they wisked us away down this dark tunnel where there were a bunch of closed shops. It was very shady. Inside their little shop they had all sorts of name-brand jeans, watches, purses, shoes, ties...etc etc. My conscience got the best of me so I only bought some Chinese tourist T-shirts...no knock-offs. Bargaining with them was pretty fun. They'd say stuff like, "I'm giving you the "friend" price", which was actually like 3 times what you should pay. My favorite is when they tell me that since i speak chinese, theyrel giving me a better deal and a laugh in their face. They can't even look me in the eye when they say it cause they know I know they're lying. Anyway, so you low-ball them and they gasp and say there's no way, so you up your price a little and they still say "no way" and pull out their calculator and show you how you'd be cheating them if they gave you that price. And then that's when you start pointing out all the flaws and say "fine, then nevermind" and walk away slowly out the door and then they run after you saying "ok, ok, ok!!!" acting very annoyed but really they're excited...and so are you. As we got back on the subway, we all kinda looked at eachother and said "I feel drity". I don't like the creepy feeling in the black market!!! (but i got some cool T-shirts) Afterwards, we walked towards the river on the side opposite "The Bund". By then it was past 11 so all the lights were turned off. It made for some good photos. It's funny, withouth all the lights, Shanghai just seems like a sleepy yet romantic little harbor.
On the way to the black market
Matt took this picture of me taking the following picture
"the bund" after hours from the other side of the river
These are some photos form a performance we saw while in Shanghai:
Friday, we got up early and some played basketball at a gym with the owner of Hanna Strategies. His company has a company basketball team. The guys played them, and surprisingly enough only lost by 5. Later Matt, Krystle, Ben Richard and I went to a place called Yu Yuan (yu gardens). There was some GREAT shopping there. The place was originally the home of some emperor dude and the neighboring village. It was very fun and lots of bargaining going on. Pearls are very big there and you can get real ones for very cheap. They take scissors and flame to them to prove to you that they are real. I helped Krystle get a strand for 25 kuai (about $3.50). They were slightly irregular but really beautiful.
Matt played the game of his life at this game cause, as he confessed later, he was hoping I was watching... and I was.
Matt at Yu Yuan Market
Me sporting my black market T-shirt at Yu gardens
Fish at the Yu Gardens
While we were in the gardens, we met up with Dave and Ryan. Ryan and Dave were being shown around by a fomer co-worker of an investigator that he had while on his mission in San Fransisco. His name was Zhou Xiansheng (Mr. Zhou). Everyone else wanted to go to a different city called Hang Zhou, but Ryan and Dave wanted to stay in Shanghai. The study abroad program rule is that you have to travel with a minimum of 3 people. Ryan and Dave asked me what it would take to get me to stay and I said if they paid for the hostel I'd stay. Pretty sure I got the better end of the deal!!!!....
David Matsumura, Mr. Zhou, and Ryan Sydenham at Yu Gardens
Mr. Zhou bought us all treats and wanted to buy every souvenir that I touched or looked at, so I didn't get a lot of shopping done cause he literally would have bought it all for me. Dave and Ryan scored some T-shirts. Later that night, some guy that Ryan had met on the bus a few days earlier took as out to eat at a Hot Pot restaurant. It was SO good! I ate myself sick. The guy is a fashion magazine editor and was about 26 years old. He was kinda nerdy but had a super hot GF who was way taller than he was. He must be loaded. The Chinese are so generous and often view foreigners as their guests. They will bend over backwards to help you/ treat you. We were so full afterwards that we just sat in the middle of a huge shopping district and people watched while we digested. I wish my camera had batteries then cause we saw so many fashion "no-no's". We probably spent an hour and a half there laughing our guts out. Afterwards, Dave and Ryan got full body massages while I fell asleep in another chair. The two hostels we stayed in were really nice and really fun. I love meeting other foreigners. There was a Dutch lady who was very flamboyant. She and her husband had traveled around Asia for nearly a year. She didn't speak a lick of Chinese but had very good charades. I helped her ask for detergent. I also met 2 people that were my age from Sweden and a guy from Australia. They were sitting out on the patio and I introduced myself. They asked where I was from and I said the states. They said which one, and I said Utah. The Australian said "Is that where SLC is?"...I said, "Yeah!" and he said "that's where all the Mormons are right?" and I said "yeah, i'm one of 'em" and they giggled. Pretty fun. It never ceases to amaze me how many people know who the Mormons are. I've had several Chinese people ask me about it and I can't say any more than "yes, I'm Mormon".
The Beehome Hostel in Pudong area of Shanghai
the "oriental pearl" TV tower
The next day (Saturday) Mr. Zhou took us to the "Oriental Pearl" TV tower. It is owned by the Chinese government. He took us to eat at the revolving restaurant at the top. I'm pretty sure it was a pretty penny. It was all you could eat...very high class food. I was really excited cause aside from the high class stuff, the also had TATER TOTS!!!! YAY!!! I ate lots of sushi, shrimp, lobster etc etc. I cannot believe how generous Mr. Zhou was! Ryan's investigators son and his aunt were there too.
the revolving restuarant. the light looks pink cause of the pink glass.
The top is about 350 meters. From the restaurant, you could see the building that Tom Cruise slides down in Mission Impossible 3 for those of you have seen it. It is amazing to note how many new sky scrapers are under construction. Everyone says that the skyline in Shanghai changes on a daily basis.
Scene from Mission Impossible 3
Later that evening, Ryan met up with some of his old mission buddies and I went with Dave to meet up with one of his friends. Dave doesn't speak Chinese, but is ABJ (american born japanese), so everyone thinks he is. After we met up with his friend, he and I went shopping. It was SO funny cause everyone would talk to him in Chinese and he had not a clue what was going on and I would answer. Very entertaining.
It's funny cause from the outside, Shanghai looks very flashy, new, and rich, but there are still so many problems. They became quite evident at the train station. Many people from all over the country see Shanghai as the land of opportunity, so they pick up and move there. In front of the train station there are heards of farmers (who can't make a living) that are waiting for someone to come give them a job as a dishwasher or servant or something. Many people believe that life is better in the city. It probably is, but this is really a sad sight.
farmers waiting at the train station to be picked up
Sunday, I taught Caitlyn (the 11-year-old girl) in primary. She is so cute! Here's a picture of our primary:
Primary
Gui Lin and Long Sheng
May 30th to June 2nd 2007
This weekend 3 guys from my group (ben obrian, kellen moulten and ryan sydenham) and I took a plane to a place called Gui Lin in southern China which is known for it's beautiful landscapes. We were not disappointed! The first day we were there, we drove 2 hours to a place called "Dragon Backbone" terraces. It's a little mountain village that is inhabited by a minority group called Zhuang. They've been there for I think around 800 years. Here is a cute little grandma we walked into in her little village:
The irrigation system they have set up for these terraced rice fields is AMAZING! The people i was with told me that it came mostly from snow melt at the top, but I think that there has to be some kind of natural spring or reservoir to have that kind of volume and such a constant flow. They work it with their oxen and their hand tools...incredible!
terraced fields
L to R: Me, Brian, Kellen Moulten, Ben O'Brien, Ryan Sydenham
The women there only cut their hair twice in their lives. Once when they are 16, and once when they get married. They usually keep it all bundled on top of their heads but let it down if you pay them.
the bundled look
lettin' it all hang out (a picture of a picture)
lettin' it all hang out (live)
another cutie grandma at her house
The neighborhood doggies
The next day we went on a four hour boat ride down the Li River in Guilin. It was astounding! They say that a lot of it is limestone, and that the area was once flat but has eroded away into these strange mountains. I think it's a lot like Goblin Valley but an a MUCH bigger scale.
The previous scene is featured on the back of the 20 yuan bill but from a little further away:
Our fellow passenger knows how to vacation:
Entitled, "Riding in style" (love the dress shoes/socks)
We traveled with a family who were former investigators of a one of the guys I went with who served in San Fran. They are VERY VERY rich for a Chinese family. The dad is an Environmental Engr that gets contracts for improvement contracts around China. The mom used to do a lot of stuff with imports/exports. They have 3 kids which is unheard of! They went to the US while she was pregnant with their 4 year old and then even though her visa expired she insisted she stay until she had the baby, so he's an American citizen. They have several houses in China as well as in other countries. There is such a sharp contrast between the rich and the poor here. The rich are VERY rich and the poor are very poor. There is really not a very solid middle class. They were very generous and paid for all our meals/transportation.
Xiong Family
In China there is no age restrictions on drinking/smoking. Their 4 year old LOVES beer!
Cheers.
After we got off the boat, we went for a swim. It was really nice aside from all the weird Chinese men swimming in their briefs.
L to R: Li Mi, Little Ryan, Ben O'Brian, Ryan Sydenham, Chinese guy that tore his briefs.
Our boat ride ended in a town called Yang Shuo. There was a guy there while we were swimming fishing with peilcan-like birds (Cormorants I later found out). They do the fishing and then he makes them throw em up. I didn't get to see it, but here's the dude and the birds"
After the swim, we went shopping in Yang Shuo. I found a well North Face (knock-off) soft shell jacket. Looked like pretty good quality so I started bargaining. She started at well over 450 yuan and I got her down to 170 (about $20). After we made the deal, then I tried it on for size and the zipper got stuck. There were ten thousand employees gathered around me and each would take a turn trying to unzip it. After 10 minutes of sweating my guts out, they finally got it. Needless to say, I didn't buy it.
oooopss...im stuck
We found some good snacks at a concession stand that night. I won't tell you what the things are that you don't recognize.
Nothing like taking a snooze on your motorcycle.
The next day we went to some caves. I was told that most of the mountains have caves since a lot of the rock is lime stone. very cool!
sweet cave.
Oh my word!!!! I look like a man in this picture. Let's talk about my hair on this study abroad for a moment. I'm not sure what possessed me, but a couple of weeks into the trip, I cut my own hair. It looked good at first (see the photo at the VERY beginning of the blog post), but then my blow dryer shorted out due to the voltage difference and then I just had to let it air dry. It was too short to put back in a pony tail. It was hot and humid the entire time. I look HORRIBLE in every photo, but I think that this cave picture takes the cake, don't you? How Matt fell in love with me, I'll never know. We'll have to ask him, I guess.
We also went to a pearl and silk museum. I learned a lot!
A fresh water river oyster has many pearls of lesser quality that only take two years to form
this is a salt water oyster. the longer the pearl stays in there, the bigger, more perfectly round it is. sea oysters only contain one (if that) pearl.
These are silk worm cocoons. if it is a single worm cacoon, they can find and end and unwind it and us it for woven silks, but if it is a double worm cocoon, they cannot find the end and just stretch it out and use it for batting in blankets....which stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
They boil the worm/cocoon for an hour and a half
and then stretch it out on this
poor little guys
then they stretch out many double cocoons to make a blanket
We also went to a place that evidently is supposed to look like an elephant dipping its trunk into the water....what do you think?
Elephant Rock
Here's the group at the rock:
L to R: Brian, Me, Big Ryan, Ben, Kellen, Li Mi, Little Ryan, Big Bear
better view of the trunk and a cormorant used for fishing
That night we took the scariest ride in a tricycle man-powered taxi. We were flying down a hill through crazy chinese traffic with a 4 year old trying to jump off the whole time. That thing was so rickety, i think if we had hit a pot hole it would have exploded into a million pieces.
the tricycle taxi
This is the end of the blog posts I did while in China, but the beginning of the love story. "Really?" you ask, "could this post get any longer?". Yes it can. Much longer.
The last week or two of our stay in China, we went and toured Beijing and Xian. We signed a contract before the study abroad stating that we would not date anyone while on the study abroad. Matt and I held true to our word. Initially, I wasn't so sure about Matt, but during these last couple of weeks, we spent every waking moment together, though we did not hold hands, kiss or anything. It all began with a train ride.
BEIJING
The Train
Here we all are on our way to Beijing. We were on a sleeper car. I somehow got stuck in a cubby with 3 Chinese people and everyone from our group was half a car away. Matt was able to switch with a Chinese person so I wasn't alone. We spent much of the train ride watching, "An Inconvenient Truth" featuring Al Gore. I was doing a paper on the environmental issues in China, so this was research. During the moving, we kinda touched feet a little... wouldn't call it footsie, but that was the first time we made contact. Everything was left unsaid cause of the contract we signed. We played "20 Questions", but a different version. It was a getting to know you thing. I remember one question that Matt asked me that made me think he was a different sort of guy. He asked, "What would you say to your future daughter if she wanted to wear something immodest?". Can't remember what I said, but I'm sure it was a great answer.
Karaoke
When we made it to Beijing, a bunch of us ran to do some Karaoke. Here's Matt doin' his thing.
Post-marriage, Matt confessed that my performance to "Genie in a Bottle" made him nervous. I was a little too good at the Christina moves, I guess.
Jade Dragon Talks
After karaoke, Matt and I spent some time walking around the very dirty allies near where our hostel was. We did a little shopping. Matt got a jade dragon which I think he gave to his sister, Marissa. Anyway, after our shopping bit, we sat on the front steps of our hostel and talked forever, mostly about our missions. I didn't really know what I thought about Matt, until then. We had very similar mission experiences and experienced many of the same trials. During our chat, my chest felt really full, and I felt like I was going to burst. After we said goodnight, I went into my room. My roommate, Krystle was already asleep, and I fell on my knees next to my bed, and prayed that if it was God's will, that I could marry Matt. I still hardly knew him, but knew that we had the same life goals and viewed the world in a very similar light.
Tiananmen Square
The next day, we headed to Tianamen Square. I did my best to play hard to get and continued to flirt as usual with the other single guys that were somewhat normal. I couldn't let Matt know how deep my feelings were. Too soon, and I wasn't sure if they were real or made up in my mind.
Zhengyangmen Gate
Sculpture on Tianamen Square
Matt in front of the "Great Hall of the People" which is featured on the 100 yuan bill
Tianamen Gate which is the entrance to the Forbidden City featuring Mao Zedong's photograph
Krystle Frasworth, David Matsaumra, Austin Hill, me, Matt, Ryan Sydenham in the Forbidden City
Us with some monks
The more animals on the roof top, to more important the person is that dwells (dwelt) there
Isn't this detail amazing? I took this picture in hopes of one day doing a carving like this.
Rickshaw Ride
We took a rickshaw ride through an old part of Beijing. In order to keep a cover on what was going on between me and Matt, I sat with them:
Me, Jonny, and Jonathan Goodsell
and Matt sat with him:
Matt, Richard Reid and Spencer Shore
Post-marriage, Matt told me he thought it was really stupid I didn't sit with him. Whatever.
Beihai Park
Beihai Park is the imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City.
Matt was less than happy with me for taking this less than manly picture of him. Jonny (left) was the most annoying tour guide of all time.
The Bai Ta (White Dagoba) in the middle of the Qionghua Island in the park.
There were lots of guys in the park painting characters with water on the sidewalk. They were amazing!
Church
This is where church was held in Beijing. It was held at a hotel in Nanjing as well. The Chinese Nationals have to meet separately from the expats. I'm not sure how all the rules about religion work in China, but there are a lot of them. I think that the Chinese Nationals have to be led by a Chinese National and can't have contact with leaders outside of China. Chinese Nationals can tell their friends and family about the gospel, but regular missionaries can't actively proselyte there. Lots of people would come to Hong Kong during Matt's mission, get all the lessons in one day, get baptized, and then go home. It's craziness. I'm really fuzzy on the rules, but that's what I gathered while there.
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven was constructed from 1406-1420 AD. It is a Daoist temple where the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties would go to pray annually for a good harvest.
I had to post this one cause this is one of the few days when my hair didn't look man-ish or just plain crazy.
Lovin' her outfit
Mr. Clean
Future Mrs. Clean
Most of the Crew: Krystle Farnsworth, Kevin Ellsworth, Spencer Shore, Skyler Chamberlain, Spencer Dabell, Ausin Hill, David Matsamura, Matt, Ryan Sydenham, Ben O'Brien, Yuan Mitchell, Justin Mitchell
Matt showing off. This was before I informed him that jean shorts (a.k.a Jorts), particularly carpenter jorts, were out after 1998.
China Dedicated for the Preaching of the Gospel
This was given to us by our professor. I find the blessing very interesting. Hopefully you can click on it to enlarge it.
Me at the dedication sight
The Great Wall
I cannot believe that this thing goes on for miles and miles. It was amazing.
This sign says something about how only tough guys climb the Great Wall... hence the muscle flexing.
The section we climbed was very steep. The steps varied in height and many were much taller than your standard stair. Some of them were eroding away. I can't believe it has been around for so long.
One of the last nights in Beijing, Matt and I bought two knock off North Face backpacking backpacks from this lady. We haggled hard, and so did she. It was hilarious, so we took a picture. We ended up taking the bags on a winter backpacking trip we went on our first year we were married. We were hating our lives. The buckles pinched every nerve in our hips and shoulders. Lesson learned... pay the big bucks for the good stuff.
Summer Palace
Has lots of history. When an emperor moved the capital to Beijing during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), he built a palace on Longevity Hill. Subsequent emperors have done their own things with the area. It's beautiful.
Tower of Buddhist Incense on top of Longevity Hill.
A pretty bridge
On the paddle boat (with 3 other guys) pretending we don't like each other. Longevity Hill is in the background. Beautiful, clear, Beijing weather!
The Marble Boat, originally built in 1755 is actually wood painted to look like marble.
XIAN
The next phase of our adventures took place in Xian. Xian was the capital of China beginning during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE). LOTS of historic stuff to see.
Xian City Wall
The Group. The Xian City wall that is currently standing was constructed in 1370 AD.
Gotta love greasy self-portraits.
Our professor, Brent Nelson and his son Jonny. This may be the only close-up shot I have of him. Classic.
Stele Forest Museum
A stele is a big tall stone with historical or other carvings in them. Of the 3,000 in the museum, I found this one particularly interesting.
Performance
After a busy day in Xian, we got front row seats to, yet another, fantastic performance.
After the performance, we headed back to the hostel. I happened to stay up late talking to my roommate and then glanced at my email before going to bed, and I found the following from Matt. I wasn't sure what to make of it until I read the last line about not getting together with one of my options when I got back home. I continually make fun of Matt about this email cause there were plenty of misspellings and there was so much jabbering going on, I didn't really get the point initially.
Hey Charlotte,
When I got back to my room tonight, Paul asked me " Did you kiss Charlotte for the Second time tonight?, because I can seen it on your face." I don't think that he is the only one that is thinking this as either. Maybe I am just making things up in my head, but I think that we have gotten some snickers or weird looks from Sister Nelson and the other guys. So I am writing this email to make sure that we know more about what is going on than everybody else.
I think that is has been pretty obvious that we have spent alot of time together the past few weeks, and especially on this trip to Beijing and Xian. I have really enjoyed getting to know you, and I mostly all of the time that I have spent with you has been on purpose or however you say it. I don't really know how you feel, but I just thought that I would let you know. I don't want things to be weird, so you don't have to reply to this email or anything. Also, if you want to hold off on hooking it up with Shanes cousin when you get back, I would not be against that.
I am getting kicked out of the email room.
Goodnight
Matt
PS. I told Paul that we madeout for a half hour tonight. I hope that is OK with you. Jk
Terracotta Warriors
This was definitely a highlight. I should have been an archeologist. I love this stuff. Apparently the warriors (which were all individually crafted) were painted and glazed with bright colors. After they unearthed them, and the paint came in contact with oxygen, within minutes, the color was completely gone.
Confession
After we got home that night from seeing the Terracotta Warriors, I told Matt that I was going to find an internet cafe. Can't remember why. He said he wanted to come with me. He was acting very nervous as we walked. It was then that I told him I had already read his email, and that the feelings were mutual. I can't remember what we said after that, but having committed to not date, kiss, hug, etc, I honestly think we may have given each other a high five. Awkward. Then we went bowling... not a date cause Paul, Matt's roommate was with us (taking the following picture).
Huashan
The next day we went to Huashan. Huashan is one of China's 5 sacred Daoist mountains. Apparently as early as the 2nd Century BC, there was a shrine at the base of the mountain. Daoists believed that the god of the underworld lived in this mountain. Maybe they still believe that. It was amazing and kinda scary. Lots of cliffs. We didn't have all day so we took the tram up.
Reaching Nirvana
Us with our roommates, Krystle and Paul.
Steep Steps
Yes... definitely 'Be Careful the Safe'!
Me being scared and careful the safe.
After this, we went back to Nanjing, had our finals, zoomed off to Shanghai the night before we left, waited till midnight to go on our first date so as to not technically break any rules, kissed on a bench on the Bund. My bag with all my valuables and passport got stolen, I missed my flight. Matt and Paul missed theirs to stay with me and fund the process of getting me home. And the rest is history.
Our pizza party after finals. This may be the only picture we have of our classroom there.
This is Matt's version as typed in an email to me:
Charlotte
I will assume that you will be reading this after you have gotten home. Hopefully everything went well with your flight home and everything else. You should reply to this email to let me know that you made it home safely.
OK,.....So I think we need this first date documented so that we don't forget what happened. If I forget anything you can add it in later.
It all started when Charlotte's dad decided to help her buy a computer many moons ago. Charlotte loved to download music and write papers on her computer. Then she decided to go on a mission, and her father and sisters all shared in the fun and joy that flowed from this electronic bundle of fun. After her mission to Taiwan she was able to wrestle the computer away from her father, and she brought it with her to China. While in China, this computer was now used as a lure to catch boys......there was one particular boy that was exceptional attracted to this girl and her computer. Charlotte was able to convince him to go to Shaghai on the last day of thier trip to China so that they could go on thier first date.....OK this is getting way to long...I think I'm just gonna give a timeline of everything that happened.
June 18 - Last day of classes. We spent all day studying for finals and writing our papers. You only got one hour of sleep, while I got about 4 or 5.
June 19
9am-7pm We had finals this day. We listened to presentations all afternoon, and we had to rush back to the hotel to get everything packed in time for our graduation banquet. Little did we know that the exact time that we needed to be going to the banquet with our luggage was also the same time that all of the taxi-cab drivers were exhanging drivers. What a dumb way of doing things! Anyways, we were extremely late for the banquet, and Charlotte, Matt, Paul and Krystel were only able to be at the banquet for a few minutes. Dr. Nelson wasn't too pleased, but at least we didn't have to stay the whole night.
7pm - 10pm - We took a cab to the train station, and we had plenty of time to get to our seats and rest. We enjoyed the train ride to Shanghai......little did we know the adventure that awaited us.
10 pm - 12ame all carried our luggage through the various subway stations narrowly making it to our destination before the subway stopped running. On our last train we were seperated as the doors narrowly closed behind me. Luckily there was still another train coming, and we met up at the last station.
June 20
12am-2am We left Paul at the hotel, and we went to Tian Sin Di to find something to eat, and to start our date. SInce we turned into pumpkins once the clock struch 12. Sadly, the Thai restaurant was closed, but we were able to get ourselves a pretty good meal at Starbucks. While at Starbucks we were able to see some Phillipina hookers get picked up by some gross old White dudes. That was when we knew it was time to go.
2am 4am After some difficulty we were able to get a cab to take us to the Bund, where we would be able to enjoy the companionship of one another in ways that were disallowed by the Study Abroad Bible (See page 4 paragraph 3). While expressing our feelings for one another, we were approach multiple times by various annoying/persitant sales people. They were selling flowers, bar, and those little meat skewers on sticks. We were quite involved with one anther at this point, and we were none to thrilled to have these intruders gettin all up in our kool-aid. This one man in particular was quite annoying, he stood there and tried to make us by flowers from him for about 3 minutes. After he finally left, we were able to get back to the business at hand. It was getting quite late, and I asked you to see what time it was. You looked down at the ground for your bag, and then stood up in front of me, and said "OH no, my bad is gone!!!". Then I said, ....well let's not talk about that.
4am-7am We immediately had the cab driver take us to the American embassy, which was obviously closed at 4am. Then when we estavblished that it wasn't open, we then had him take us back to our hostel. Before we made it to the Hostel we stopped at an Internet Cafe to call Carlottes dad and try to call Northwest Airlines to see if there was anyway that you could get on the airplane without your passport. It was taking us forever to download skype to call your dad, but luckily we were able to get help from...We'll call him Angel #1 of the day. (There were many nice people that helped us out, we'll call them angels). He helped us get Skype working, and when our time ran out on the internet. He let us borrow his computer to call Char's dad. Sadly, we were not able to get a hold of Northwest airlines to help us find out in Charlotte could get on the airplane or not. After the internet Cafe, we tried to go and find a place to print off the copies of Char's passport and visa. No luck, but I was able to get money from the ATM. Then we went to wake up Paul and Krystel, and let them know what was going on......
7am - on
I am getting really sweaty writing this thing in an un-air conditioned room. I'll finish this up later, or you can try finish it as well. I'm sure there are alot of typos.
Paul and I had some adventures ourselves today. The boat that we rented to go snorkeling was taken capture by the Chinese coast guard, because we were with an un-licensed diver. We were having alot of fun until they came and ruined it all. Anyway, the beach is great, but hot and sweaty. I got pretty burned today. I hope you are doing alright, and I'll talk to you when I get back on Monday.
Matt
We have no pictures of that date, because my camera was stolen, but here's one at the hostel after the fact. We were glad to have Paul, our chaperon, with us. Well, that's the long and the long of it. Hopefully our posterity appreciates this.
I read it!!! What a friend I am!! Very interesting and informative. Loved the photos too.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that I met you both here in South Korea.