Grandma Chen's Panda Food

2011-09-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

I'm moving! Actually, I already moved physically. Now I'm moving virtually! For the Thailand and getting married chapter of my life see: http://guavasinstrangeplaces.blogspot.com/ (I've ramped up the security on this one, but you should be able to ask permission to see the blog).

Thanks!

2011-06-28T00:39:00.001-07:00

It feels strange to be actually posting from the blogger website. Due to the firewall, I had been publishing posts via email for the majority of the past three years. I suppose this new reality is just one of the many things that I will have to get used to now that I have left China. The strangeness of the power one instant has to separate us from an entire context of existence is nothing new to any of you. What is most frightening to me is that I am now faced with choices about how to carry on with this next phase of life while doing justice to the memory of my friends, adopted family, language skills, and way of life from China. I feel like a plant that has been uprooted and left to creep my roots back into the soil of a completely new context that is like nothing I have lived in before. How will I 'get over' China in time to get used to Thailand? Will Thailand just be a rebound country? As usual, I'm probably thinking too much and being melodramatic. Ah-hah! I think that the best answer and medicine for this syndrome is the cultivation of a mindfully thankful spirit. Jesus mentioned something about letting tomorrow's cares worry about themselves. For now I am warm (so very nice and warm), clothed, fed, and very much loved. Welp! Thanks for reading!

Thoughts about leaving

2011-06-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

I was just journaling some thoughts that I have about leaving China, and I would like to share them with you if you'll forgive the massive block of text.

Yesterday was GuQin day. i got a late start, so I decided to do something that I rarely do. I couldn't see any regular cabs on the horizon, so I took a motorcycle taxi. I told the guy that I wanted to go to the medical college (I said 学院several times), but he thought it would be a good idea to go around BeiHu park on Children's day. As it turns out, it wasn't a good idea. Actually, I think he just had in mind that we should go to the hospital (connected to the school). I finally made it to our class, and had a good lesson. He took us out to lunch afterward before we went to Li老师's tea shop.
I felt sad about leaving in a way that I hadn't before. I was drinking tea (getting tea drunk, actually) with Li 老师, and she told us (my translation is error prone, but i'm pretty sure I got the essence) that we had taught her a lot. I think she said something about opening her understanding. I was really touched. I am pretty sure that she said that watching us and interacting with us and seeing how we treat our friends and value the things that she values has changed her view of people from the west. I am actually really blown away. I guess that God is working in our lives even though it's hard to see sometimes. My supervisor was really reassuring about this during my recent end of term conference, but it is such a blessing to have heard this. I felt really sad about leaving China then. I could have cried. I think that the reality of leaving has not sunk in. I'm not sure that it will. I feel like all of my traveling back and forth between the U.S. and here has numbed me to the reality. But I know, at least in my head, that even though I plan to come back (if God allows), it will never be the same. This has been my home for two years, and the relationships I have made are just now really feeling more solid. I could imagine a life here. I could imagine growing closer and closer to these people and living here happily. Now I have to start over. Now I have to abandon this place just like I'm leaving HunDun. What am I going to do?
How can i really say goodbye? I have no idea which of these people I'll actually see again. Now i'm going to make a whole new set of friends and build a new community. Is that fair to them? is it fair to the friends that I have now? I can hardly take care of the ones i have now. I feel like a little girl who ignorantly goes around the neighborhood collecting bugs, frogs, snakes, and mice. I collect friends and file them away on the shelves of my heart like she takes the critters home and shovels them into drawers and fish tanks. She squeezes some soft mice to death, and is so busy working on watching the tadpoles turn into frogs that she forgets to feed the lizards. When her mom comes into her bedroom, all she sees are rotting critter corpses and the soiled hands of her daughter. Is this how I'm treating my friends? Am I selfish to meet so many people and then just leave them? They are nice to have for me when it's convenient, but is that all that I can give them? In all honesty I have to wonder if I'm being fair. I'm pretty sure that traveling to a different country takes the same amount, and probably more, commitment and forethought as one should cultivate before deciding to adopt a puppy. The decision to travel needs to be mindful. I'm pretty sure that my understanding of God's power needs to expand, because I can't imagine how Jesus Christ was able to have so much compassion and energy for so many people.

i'm still alive

2011-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering!

It's time for a fresh look. Black was feeling stark, but...

2011-01-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

Where have all of the pictures been?

Can you guess what this is?

After 2 years in China, I can now consider myself a real man!

2 months of salary.

What I spend a lot of time doing in China...

He never figured out that he could stick his paw in the water to catch the fish...

Something I wrote for my school

2010-11-25T07:41:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the use of Chinese characters. --there's some translation at the end if you're curious

When I first decided to come to China, my goal was to become fluent in Mandarin in the three years of my planned stay. Upon arriving to China the only words I knew were ‘ting bu dong,’ and a faltering ‘ni hao.’ In theory I knew that Chinese was a tonal language, but had no idea what that actually meant. I wondered if my years of musical study would be of any use in learning Chinese (as it turns out the answer is ‘no’).

I was to study language in Chengdu at 四川师范大学 for two months with classes in the morning and individual tutoring in the afternoon. My morning classes were held in a hidden classroom overlooking the campus’ grungy swimming pool which had been drained for the winter. I had never been in a classroom that was so cold—one of my most useful purchases in China has been my blue santa-polar bear electric hot water bottle. I would stumble out of my bed five minutes before class, grab the hot water bottle, stuff breakfast into my bag, and run to the classroom which was accessible through a sprint around the back of my apartment next to the austere badminton courts, beside the pond, over the disintegrating bridge, and up the treacherous and narrow stairs that climbed past a distrustful mother cat.

The first week I felt more stupid than I had ever felt in my entire life. I had studied Spanish in high school and had done well with little effort, but Chinese turned out to be a completely different story. For an American used to English words as long as the Great Wall, the melodic brevity of the Chinese language was completely disorienting. The absence of a phonetic writing system has been one of my greatest obstacles. When I studied Spanish, I learned words by remembering what they looked like, but I found this nearly impossible with Chinese. Every pair of initials and finals sounded the same to me, and I was at a complete loss when it came to hearing the tones. The entire mentality of speaking Chinese was foreign to me in a way that to this day I cannot describe. It took me at least a year to realize that one ‘word’ could actually be created from more than one 汉字.

I started two weeks behind my classmates, and had completely missed the lessons on pinyin. Our teacher asked me to read what I could from the text book, and I had no idea what to do. Learning how to say ‘你’ felt like I had summited 峨眉山, and I became familiar with ‘不对’ more quickly than any other vocabulary I have ever learned. Eventually my teachers gave up on me and no longer required me to go to listening class where I just sat in a stupor wondering if what was going on around me was actually language. When the teacher would ask me a question, I would stare back at her with my mouth open and my eyes fighting tears.

Teddy, my first tutor, is now one of my best friends. I can’t thank her enough for the patience she had with me. She brought her pinyin reader from primary school, and we looked at nursery pictures of turtles, dogs, trees, and ducks for weeks as I slowly and painfully tried to comprehend how my tongue could possibly do the acrobatics required by the ‘sh,’ ‘ch,’ and ‘zh’ initials. I had resorted to tying yarn around my lips to make the ‘v’ sound required by my favorite color, 绿。I think that Teddy’s selection of this children’s textbook was appropriate in more ways than just my language level. Being new in a country and not understanding any of the language made me feel more helpless than one of the children learning to walk with their 婆婆s outside of my 单元. I have never prouder than the day I figured out how to ask the 阿姨 at the front desk of my guest house for toilet paper.

I am thankful for how far I have come. I usually don’t have problems buying things that I need. I can do most errands alone downtown. On a good day, I can have short conversations with people in stores, sympathetic Chinese friends, or taxi drivers, but I am often discouraged at how far I have to go. My goal for the end of the school year is to know at least 2,000 words. So here I am with six more months left in my time here China, and I still have so much to learn. Just this evening after a taxi ride back to the school, I could hardly get the driver to stop. I was saying something like, ‘你可以停在这门口,’ but he kept driving, until I frantically starting blurting out any phrase I could muster with the word 停！Sometimes I wonder if I can speak Chinese at all, but I will just have to keep trying. Thank you all for your patience, and I hope that when I teach in class, I can be as encouraging and patient with you.

四川师范大学 --Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu
汉字--(han zi) chinese character
峨眉山--(Emei Shan) A famous mountain in Sichuan...there's a famous temple and some monkeys and stuff...and climbing it is a big deal
不对--(bu dui) Incorrect
绿-(lü) green
婆婆--(popo) Maternal grandmother
阿姨--(a yi) Aunty
你可以停在这门口 (Ni Keyi ting zai zhe menkou) something like 'you can stop at this gate'
停--(ting) stop

Learning new things about life!

2010-10-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with you an insight that I have very recently gained here about food. If you were, say, to put things to eat like tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, beans, beef, water, and a bit of sugar into a pot, you could then apply heat to it, and it would, over a period of time, become food. You know, the kind of food that you eat!

China part III

2010-08-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

I had a smashing good time in the states. I'll admit that I haven't even processed leaving China 3 weeks ago, so I am a little bit overwhelmed at the prospect of being rocketed back to China so soon. I learned a lot at school, and for the first time in quite a while, I can say that I am excited to teach this year. I have a feeling that this year is going to be very rich with lots of deepening relationships and tasty baked goods.

I miss 混沌

2010-07-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

He was so sad when I left. I hope he is still alive. I hope my fish are still alive. I'm a little bit afraid of America. So much English! So much personal space! So much organized traffic! So many cereal types from which to choose.But now i'm on facebook and blogger at the same time! Maybe i should just open up youtube while i'm at it! Oh the possibilities.
It's strange. I'm starting to wonder where home is....

If I had a blog

2010-05-09T01:09:00.001-07:00

If I had a blog, I would be diligent in my posting schedule. Good thing I don't have a blog. Here are some things we eat for lunch some Time. Thanks to Holly's brilliance, we (meaning Holly) but together a scrumptious lunch of white-bean hummus and pepper/mystery herb ''Green Goo". Another day we
used the left-over hummus and made taco/flautas/quesadillas. Karen brought over oranges and salad. Look mom, I'm eating a tomato! And i'm eating salad with Chopsticks. Oh, we also made nachos the other day (sorry, no pix) and we proceeded to eat them with chopsticks. Holly and Karen barely noticed, but I guess i'm still just a China toddler, so I made a point of writing this anomaly in my blog post. Look at me ...rambling away...ramble ramble ramble. Maybe one of these days i'll tell you something interesting. For example about the furniture store in town that has gone all-out to advertise for some grand-opening/re-opening. Don't let me forget! Now I need to do some homework.

Remember that time it was 90 degrees every day?

2010-02-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

I'm finally home. To welcome me home, my cat stole the loaf of bread that I had just purchased and scattered it around my living room. And Sichuan, well....it's cold...I'm back to the land of blocked blogger, so bear with me if my captions seem jumbled. Upon arrival in Chengdu I hung out with two of my former students. Hungry for some Sichuan food we finally settled on KFC. Did you know that there's a thatched cottage memorial for Colonel Sanders in Chengdu. Ok, no not really...that's Du Fu.

After our meal we went to play with fire as per Chinese New Year tradition.

Derry's mom, Derry, and I made 饺子(jiao zi)-dumplings-for lunch the next day (another Chinese New Year tradition).

That night we went to the 42nd annual light festival in Chengdu. Here is money pouring forth from the money deity.

After 2 nights in Chengdu, I made it to my friend 晓丹's house for more Spring Festival festivities. It was COLD--hence the face. Her brother is standing to my right with family members (from her dad's side) looking on. I didn't stop eating the whole time I was with her. I felt like a whale--swimming through the day with my mouth open. Maybe I'll grow into the coat (borrowed from friends in Chengdu).

I finally made it back to Nanchong, and Holly is Sooo happy!!!

What's warm, sunny, and has a name that starts with 'Th' and rhymes with 'ailand?'

2010-02-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

I'm finally going to leave Thailand on Sunday. It has been an incredible month filled with stress, joy, relaxation, good food, and wonderful friends. I will be sad to go, but I am feeling surprisingly good about going back to China. My trip here has been everything I needed to feel recommitted and positive about my work in China. Here are a few pictures of the highlights (sociolinguistics class, Doi Suthep [a temple], beetles, gardens, a bridge).

January

2010-01-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

If I post in the next 65minutes I may have a January post! I've been wondering around SE Asia for the past month. I found Vietnam and Thailand. Here are some pictures of Vietnam!

A tree

A man and some boats

Me

A street

Two colds were not enough for one season.

2009-12-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

Mom, don't ever let me complain about your telling me how to take care of myself! Now I'm getting it from an entire country! Yes, yes, I know they just want to express their concern and affection, but I certainly feel more like digging out a saying I learned this summer, '别告诉做什么。我自己做.' It's probably wrong, but it's the closest thing I know to, 'Don't tell me what to do, i'll do it myself.' Oh the irony that I, Shelley who does whatever she wants, would come to China....

Here's another picture of my partner in illness (although he's recovering quite nicely from his (or that who was formerly a he) surgery. I settled on the name 'Hun4 Dun4' 混沌. Which means primordial chaos or something. You can check it out on Wiki. Most Chinese people assume that I named him after a certain kind of dumpling, and when they realize otherwise they wonder why I would ever name him that. Then again, I wonder why my students name themselves Super, So-so, Ice cream, Wancy, or D-star.......

Some things we will never understand.

(混沌：looks pretty chaotic and faceless to me..)

2009-12-03T02:36:00.001-08:00

you know my christmas spirit is dampened when i listen voluntarily to an Aaron Neville Christmas album....

Oh dear.

Daily life

2009-11-27T22:55:00.001-08:00

Another post for my 'Language and Culture Learning Course' discussion
board:
In my attempts to be more mindful of encountering what one of my
classmates from APU described as 'real locals,' I decided to plop
myself outside of my apartment building where many of the parents and
children of the teachers here congregate to chat, work on knitting
projects, show off their grandchildren's abilities to defecate, and
hang laundry. I took my crocheting along and waited. It did not take
long for a group of nai-nai's and po-po's (Chinese grandmothers) to
inspect my crocheting and strike up a conversation with me. Although
it was quite intimidating to be surrounded by chatty women firing off
questions in thick Sichuan accents about my salary, how much I spend
on food per week, etc., it felt really good to take this baby step
toward entering into my community of neighbors. Now when I pass them
on my way to class or as I leave to get groceries, I can say 'hello'
with more confidence, and I feel a new bond that gives me the sense
that I belong a bit more in the patterns of life here in this corner
of China. One of the women even offered to set me up with young man
that she knows—he's even a doctoral student!

这个两天

2009-11-21T05:50:00.001-08:00

I finally have a kitty!!! Let the naming games begin. Sorry for the
poor picture quality, I just wanted to get something up! He has a grey
patch on the top of his head. So far i'm thinking about how to name
him something like the Chinese for 'toupee' or 'comb-over'

One week later

2009-11-11T22:28:00.001-08:00

An update on my dabbles in Chinese medicine--the purple is all gone;
there's just a bit of yellow remaining. Shoulder definitely feels
different....Can't tell if it's better, but I can do a handstand
without pain if I'm careful....

Tuesday nights at 按摩 (massage)。

2009-11-03T08:13:00.001-08:00

I usually go get a $3 massage every week with some of my other
American friends. This week I decided to tell our massage friends that
my shoulder has been hurting for the past year to see if they could
work on it. They suggested that I have the fire cups, and never one to
turn down an opportunity at new things, I decided to pay the extra
$1.5 and have it done. Thus far I'd been too freaked out by the
suction noises and pregnant purple bruises, but I sucked up my fear
and decided not to be 怕 (pa4, afraid). They insisted that it didn't
hurt, and so I found myself agreeing to become a voluntary victim of
the vampire jars. It really wasn't bad at all. The picture looks MUCH
worse than it actually is, mom. Remember those goldfish I had with
bulbous eyes? I think I understand what it feels like to be one of
them....it was nice, and almost comfortable. Plus it matches my
necklace!
They also say that it helps keep you from getting a cold, so here's
hoping that the sore throat I have will disappear in the morning!
Golly, I hope you get what I've written along with the picture!!!
Because heaven knows that it needs a good explanation!

Thoughts and reflections for today's homework

2009-10-29T22:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a post that I just posted on my class' discussion board. Cindy is one of my classmates and Slimbach is Richard Slimbach, the author of 'World Wise: Global Learning for the Common Good,' a text that we are using in my course on culture.

Living in a foreign culture seems to have a knack for amplifying my shortcomings. My reactions here skate from 'host-culture bashing' to running with the 'natives' with a dizzying fickleness. There are only rare days when I can feel truly confident about how I have interacted with the people in my host country. Most days leave me wondering how I could have phrased things better or how I could have reacted more gracefully in a given situation.

Even when I try to have the best intentions in an interaction, I find myself questioning the validity of these intentions and wondering if the other person is baffled as to why I would have considered my intentions to be the most appropriate. When I try to see life from Chinese shoes, I find that even the method I use to tie those shoes is backward, and I stumble around with the right foot in the left shoe. There is always something that I could have done better.

As I discussed this with my supervisor, she pointed out that we receive copious amounts of grace from the people here, and that most people understand that even if our intentions are skewed from time to time, they recognize that we come with the heart of a learner. I think that living cross-culturally presents many opportunities for guilt to take-hold in our hearts, but this is arguably just as destructive as entering a culture with the reckless and destructive ignorance that Slimbach is working so hard to combat in his book. Cindy, I'm glad you brought up Slimbach's words on retreating from the community because I think it pertains to this situation as well. It is tempting to go into solitude out of guilt for less than perfect cultural interactions, but it is only by honestly and transparently accepting our mistakes and embracing the grace of the community that the most transformative and freeing learning can take place.

I recently had a wonderfully rich conversation with a Chinese professor from Sichuan University in Chengdu. When I asked him how I could better connect and learn from people here, he quickly answered that learning and using language is the best way to demonstrate respect for the people here and that language breaks down the wall that separates me the outsider from my hosts. When I use even a little bit of Sichuan dialect, it expresses that I am here to live alongside the local population.

Dawning of a new era

2009-10-18T07:18:00.001-07:00

I think I'm going to get an adolescent kitty tomorrow. I'm taking name
suggestions. I think it will be white with some orange areas.
I'm sorry that my text didn't coincide with my last batches of
pictures...I have to post via email, so it might take some practice
and feedback to get the formating right.

More Hainan!

2009-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures with some nice descriptions and little
stories.

Hainan-Ho! (海南）

2009-10-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

I went on a solo adventure this past National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival
holiday to the beautiful island of Hainan. I'll tell you some stories
sometime, but for now i'll just give you a few pictures to wet your
appetite. These are pictures from a day hike that I went on with about
40 other local people--I was able to use mostly Chinese that day!! It
was real-neat. Let me share an excerpt with you from my journal:
Wow, this was a good idea to go on the day trek. It's so cool to be
with a group of Haikou 人[ren--people] they are so fiery, fun, and
certainly welcoming....I'm actually surprised and pleased that my
language skills have gotten me this far...it's a really neat thing to
be a part of this group--even if i am a wai guo mei mei (little
foreign sister). I've never been in such a Chinese community and it is
fun because i can see how much these people are just like people from
home and even possibly more friendly. we're a group of perfect
strangers and everyone is eating and sharing food together like it's
the last day of summer camp..
Now look at these

nice pictures:

Tonight after class

2009-10-13T07:01:00.001-07:00

I was walking home after my linguistics class this evening when I
spied a toad crawling across the moistened pavement. It was the size
of a kitten and when I pushed it with the toe of my shoe it said,
'....'

Coercion

2009-08-08T19:20:00.002-07:00

You didn't like my last post.
I see. I thought it was really neat!
Well.
Ok.
So I went to the U.S. and started a master's program in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages)

I made new friends!
I got to see my mommy and daddy and my cousins and aunty and uncle. I packed my tummy full of tasty Mexican food and dragged my family to the beach as often as I could and ate some tasty bubblegum ice cream.

In all honesty, it's been really tough to come back to China. I am more homesick now than I have been all year. Wow, that sounds pretty dramatic. I hate being melodramatic in my blog posts!
There have been good things too. I'm in Chengdu for the next two weeks for our annual summer language program.

We are studying hard!
We had an outing to see the pandas again and a really cool museum dedicated to the 三星堆 (san xing dui or literally the 3 star mounds)--an excavation site that turned up lots of stuff which is carbon-dated to the 11-12th century BC! This bronze age civilization is thus a contemporary of the Shang dynasty which is thought to be the second Chinese dynasty. The 三星堆 civilization is quite mysterious as neither myth nor historical record refer to it (I'm using Wikipedia as my source). But they sure had some sweet masks with googly pupils! Check it out!

Who wants to do my homework?!

2009-08-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

Back to the land of unblocked Blogger!

2009-07-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

A whole month of China! woops. It's been hot, sweaty, and busy. This month has been full of blocked blogger, health exams, visa mafan, moving, and goodbyes. The month has contained at least as many emotions, but has also been a time for me to really appreciate the love and friendship of those around me. As usual when overwhelmed by how to update such a range of experiences, I'll resort to the fruit of my camera. (Speaking of pictures, I just created a flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39173672@N04/)

Goodbye Christmas party in my apartment

A tasty dish

Me dancing

Visitor

I went to Qing Cheng Shan with a one of my students/friends and her family. It was a really nice weekend trip away from the city and filled with SiChuan culture and beautiful scenery. To begin with here's a bit of Chengdu culture for you-Food and Majang:

Typical Chinese breakfast: mantou (steamed bun), xi fan (rice porridge/water), egg, peanuts, and pickled vegetable

Not breakfast

A stone dragon

I hate when this happens

A thing

A building

I don't have yellow hair!

2009-05-30T03:39:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago one of my students had her hair cut. It looked really nice, so I complimented it. Next thing I know I'm sitting on a stage in a barber chair in front of a class of Chinese stylist hopefuls who are eagerly awaiting the metamorphosis of this particular yellow-haired foreigner. The result is ok. I know, i know, i should post pictures, but thankfully it was really just a trim.
I can't believe that it's nearly June! I have been in China for more than 6 months. This has been quite a busy month including the death of a fish, the visit of a good friend, a trip to Leshan to see the biggest sitting Buddha in the world, acceptance into Azusa Pacific's Master's program in TESOL (yes, i'm coming to California for about 3 weeks this summer), and attempts to keep classes real and fresh.
Here are some pictures!

Traditional American-like breakfast with Luke--complete with mangos, yogurt, bread...

...grape-flavored 'Smacks'?...

...and blueberry potato chips-essential to a traditional well-balanced breakfast.

Field trip!

He's big! (if you look in the background you can see the viewing deck and the tiny people on it)

So are the crowds (these stairs start level with the top of his head and end by his feet).

He even has big hair!

He's really big

I mean, Check out his hand!

Good thing I stopped to take this picture. ahahah, I can't stand the irony!!!

Look at these pretty and old carvings in the sandstone that you can see on the way down the stairs

I'm a sucker for pretty colors!

Chinese men wearing Lederhosen

2009-05-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah, well. Kinda. I mean, they were lederhosen-like.

Perhaps you have surmised from the recent stagnancy of my blog that the stability of my internet connection has been questionable. I'm not even going to apologize.

Let me see if I can give you a quick summary of some interesting things that I have observed and experienced in the last week or so.

I have a confession to make. I am afraid that I have turned into 'that crazy dancing lady at the music festival with ribbons, piercings, and strategically smeared earth.' I'm sorry. It's just that one thing led to another. Let me explain: My friends and I went to the opening day of Chengdu's first-ever music festival, 'The Zebra Music Festival.' When we arrived I was already a bit of a mess from biking across Chengdu the day prior without having had a chance to wash my hair. Upon entering the grounds we encountered festival staff who were distributing bright orange and yellow ribbons. If you have ever met me, you probably know that I have a weakness for shiny and bright objects, so it was just a matter of time before I had accumulated quite a collection of ribbons which were promptly placed on all corners, fixtures, and handles of myself, my clothing, and my hair. Then I started dancing. Then the Sichuan news crew caught wind of my gyrations. Then they asked me if I would be willing to dance for some footage. So I did. Then I decided, 'what the heck so what if it's muddy? I'm going to do the worm.' Then a crowd gathered around me. Then people wanted to take pictures with me. The end.

The other day I had the honor of being invited to my student/friend's birthday celebration. We went out for hotpot. Some of the tasty treats that I was especially excited about were pig brain (who would have thought that boiling pig brains is a very delicate procedure?), congealed duck blood, and duck tongue. I thought it was really neat when I arranged the entire tongue assembly (muscles, tendons, etc) so that the actual tongue part stuck out of my mouth while I made 'quacking' noises. Would this be an appropriate instance to talk about situational irony?

Finally, Uncle Jim, I am sorry to debunk your counter-theory, but if you'll permit us to look more closely at the 'Charley Tuna' exhibit, you may be interested to observe that the aforementioned fish hero was pictured on the can of food grade tuna fish.
I will leave you with some pictures of my recent culinary adventure. I need to start carrying my real camera around with me...

Please excuse the unscheduled network disruption!

2009-04-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

Chinglish Corner

As a recent star on my campus' television network, I taught everyone to make PBJ sandwiches ninja style! 杀杀杀杀!!!

Speaking of food, here is a favorite snack among the Chinese people, and I even learned a new word: 爪子 (Zhua zi) which means 'claw.' Luckily it is also local dialect for 'What in chicken's feet do you think you're doing?' In this case it would be鸡爪子鸡－ji (chicken)

RIP nameless red fish

2009-03-30T19:17:00.001-07:00

One of my fish died. The red one. While volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium, I learned that a fish will die if you name it. Maybe my fish knew that I was trying to considering names and decided to die honorably before I could give it such a nominal scar. You would think that I had learned my lesson, but I'm still considering names for my black fish. Joel suggested, "Kitty." I think it has a nice ring, but I am still open to other suggestions.
Here is another video for your viewing pleasure. I am riding through downtown Chengdu on my new bike! Again I apologize for the poor quality of my phone's video.

Chinese humor Vol. 1, Issue 1

2009-03-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Cold jokes:

A mantou (steamed bun) was walking down the road when it got hungry, so it ate itself.

A banana was walking down the road, and it got very warm so it took off it's peel. Another banana came walking along and slipped.

There was a black cat who was out one black night when it fell into a black hole. What did it say?
-"Meow"

By popular demand.

2009-03-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

我的中文朋友

2009-03-20T04:41:00.000-07:00

I met a man today while waiting for the bus with my newly purchased fish. He was very old and barely able to shuffle down the street to the bus stop. He wore a dark coat and a brown knitted hat despite the warming weather; his eyes were paling, and his face was full of experience. I nodded a 'ni hao' as he approached. I heard his faint reply and watched as he continued walking--laboriously sliding one foot in front of the other. I was struck as he stopped to rest and wait when he reached out to steady himself on the garbage can nearby. What is it about a life-no matter how glamorous-that so near its end we are reduced to the humiliation of leaning on trash bins for support? I gladly would have held out my arm.
The bus came, and he methodically struggled his way up its stairs. As I followed I could hear the bus driver yell at the passenger sitting in the front-most seat to give it up for this man. He sincerely and quietly accepted the seat. After a few moments I noticed that he was patting the railing in front of his seat and motioning for me to set my bowl of fish down on the platform in front of him. I can't explain how or why, but I was extremely touched by his kindness. I stared earnestly into his eyes and muttered a thank you. He blinked in reply and I crouched down near my fish. The bus lurched on and I saw the man watching my black and red fish swim in their small plastic bag. I smiled and told him in my fractured Chinese that they fish didn't like the bag--that it was too small. What I really meant to say was that I wanted desperately to communicate with him and to ask who he was, where he had come from, what he had seen in his life, who he had loved, what he had lost, what he had learned, what it meant for him to see a young American girl on a bus in his city, and what he hoped for the future of his people. He nodded imperceptibly. The bus neared my stop and I reached down to pick up my bowl of new life. I wished to tell him how much I respected him, how much I wanted to give him an arm to lean on, and how much I appreciated his kindness, but I all I could do was smile and say 'goodbye.' He opened his mouth to reply, I saw his beautiful toothless mouth and strings of spittle, but he seemed unable to say anything. Instead he nodded again, and I waved. I passed my bus fare to the driver and got off of the bus while the man watched and gave a small wave. As the bus drove off I saw him looking at me through the window and holding up his weathered hand to say goodbye. I smiled again and waved back.
As I walked the rest of the way back to my school, I nearly cried before remembering that I didn't know how since I had been teaching earlier in the day and was wearing eye make-up. There was a connection there that I cannot describe, but it has affected me deeply.

I broke in again.

2009-03-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is Joel. Shelley keeps telling us all these stories about what's happening to her, but not posting them on her blog. In the last week she has:

Ridden on a yak (she said it was kind, gentle, and hairy).
Ridden her new bike across Chengdu.
Not been impressed by an airplane contrail.
Bought a bowlful of friends.

Perhaps if you'd like to hear further details, you could ask Shelley?

Look what happened today!

2009-03-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Captured on my phone-sorry about the quality:

As promised

2009-03-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry this has taken so long. My computer's power cord snapped last week and it took awhile before I could get another one. I hope the quality is ok. I kinda rushed through things, so it might be jerky and out of focus.

So much for the one-post per week

2009-02-23T02:48:00.000-08:00

Hopefully I can start posting more regularly now that I am not traveling around the entirety of SE Asia. I just had my first classes today! I haven't cried about them yet, so that must be a good sign. Honestly, it is a struggle to assuage my concerns and doubts regarding adequacy, qualification, and general approval. The hospitality given to me at this school makes me even more nervous. This seems like the perfect time to trust God, and like my parents said, to be thankful and gracious.
In other news, I am nearly settled into my new diggs. I just had my washing machine installed today, my refrigerator unpacked the other day, and a hot plate and sweet set of knives delivered a few days before that! I've put up some ethnic eye candy, and am hoping the seeds I planted will sprout presently. I will post pictures soon, but I keep forgetting to take them when there is nice, natural light showering my pad.

Yunnan to Thailand to Hong Kong

2009-02-07T08:21:00.001-08:00

I've got a lot of catching up to do. I wish I could share each moment here with all of you.
Yunnan

Wood and Water in Lijiang

A main square in Lijiang with Naxi people in costume

Grubs with a hint of blueberry...

Piggies in a basket

Teddy and I stayed here at Lugu Hu (lake)

Friends from Lugu Hu in a 'pig trough'

Interlude

I survived my first Chinese New Year in Chengdu...but just barely. Let me tell you about it (adapted from an IM conversation with Heather:
The night before the new year, I was going home on one of the last buses, and I was excited because i found it and it was cheap. I sat there riding
for quite some time, and i didn't recognize anything. Finally, it was like 10 minutes until the bus was supposed to stop running. I looked up again and saw IKEA. IKEA is on the absolute, complete opposite side of town from my apartment. Chengdu is about 20 miles in diameter. so i got off, ran across the road, and waited at the opposite bus stop. However it was pretty iffy because of the time. while I was waiting a police truck drove up, stopped, and asked what i was doing
With some pointing and broken chinese I explained to them that I needed to go to the other end of the bus line. They pointed to the time and were like, 'no buses,'so they hailed a cab for me and told the driver to take me home across town! My conversation with the driver ended up being probably the the best conversations that I have had in Chinese so far.
Imagine doing this in a foreign country on christmas eve--it's kinda the same, because everything stops on the new year.It seemed like a good opportunity to panic, but i didn't very much. I prayed and then the police drove up.

Thailand

We all agreed--it was so much fun to 'play' with everyone

A bit of northern Thailand

There are many pointy things in this country. I done got me a souvenir!

Just in case you wondered what I ate in Thailand (just kidding, this is just an elephant)

Elephants, banana trees, friends, watering hole

This is one thing I ate in Thailand

A sign between Thailand and Hong Kong (Shenzhen)

Hong Kong

Victoria Harbor

Red

我抱歉

2009-01-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the Chengdu airport yet again. This time it's off to Thailand, but I'm going to try to throw together a quick post to start catching up. I just came back from a 2-week trip to the Yunnan Province. My friend Teddy and I ambled around Lijiang, Lugu Lake (where the last remaining matriarchal society lives), Kunming, and Dali. I experienced, learned, and saw a lot of things. I'll post some pictures of the highlights, and eventually I'll try to get more pics up on my picassa account.
These are a few of my pictures from Lijiang.(ok, maybe only one because i'm struggling to upload things right now)

Teddy was an unwavering friend who translated my most bizarre questions: 'How would you describe your relationship with your eagle?'He was kind enough to pull off his glove and show me his scar! Never take food meat away from a bird of prey.

My apologies!

2009-01-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

I'm traveling in the Yunnan province until the 21st and am unable to upload pictures at this time. I promise an update upon my return!

Christmas in 江油

2008-12-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays dear friends and family! I just passed into the New Year (To celebrate in a fitting fashion, Teddy and I had some ox tongue for dinner). So far, it looks like a good one. You may want to give it a shot in the next day or so!
I have been busy with exploring the city, bumbling my way around Mandarin, trying new foods, building relationships, watching pirated movies, and sleeping in.
Here are some pictures of our (I went to Jiangyou to visit Mark and Janice) Christmas exploits.
We found a mostly intact creche in a forgotten closet of the apartment. I tried to tuck this unfortunate 3rd king behind the Christmas tree...

Apparently during Christmas in Chengdu it is traditional for hordes of people to mob and fight in the city with blow-up bats (they often sport an American flag). However this mode of celebration has been banned as of this year due to the inherent dangers accompanying such a Yuletide riot. (Here's a blog with good pictures: Chengdu Christmas Tradition). Despite the new legislation this new Christmas tradition is too good to be forgotten!

Here are some neat things that we found while wondering the streets of Jiangyou:

Self-explanatory

poultry & produce!

Pretty colors

(pig? sheep?) hearts--the blood keeps them fresh!

Edible foliage

Woops!

2008-12-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

I would like to take a moment to respond to this thoughtful comment:

"I enjoy the pictures of the surroundings. Reminds me of the travelogs your Grandma used to take me to when I was a kid. Do you ever have trouble making purchases there if there are only characters and not words? Have you for instance ever had to go back to a store and say "Even though this plant food was delicious with a little milk and sugar, I would like to get coffee this time."

Hah!!! You bet I have trouble making purchases. Usually I just nod, smile, say an affirmative 'uhh,' and resign myself to the knowledge that I am about to have an adventure. So far I have purchased date flavored yogurt instead of strawberry yogurt, bought some lemongrass-mint gum, and attempted to buy a bunch of bananas that were intended to be individually deep-fried and sold. However with a bit of persistence, hand-motions, crude drawings, and laughter even the novice can successfully score a nice dish of korean-style squid!

Slowly getting better at China

2008-12-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

My friend Betty had me going that we were about to experience a tasty Sichuan treat called 龟苓膏 (Gui1 ling2 gao1) made from turtle blood . She said that we would each choose a turtle from the pool and then smash the shell and collect the juice.
I was only a little disappointed when it turned out to be 'herbal jelly.' However, even herbal jelly can be fun sometimes!

I had my first test today for my language class. I think it went ok. Check out some of my homework! So far, whenever I show my work to them, my teachers ask me to stop drawing pictures in class...I'm not sure how to say 'chicken scratch' in Chinese.

Oh! Almost forgot-if you're interested I've been dumping more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/postcentral.gyrus

Jinli street plus some other things

2008-12-11T22:18:00.001-08:00

When all else fails, post a lot of pictures!

This is Jinli Street in Chengdu. It's pretty much a tourist thing, but I liked it!

We tried some neat foods! Teddy wouldn't let me bring the bamboo home; it was too greasy.

She was making a silk rug! Wow! Can't find those in IKEA.

I have one Chinese friend (Hi, Teddy)!

I liked the contrast of the grey and yellow.

Mild street action

What else would you post on a bus?

Home for the month

2008-12-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

I moved out of my room on the first floor of the guest house into a new room on the fifth floor. I should be staying here for the rest of the month. I'm also posting some pictures of the scenery on the way to my class.

My new room on the 5th floor

This is nicer than my last one!

Scary hole in my bathroom wall

Kitty on the way to class

Stairs to class

Opportunity to indulge in Chinese dentistry

2008-11-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry friends, this is a long post. If you scroll to the end, there are more pictures...
I could tell you about going to see pandas, struggling along in my language classes, or being utterly confused at the zoo-like environment of a Chinese cellphone store. However I would first like to tell you about tonight's tasty treat. Last night, there was a man selling sweet, sticky goo at the south gate of the university. If I had a pocket big enough, I would put him there. He is short (go figure) and older and has a smile full of character. Wonder of wonders! he was there again tonight! I finally mustered up the courage on my way back from dinner (fried peppers and rice) to ask for some of his tasty treat. As I admired how awesome he was, he took two sticks, dipped them into the bucket full of this viscous, caramelized sugar, then twirled them around until he got a nice wad stuck to the ends. Here's what was left by the time I got back to my room. Yeah mom, I absolutely got my hair in it!

I recently purchased a new cell phone. The absurdity of this experience far surpasses words, but I'll do my best. When Mark, Janice, James, Betty, and I walked in to the store, the employees set us down at a table, crowded around us, poured copious amounts of tea in our paper cups, brought out phones, and held about 8 simultaneous conversations in Mandarin. Once we had finally decided on our purchases, they sent us to the register to pay.
A whole new set of people had gathered when we returned to the table to pick up our phones. These employees were busy preparing the phones for operation. Some people were designated to put on the plastic screen protectors, some helped us with the warrantees, while others materialized to assemble and fix our cellphone charms.
The charms were absolutely over the top! They brought out a plastic box full of cheap metal numbers and characters. We were instructed to choose 4 numbers to put on our charms. I was at a complete loss, and I assume Mark and Janice were as well. We dug around in the box while trying desperately to make sense of the situation and comprehend why in the world we needed numbers dangling from our phones. In a baffled stupor, I decided to just have 4 '4's' and the character for 'destiny.' Turns out this is the worst possible choice of numbers that one can make. The Mandarin pronunciation for the number '4' sounds like the word for 'death.' Hence, it is a very unlucky number. In fact, you pay less for phone numbers that end in '4' (you guessed it, I chose the phone number ending in 4 to match my charm).

Here are some pictures of pandas:

I also like these pictures from the place with pandas:

From infancy to toddlerhood

2008-11-23T03:51:00.000-08:00

I think that I had a breakthrough today. My brutish attempt at communication spurred me on to go for an adventure. Let me tell you about it. I have been in Chengdu for four and a half days now, and my supply of toilet paper was starting to run low in my guest house room. I had previously purchased a pack of travel tissue, (BYOTP seems to be the going trend in public restrooms) but I was feeling adventurous, bored, and in need of some human contact. After scraping some unintelligible sino-mutterings together from the vocab list in the back of my language text, I ventured out into the lobby armed with my out-of-place, North American grin. SUCCESS!!

This spirit of fortune widened my already absurd smile, and I set out into the night to seek out some tea and note cards. I'm pretty sure that everyone was staring at me, but I just walked faster and kept my eyes straight ahead. After self-consciously ambling around the stores nearer where I am staying, I wandered into a small store located at the fringe of the terrain currently stored in my cognitive gps. I stared at the goods for quite some time, and the store workers stared at me. I finally decided on my purchases and went up to the counter where a father/daughter team (presumably) was working on math homework with the curious 'Speak and Spell' calculator from the register. I smiled and shrugged as he rung up my purchases and the little girl put her head in her hands and smiled up at me after writing imaginary characters with my new brush.
I think I'll go back there.
Check my treasures out! I think I payed less than $2 for the lot (sans citrus fruits).

I wish I could express everything that is going on in my mind and heart at this point, but I suppose it will take time to form a cohesive picture in my mind. One of the other teachers here was talking with me and shared a very useful analogy for what I'm experiencing. He said it is like I have gone from being a fully-functioning adult who is capable of taking care of myself to infant-hood. I am very thankful for that articulation as I am also thankful for today's beautiful blue sky which perhaps mirrored this bit of clarity.

Stumped at where to begin

2008-11-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

It is to be expected, but I can't believe how much has gone on in my life since I indulged in Marmite. Perhaps I'll do a tour of the last week and a half in a succinct and sweeping photo summary of some events that led to me publishing this update in my Beijing hotel room. Please feel free to ask me for details if you would like. I can't promise a hasty reply, but I'll do my best.

Joel, Heather and I traveled to Oban on the West coast of Scotland

I ventured out to the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow

We ate a Scottish breakfast the morning before I left (Joel's birthday)

I made it to Beijing on Sunday afternoon and I visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City on Monday

In my last full day in Beijing I went to The Old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan - Garden of Perfect Splendor ) where I was pleased to find that there are mountains in China and I got lost in the maze (that guy is on top of the maze, sweeping off leaves)
The last 10 days have also given me a lot of conversation, growth, perspective, and insight into relationships. I would argue that these tools are arguably much more valuable even than the cornucopia of scenery I have experienced.
Now, I am off to do some pre-packing before I go to bed and wake up to fly off to Chengdu (the plan is for me to do language study there for a month or two at the Sichuan Normal University).
p.s. I had a dream last night that Mt. St. Helens was Erupting again....

What not to put on toast

2008-11-07T08:11:00.001-08:00

I tried Marmite today.

It was really bad.

Joel didn't mind it so much.

Glasgow is a nice place to sleep

2008-11-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

Now that I've passed my cold on to Joel and Heather, I am free to make the most of my time here. So far I have gone to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, spent hours in my new sleeping bag on Joel and Heather's couch, celebrated the exploits of Guy Fawkes at Strathclyde Country Park, ventured to the local organic store to refill Heather's bottle of washing up liquid, attended Calvary Chapel Glasgow,met Jaffa, and helped make curry .

Perhaps I should have specified which N. American virus

2008-11-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

I have a cold from PA, so I guess that's 2 strains (I was sick before leaving home too!)down and 3 to go (Glasgow, Beijing, finally Sichuan). I feel Kind of like this:

In other news I made it to Glasgow safely, although it started raining in the airplane during take-off.
Heathrow was actually quite peaceful.

I set up camp and sat for a bit before ambling around Terminal 5. I eventually found my gate, boarded the plane, and found my seat. I don't think we ever took off from the ground, but the plane was in the air when I woke up.

Little Shelley Goes to the Big City

2008-10-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

I've been in PA for one week now. Orientation has been very full and thought provoking. As I learn more about what I am becoming part of, the more I am impressed with what can be accomplished through the courageous lifestyle of humility. I am thankful to be sitting in the common room of the house where I am staying in Akron while surrounded with new friends who are sincere in their desire to embrace this spirit of love.

In other news, I visited New York City yesterday. You may have heard of this town before. My impression is that there are a couple of people there and some buildings. Please, let me provide a visual demonstration of a few of the things that I found in this city:

Did I mention there were some people and buildings in NY?

What does this light post in Central Park represent to you?

Mark and Janice demonstrating responsibility for our subway adventure while I look on with an expression of amused confusion.

The Mystery of the Airport Bird

2008-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

A Freedom Eagle. Image by Steve.

Hello, and thank you for joining us here at Grandma Panda's Food Show. If you don't know me, my name is Joel, and I am Shelley's brother. I'd like to tell you a little story about something that happened to me today.

Many of us are familiar with the Internet. It's a place where things are always happening: people meeting people, people buying things, and what have you. Today, I was using my Internet, when Shelley logged into the IM and we got to talking. Turns out she was in Denver at the airport, and she needed some help. Here is an actual electronic transcription of what she said:

(18:36:18) Shelley Shaver: would you post an update to my blog?
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: i can't get it to open and i have to go
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: you can be a guest auther
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: or
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: *
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: just tell them that i saw a bird in the airport

And then she disappeared. Now, I firmly believe that she would have wanted me to convey this final message to all of you out there reading this homepage. She may even be out there somewhere, watching. As for the bird, only Shelley knows what it really was, but I like to think it was our very own freedom eagle, keeping an eye on her. Keep watching the skies!

Eagle image licensed under a Creative Commons cc-by-sa license.

The final round

2008-10-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm going to end up in Dazhou at the Sichuan Arts and Sciences University. Meanwhile, my approaching departure date has triggered quite a trail of wreckage around my house. In preparation for my adventure, I recently purchased a new camera! It's a Canon SX10 IS (just released on Sunday). Here are some of the telling pictures for your admiration and sympathy (especially for my mom!):

I'm going to test out my new sleeping bag tonight. It's rated for 35 degrees (F), and the low for today is supposed to be 18, so I guess I'm really going to find out!

I've got some work to do with my photography skills...perhaps the lapses add to the gestalt of disarray.

I already miss you.

2008-09-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

I'm still undecided as to whether or not I should keep you in suspense until I actually arrive in China. I suppose I may as well get a jump start on building a habit of keeping up to date, so I am going to share some things (If you would prefer to remain in suspense, please return to this site after November 16th).
1) I was recently informed that the people with Mennonite Partners in China (MPC) are talking with these two schools regarding my placement: China West Teachers in Nanchong and Sichuan College of Fine Arts in Dazho.
2) I have been reading about the Chinese culture in Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans by Hu Wenzhong and Cornelius Grove, and was particularly struck with the following passage: 'Most Americans were brought up to believe that, while dining, a person (1) should not smack the lips, slurp liquids, or make any other loud noises with the mouth, (2) should never bring the edge of a plate or bowl into contact with the mouth, (2) should not smoke at the table except with permission of the others present, and (4) should not spit anything onto the table or floor. Chinese table etiquette is different. You can expect all of the above when dining informally with some Chinese.'
Huh, this living in China thing may work out just fine for me....

Welcome and Farewell!

2008-09-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. It is my hope that this space can be a place where we can laugh, cry, share stories, and culinary secrets during my 3 year stay in China.

With this inaugural post I would like to start us off with an exercise in thankfulness and worldview enlargement.
I was enjoying dinner with my good friend, Jessica, while on the Seattle leg of my farewell tour when she asked me to name the 5 things that I will miss the most during my time abroad. Jessica, here are my answers:

1)Central heating
2)Potable tap water
3)Spaghetti
4)Driving (especially quickly around corners)
5)The North American strain of the common cold

I am curious. What kinds of things, dear friends, would you miss about the United States if you were gone for 3 years?

Secondly, I would like to inform you of my travel plans. I am currently in Puyallup, WA with my brother's in-laws (also known as my 'out-laws'), and will be traveling home tomorrow to live with my parents for one month before I head to Akron, PA (October 20th) for an orientation at the MCC American headquarters. From there I will be flying to Glasgow, Scotland (October 31st) to visit my brother and his wife before I arrive in Beijing, China (November 16th) to meet the organization's regional representatives. I am not sure at this point specifically where I will be teaching, but I believe it to be in the Sichuan province.