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Diligence, Discovering Disclipes,
[Title continued (because it was too long for the title line)]- Differing Definitions/Dereliction of Duty Due to Dismembered Deliberate (something that means writing attempts and starts with the letter "d")-
The subject line's contents will not be attacked the in the order originally presented. This order was only drawn the way it was as it was thought to sound most proper, and fitting concerning the importance of the subjects. Beginning with differing definitions, the last blog made it quite clear that another blog was on its way in the near future, and indeed all intentions were such. However, the writer being on known to procrastinate held off until he could no longer, for fear of losing too many people's interest and too many memories. The point being, not every has the same definition of the idea generally referred to as "soon." For reading this far with a mention of China, an admittance of dereliction of duty is due, this took way too long to be written so thank you for continue to check for updates.As for diligence...in our studies of course!
China! It is pretty crazy to think about the fact that we have been here for nearly 2 months already. What an awesome two months it has been. The last three weeks as we returned to school we have seen the other students trickle in returning from their own break, visited the Harbin Ice Festival, seen hopeful signs of spring, and celebrated three birthdays in very enjoyable ways. Our trip to Harbin was the result of an earlier mishap where, because of a late train, we were unable to visit the ice festival. So this time around, we headed up on an hour and thirty minute train ride after school last Friday. On the way to the train station, a classmate realized he had left his train ticket in a desk drawer back at school so he had to get out of the taxi, find another one and try to fetch his ticket before the train left. This did not happen so we were temporarily split up but he met up with us a few hours later after catching another, slower train up to Harbin. In the meantime, we had a few hours to burn in Harbin so we hit up a coffee shop - such a college kid thing - and hungout there for a while. Afterward we headed toward a the main shopping area in Harbin which has a mix of Russian and Chinese stores. After picking up a few things, we decided to head toward the river and the way one group member decided to withdraw money that he would need for the entrance fee to the festival. Upon entering the 24-hour bank, he proceed to put his card into the ATM, which itself proceed to eat the card making a noise similar to NOM NOM NOM. As you can imagine, this was quite frustrating to the person (you might as well know it was me.) But, despite the circumstances, I could only laugh as I told the others what had happened. Our Mongolian friend, Hulan thought we could try to get help from the bank with the same name across the street. After communicating through a three inches of glass by writing Chinese characters on notebook paper, we were told by the two guards in the closed bank that they were in fact two separate banks and he could not help us. (just occurred to me, that bank card was not the first important article to be lost in Harbin. On our first trip Pete's phone was taken by a taxi driver and, despite our best efforts, has never been retrieved.) Hulan's sweet effort was also in vain in the ATM card case. Regardless of the circumstance, the ice festival was a sight to behold with tons and tons of ice buildings, slides, and statues with a Disney theme.
In other news, hopefully more China-y and interesting than the last paragraph, we celebrated Hulan's birthday last week Wednesday. It was similar to our 500th night goat roast, only TWO goats and 28 people, 3 cakes, a few bottles of wine, and of course, many toasts to Hulan, the girl who seems to know most of the locals in Changchun, and probably every foreigner. It was a wonderful celebration of her birthday with about 8 different countries represented coming together as her family as she has formed a family here over the 5 years, rarely returning home.
Next was March 1st, Alex's and my own birthday. The celebration started at midnight China time with a cake fight. The intention was to have Alex, who is my roommate, and I each have a piece of cake to smash in each others faces. After a quick assessment, we both decided it would more enjoyable to get the others so we chased them down and they received what they had coming :) After cleaning up, we hungout for about 2 hours enjoying the company. The next morning we went to class until noon, then headed to a lunch as we had been told one of the instructors wanted to treat us to lunch. Little did we know all the teachers and tutors would be there along with a happy birthday banner, cake and a great Chinese dinner. This surprise was very enjoyable and there was much laughter around the table as we dined for the entire and hour and a half long break we have for lunch each day. This celebration is indicative of the importance of birthday's to the Chinese people. Since it was both of our 21st birthdays, one of the instructors mentioned that we could now drink in the U.S. and in honor of that ordered two beers. In the normal manner of traditional Chinese dinner drinking, we were told to ganbei, which means empty cup. The combination of the large bottles of beer that they have and my lack of drinking experience, the carbonation was nearly too much for me and I thought my chest would explode. Not that enjoyable, but humorous nonetheless as they had told us to stop halfway through. We were both thankful for these experiences which never would have happened at West Point - a special birthday lunch and a beer before heading back to class.
After our tutor sessions that afternoon Alex and I decided to treat ourselves to a massage, which are mad cheap here. It was quite relaxing and was a good lead in for the night which was spent at a Japanese restaurant called Sakura. The 5 WPers were dressed in suits accompanied by another American guy from the university, also in a suit, a Mexican girl, and Hulan. The food was excellent. They bring out every dish on their menu and you get to try some of everything they have to offer from caviar to excellent steak, or as the Mongolians call it, mach (with a guttural sound in it), the word for meat. From our interactions with the Mongolians at the university, stereotypes have only been enhanced. For example, I'm pretty sure they could eat nothing but meat for weeks at a time, and that would make them happy. Another example, Hulan is one of the more violent people toward her friends that I've ever met. My point is, it is not hard to see how their ancestors could live simply pillaging Chinese villages. Back to Sakura, we relaxed there sipping warm sake and eventually, a second cake, bought at a bakery for Alex and I by by our companions. The eating of the cake was of course accompanied with singing, which is pretty ordinary. What wasn't ordinary was hearing happy birthday in 9 different languages - including a Mongolian traditional birthday song. Our Mexican friend, who speaks 8 languages herself, carried the majority of the weight but we all pitched in where we could. What an enjoyable and memorable 21st birthday it was.
Discovering disciples is my favorite topic so it has been saved for last. About 3 weeks back, we were invited to a church by an African man in the dorm. 2 weeks ago we were able to take him up on his offer and it has been a huge blessing. We rode a church bus the short distances to the church. This bus picks up people from many universities in the area. The service is held on the 3rd floor of a building that is a Korean church, but this other group uses it holding Sunday afternoon services there. I was unsure what kind of service they were aloud to hold in this building and I was a little weary of what might happen. After entering the sanctuary, hearing the praise music, and feeling God's presence, my spirit was put at ease. The praise music was mostly songs common to any contemporary worship service in the U.S. and the familiarity was a blessing. Praising God and again enjoying this kind of worship which I had not experienced for 2 months was wonderful. All three times have been incredible, experiencing and worshiping with others in different languages is beautiful - although most are African, English is the language of most of the service with Bible readings also in French, and praise in multiple languages. :)
Well, that is all of this post. I thank you again for you interest in what is going on here. Please continue praying for me and my witness to those around me.
God's Word: "Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth." - Psalm 31:5
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” - 2 Timothy 1:9
(From Biblegateway.com "Verse of the day")
Listen of the week: On the Radio - Regina Spektor
The subject line's contents will not be attacked the in the order originally presented. This order was only drawn the way it was as it was thought to sound most proper, and fitting concerning the importance of the subjects. Beginning with differing definitions, the last blog made it quite clear that another blog was on its way in the near future, and indeed all intentions were such. However, the writer being on known to procrastinate held off until he could no longer, for fear of losing too many people's interest and too many memories. The point being, not every has the same definition of the idea generally referred to as "soon." For reading this far with a mention of China, an admittance of dereliction of duty is due, this took way too long to be written so thank you for continue to check for updates.As for diligence...in our studies of course!
China! It is pretty crazy to think about the fact that we have been here for nearly 2 months already. What an awesome two months it has been. The last three weeks as we returned to school we have seen the other students trickle in returning from their own break, visited the Harbin Ice Festival, seen hopeful signs of spring, and celebrated three birthdays in very enjoyable ways. Our trip to Harbin was the result of an earlier mishap where, because of a late train, we were unable to visit the ice festival. So this time around, we headed up on an hour and thirty minute train ride after school last Friday. On the way to the train station, a classmate realized he had left his train ticket in a desk drawer back at school so he had to get out of the taxi, find another one and try to fetch his ticket before the train left. This did not happen so we were temporarily split up but he met up with us a few hours later after catching another, slower train up to Harbin. In the meantime, we had a few hours to burn in Harbin so we hit up a coffee shop - such a college kid thing - and hungout there for a while. Afterward we headed toward a the main shopping area in Harbin which has a mix of Russian and Chinese stores. After picking up a few things, we decided to head toward the river and the way one group member decided to withdraw money that he would need for the entrance fee to the festival. Upon entering the 24-hour bank, he proceed to put his card into the ATM, which itself proceed to eat the card making a noise similar to NOM NOM NOM. As you can imagine, this was quite frustrating to the person (you might as well know it was me.) But, despite the circumstances, I could only laugh as I told the others what had happened. Our Mongolian friend, Hulan thought we could try to get help from the bank with the same name across the street. After communicating through a three inches of glass by writing Chinese characters on notebook paper, we were told by the two guards in the closed bank that they were in fact two separate banks and he could not help us. (just occurred to me, that bank card was not the first important article to be lost in Harbin. On our first trip Pete's phone was taken by a taxi driver and, despite our best efforts, has never been retrieved.) Hulan's sweet effort was also in vain in the ATM card case. Regardless of the circumstance, the ice festival was a sight to behold with tons and tons of ice buildings, slides, and statues with a Disney theme.
In other news, hopefully more China-y and interesting than the last paragraph, we celebrated Hulan's birthday last week Wednesday. It was similar to our 500th night goat roast, only TWO goats and 28 people, 3 cakes, a few bottles of wine, and of course, many toasts to Hulan, the girl who seems to know most of the locals in Changchun, and probably every foreigner. It was a wonderful celebration of her birthday with about 8 different countries represented coming together as her family as she has formed a family here over the 5 years, rarely returning home.
Next was March 1st, Alex's and my own birthday. The celebration started at midnight China time with a cake fight. The intention was to have Alex, who is my roommate, and I each have a piece of cake to smash in each others faces. After a quick assessment, we both decided it would more enjoyable to get the others so we chased them down and they received what they had coming :) After cleaning up, we hungout for about 2 hours enjoying the company. The next morning we went to class until noon, then headed to a lunch as we had been told one of the instructors wanted to treat us to lunch. Little did we know all the teachers and tutors would be there along with a happy birthday banner, cake and a great Chinese dinner. This surprise was very enjoyable and there was much laughter around the table as we dined for the entire and hour and a half long break we have for lunch each day. This celebration is indicative of the importance of birthday's to the Chinese people. Since it was both of our 21st birthdays, one of the instructors mentioned that we could now drink in the U.S. and in honor of that ordered two beers. In the normal manner of traditional Chinese dinner drinking, we were told to ganbei, which means empty cup. The combination of the large bottles of beer that they have and my lack of drinking experience, the carbonation was nearly too much for me and I thought my chest would explode. Not that enjoyable, but humorous nonetheless as they had told us to stop halfway through. We were both thankful for these experiences which never would have happened at West Point - a special birthday lunch and a beer before heading back to class.
After our tutor sessions that afternoon Alex and I decided to treat ourselves to a massage, which are mad cheap here. It was quite relaxing and was a good lead in for the night which was spent at a Japanese restaurant called Sakura. The 5 WPers were dressed in suits accompanied by another American guy from the university, also in a suit, a Mexican girl, and Hulan. The food was excellent. They bring out every dish on their menu and you get to try some of everything they have to offer from caviar to excellent steak, or as the Mongolians call it, mach (with a guttural sound in it), the word for meat. From our interactions with the Mongolians at the university, stereotypes have only been enhanced. For example, I'm pretty sure they could eat nothing but meat for weeks at a time, and that would make them happy. Another example, Hulan is one of the more violent people toward her friends that I've ever met. My point is, it is not hard to see how their ancestors could live simply pillaging Chinese villages. Back to Sakura, we relaxed there sipping warm sake and eventually, a second cake, bought at a bakery for Alex and I by by our companions. The eating of the cake was of course accompanied with singing, which is pretty ordinary. What wasn't ordinary was hearing happy birthday in 9 different languages - including a Mongolian traditional birthday song. Our Mexican friend, who speaks 8 languages herself, carried the majority of the weight but we all pitched in where we could. What an enjoyable and memorable 21st birthday it was.
Discovering disciples is my favorite topic so it has been saved for last. About 3 weeks back, we were invited to a church by an African man in the dorm. 2 weeks ago we were able to take him up on his offer and it has been a huge blessing. We rode a church bus the short distances to the church. This bus picks up people from many universities in the area. The service is held on the 3rd floor of a building that is a Korean church, but this other group uses it holding Sunday afternoon services there. I was unsure what kind of service they were aloud to hold in this building and I was a little weary of what might happen. After entering the sanctuary, hearing the praise music, and feeling God's presence, my spirit was put at ease. The praise music was mostly songs common to any contemporary worship service in the U.S. and the familiarity was a blessing. Praising God and again enjoying this kind of worship which I had not experienced for 2 months was wonderful. All three times have been incredible, experiencing and worshiping with others in different languages is beautiful - although most are African, English is the language of most of the service with Bible readings also in French, and praise in multiple languages. :)
Well, that is all of this post. I thank you again for you interest in what is going on here. Please continue praying for me and my witness to those around me.
God's Word: "Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth." - Psalm 31:5
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” - 2 Timothy 1:9
(From Biblegateway.com "Verse of the day")
Listen of the week: On the Radio - Regina Spektor
