An American with a heart for the nations.
"And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me!" -- Isaiah 6:8
Email: chinaroadie-at-gmail.com
1 You Are Here
Bible Gateway
China Blogs
China Daily News
Joe M
Leading the Way
SermonAudio
Teach In China!
visited *loading* times
We found a new great little Chinese restaurant up the street. OK, they're ALL Chinese restaurants! But this one just opened last week, and their specialty is Sichuan. Mmmmmmmm-Sichuan! This kind of food is sometimes spicy. We enjoyed a night out minus A1 & A2. We had Sweet and sour pork, shreded potatoes, tofu skin, and thin beef cooked in some broth. And the damage for all this? 44¥, that's $5.31, or 2.65/person! Now that's eat'n good in the 'hood!
Here is a view of Qufu. The fascinating thing is that it is a walled city, still surrounded by a moat.
Inside Qufu is another walled compound that is the Temple of Confucious, and his home. There was a festival going on the day we were there and people were dressed in period costume.
Here is the actual "tomb" of Confucious. As you can see it is a large raised mound. The stones are from Mt. Tai. There are actually two tombstones. The first one relates that he was an emperor, however this character is obscured from sight by the large stone table in front of it. The tradition being that no emperor can worship someone higher than himself. Confucious was known as the "throneless emperor."
Here is one of the statues guarding his premises.
So, what's all this talk about Confucious have to do with anything? Well, not much other than I'm interested in Chinese history. Also, Confucious' thought, ideas, and principles have shaped so much of the Chinese culture that it is reflected even today .
One final observation: I wonder what Christ's tomb looks like? (Hint: He doesn't have one, Mathew 28:6 !)
"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." -- John Stott
What a busy week this has been. There is so much to do. Just take a deep breath, and as I’ve told the students “slow and steady wins the race.”
The trip to Qufu was excellent yesterday. I’ll post some pictures in a couple days after I get a CD burned. Qufu has retained many of its ancient characteristics: it is still a walled city, and there is a moat around it. The architecture is still very traditional in most places. I’m also amazed at the history we witnessed. We saw Confucius’ tomb, and I’m amazed that they know the date he died over 2,000 years ago. We even saw a tree stump that was planted shortly after his death.
There comes a point after living overseas for awhile that you just seem to transition into being comfortable in your host country. I no longer feel a need to explain things, my surroundings, or why things happen the way they do here; instead I just experience everything around me and except it. This is China! Sometimes I’m still amazed that I’m here, but it has become comfortable.
I am reminded continually of our great responsibility, and our call to be salt and light in the world. Mathew 5:13 Our time is short here, and there is so much work to be done. Slow and steady wins the race, but my race isn’t for gold or silver, but the eternal crown as promised by Him. James 1:12 & 1 Peter 1:18 I notice that my slightest word has so much impact, and one word can stick in a persons mind for a while. They think things over, and ask questions later. Last night I saw a program produced by the state run television outfit CCTV, called Travelogue. It was fascinating because it mentioned an ethnic group of people called the Lisu in Yunnan Province. There’s a large group of Brothers & Sisters there due to the diligent work of James O. Fraser. I recently read a biography on him called Mountain Rain.
We should return to the States sometime in August, and I’ve some definite plans for then. But as someone once told me, I make my plans in pencil, and give Him the eraser.
Somthing funny happened last weekend when we went to Ji'nan. When we were returning back to Tai'An on the train, a man was sitting accross from us, and as usual he stared at us with some curiosity. The train conductor came to check our tickets, and one of our team mates who speaks Chinese translated for us. The curious man talked to our team mate and wondered why we couldn't speak Chinese. Apparently he thought we were some Chinese ethnic minority!
Here is a picture from last semester:
"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" -- William Carey
I just ran across this quote while reading. One to take to heart.
Tomorrow we are going to Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius (or Kong Qiu-- 氏名). Should be a nice trip, a number of students are going too.
Today was also the last day with my students. Next week we switch classes with the Oral English program. It's difficult to believe that we're at the 9 week mark. That means only 9 more weeks until the end of this semester.
I'll miss interacting with my students, in many ways I feel that this semester went better than the last. Maybe it's because I know a little more about what to expect while in front of class. In any event I hope to maintain the friendships I've established so far, and pray for new opprtunity in the weeks ahead.
"The great commision is not a thought to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed."
J. Hudson T.
Just a couple pictures from Mt. Tai. This first one is a photo of one of the many porters you see on the way up. Everything must be hand carried up the mountain, so prices of things reflect this (¥ ¥ ¥!).
This is a view from Zhong Tian Men, or Middle Heaven Gate. Looking in the center you can see the profile of a stone gate. This is the actual "middle gate."
This morning at 5:30 we had a fantastic thunder/lightning storm that just broke loose outside . It sounded as though it was just outside our window. The best thing about the rain is that it washes all the spit globs away, and you can see across town from my classroom on the 5th floor!
Well, I'm back from Beijing. It's amazing how when we submit our concerns to Him, the details just seem to fall into place.
Friday was a very interesting day. The president of our organization, Dr. Y. was here presenting his teaching methodology to the government group that oversees us, the State Administration of Foriegn Expert Affairs (SAFEA). It was fascinating because the entire 8 hour proceedings were conducted in Chinese. Only at the end was the conversation translated for us. Unfortunately, this is the part that was more difficult to listen to, merely because it was at the end of the day. It was great to be involved even in such a limited capacity. The best part was being able to meet personally with Dr. Y. and just share with him how things are going in our life here in Tai'an and our goals for the future.
Yesterday my wife and I were able to climb Mt. Tai! Thankfully grandma could watch A1 & A2, and spend some quality time with them. The day was warm, and we just took our time to the top, 1545 meters. That's 5,067 feet. Not much of a climb, since it's a well defined path with steps at the steep part. Sometime in the next couple months, I want to climb up during the night and watch the sunrise.
I was looking at my counter and see people actually read a few words here!
How about leaving a comment, and click on the left hand button that says Guest Map. You can place a "pin" where you are located and I can see if anyone is really out there, or if it's only the PSB. 
Just another picture of daily life you can see here around China. I was taking a walk with some of my students up to Lao Hu Gong Yuan, or Tiger Park, and we saw this horse carrying a heavy load uphill. We see quit a few donkey/horse carts around town here. In Ji'nan I saw one cart loaded down it looked like the donkey was going to be lifted up by its load.
Tomorrow is the day we have cancelled class and we have special visitors.
I made it Safely back from Beijing. That is probably worthy of a post all to itself. Very good to be back. I had no problems thanks to one of my students in Beijing. I was going to post some pictures of the trip, but didn't have the camera.
I do have a couple shots from riding the bus in Tai'an that are interesting.
We were going shopping with the kids the other day on an empty bus. As we were starting to pass by a bus stop that had about 100 kids (literally, 100!) I was thinking that I was glad they weren't getting on the bus. They started shouting, and waving at us, and when the bus stopped, they piled in like crazy. It sounded like birds were swarming into the bus, these guys were loud! They were fighting so hard to get on, that three of them would get stuck in the door as they fought to get in.
When they couldn't squeeze another half-pint on board, the bus started to go, and I slipped out my camera for that Kodak moment. A2 wasn't too happy with all the noise, though, poor little guy.
So I got this one picture. The kids are all wearing their Red scarf to signify that they are in the Young Pioneers.
Pray for me. Tomorrow I'll take the the train up to Beijing by myself to pick up my mother-in-law & her friend. It's not too bad of a trip. I'll be taking the hard-sleeper overnight and returning in the soft-sleeper if I can get the tickets.
Fortunately, I was able to get a ticket up to Beijing after I was told it was sold out. The ride takes about 7 1/2 hours and I'll get in around 5 in the morning. The real challenge is buying return tickets up in Beijing, since you can't buy round-trip tickets here. I get to do all this without knowing much/any Chinese!
Hard-sleeper is a class just below soft-sleeper. An interesting way to travel if you don't care who else is in the compartment with you. There are 6 bunks, 3 on each side stacked above one another. There is also no door to the compartment. Hot water is available on the train so I take instant noodles for a snack, as do other people on the train.
Soft-sleeper is fairly nice. Only 4 bunks in this compartment, and you get a door. I'm optimistic things will work out. I'll post some pictures of my solo journey. Unfortunately I won't get to do any sight seeing. Just a quick stop and a return journey. Back to Tai'an for another busy week. And it is going to be busy! We have some other special visitors I'll talk about later. Something else to pray about.
Template by Splinder.com | header image credit: Markus Gann © www.begann.de
