LifeForChinaBear's Xanga

Link to Pics

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 04:49:27 GMT

As much as I would like to not admit defeat to Xanga, I must. I tried to post pics using Yahoo and then linking them up w/ Xanga. In fact, I would successfully have all the pictures just like I wanted to in the blog. I would sign out of Xanga then sign back in and I would be able to see everything perfectly as I desired. However, after the passing of a few hours, something would happen and the pics would no longer show up on the blog. I would realize that after returning to the Internet Bar a few days later and seeing the pics have become a square w/ an X and I have nothing but angry comments left on my post. So I'm going to give you the link to my Yahoo pictures page if you really want to look at pictures from China. The site is:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/billybooyeah/album

If you want to see the most recent pics from our travels, go to Win. '07 Traveling. Each other folder is labeled appropriately. To view the pics, select what you want to view and drag them into the 'Drag photos into this tray' window. Then select 'Slideshow'.

Tiger Leaping Gorge & Shangrila

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:58:30 GMT

Here comes another photo entry. I think I fixed the last entry so the pics should be viewable. After my last post on the 4th, we travelled south to Xishuangbanna (西双板纳), which is still in Yunnan province and is bordered by Laos and Myanmar. We liked this area because the weather was nice. I'm not going to post anything about that now b/c I didn't bring those pics w/ me to the Internet bar (网巴). After banna, we went to Dali (大理), which was nice. From there, we went to Lijiang (丽江), which is where I am right now. In this post, I'd like to show pictures from our next two destinations. First, we took a 2.5 hour bus from Lijiang to a town called Qiaotou (桥头), which was the beginning point for our hike up the Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡). We had six people in our group and three big packs carrying our goods, so we alternated in carrying the packs up the mountain. Some of the hiking was pretty intense, while other parts were flat. The scenery was amazing in all parts. It was a two day hike. We stayed in a hotel at the halfway point the first night. Here are some pics from the hike:

Views of Jade Snow Mountain (Yunnan)

Below: tough_actin_tinactin, liukai, heybillman, daytosaybye, TheElder, & me on hike up Tiger Leaping Gorge

Below: Our path is blocked by a pride of mountain goats.

Below: View of Tiger Leaping Gorge separated by chang jiang (长江) river

Below: Eating breakfast at our hotel at halfway point: me, TheElder, heybillman, daytosaybye, tough_actin

After the two days of hiking, we took a three hour taxi van to Shangri La (香格里拉), which was originally written about as one of the most beautiful places in the world. Nobody knows where the true Shangri La is. We went to the Chinese Shangri La. The local people are all Tibetan, as it's near Tibet. The area is surrounded by towering mountains. During our time there, we went to a huge Buddist temple and mingled with the locals. Below is a picture of the area from the top of the temple:

Below: Child monks sweeping the floors of the temple.

The picture below can be explained in a short story. Jon, da yu, and I were standing and watching the kid monks sweeping the grounds, and a lama (monk) w/ authority walked up to us. The lama is pictured below. He didn't say anything, he just grabbed Jon's beard and gripped it firmly. As the lama held Jon's beard, I laughed and da yu took out her camera to take a picture (but didn't get a picture). The lama let go of Jon's face, noticed that da yu was trying to photograph him, and proceeded to take a hold of Jon's beard again to pose for the picture. The result is seen below:

Next stop: Back to Dali tomorrow, then to Kunming the next day. Then off to Hunan to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Will update as necessary.

Kunming Picture Post

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 06:16:12 GMT

Good to be back in China. As promised, Jamie and I did in fact get to Beijing. We stayed in Tony and Lily's living room with Mark and Katherine. I slept on the floor and slept splendidly. The next day, we took a three hour flight to Kunming. Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan province, which is in the south and bordered by Burma and Vietnam. The name Kunming should mean 'spring city'. Flowers are in bloom here year round and it's eternally spring. These few days it's been pretty chilly, getting below zero and snowing for the first time since 1998. In these parts they don't have heaters anywhere, so sleeping at night has been particularly cold. Anyways, I'm gonna post some pics now.

Eating in Beijing: Tony, Jamie, me, Katherine, Mark, Lily.

Kunming: Red beak (红嘴) birds which migrate from Siberia to Kunming each winter.

Chilling in Kunming: heybillman, daytosaybye, Chad, krystalrock, TheElder, me

Kunming: Minorities singing Chinese Christian worship songs (in Minority Park)

A couple scenic pics from Kunming below:

Me & huge stone

Kunming: Wa nationality men displaying traditional dance (Minority Park)

Kunming: Traditional Tibetan dance (Minority Park)

Kunming: Fierce poses in front of warriors: daytosaybye, heybillman, me, TheElder, krystalrock, Chad

Kunming: TheElder on swing

Next stop: xishuangbanna. More pics to come.

Leaving the states

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 07:25:18 GMT

Now it's 2:09 am. My flight will be leaving at 7:40 later this morning to Chicago. In Chicago I'll meet up w/ Jamie Billman. From there it's on the 13 hour plane to Beijing. Then one night in Beijing. Then a three hour flight to Kunming, which is a city in the south. There we'll be meeting Langlie, Jon, Da yu, and liu kai for a few weeks of traveling. Should be a good time.

I've now been home for five weeks. I expected to only stay for three, but I had to bump it back a couple weeks to be with my family during a tough time. Now I'm excited to get back to China. TodoHewellen just left my house. Actually he spent most of the past three weeks at my house. It's been pretty awesome. I've said it before, but how great it is when we can share our sufferings with others who have the same sufferings. How comforting that is. 2 Corinthians 1:3-6.

My plan in staying awake all night is to combat the jet lag. I've done it the past couple times I've flown from the states to China and it usually makes the adjustment much quicker once we get to China. Now I'm gonna go sleep for a couple hours. China, here I come!

New Pics Posted

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:18:14 GMT

I'm now in America. I'll be here a couple more weeks probably. Go to this website to get some good pics from China:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/billybooyeah/album

'Fall '06' folder includes newest pics from last semester.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:19:19 GMT

The proverbial winds of change are sweeping through Dong Da. It began with Hewie heading back to the states. Things have slowly been changing since then. Last week, two of my closest friends (xiao xiao and her cousin, xiao bu dian, both waitresses at the restaurant where I work, Red Eagle = Hong Ying) quit after working there for the last nine months and year and a half, respectively. I can't describe how hard these girls work. Xiao xiao is 15 years old and Xiao bu dian is 17 years old. They both work 13 hours a day, exactly 365 days a year, and get paid about $50 per month, which is even low for China. Anyways, for the last year I've gone in there almost every day and spent good time with them. They were the faces of Hong Ying. Now they're traveling to shandong (another province to the southeast) to go work in a factory there where the pay and work hours are better. They will certainly be missed here. Two nights ago, for their last night in Qinhuangdao, we went to KTV (karaoke) together. It was their first time to do KTV, so they were pretty shy. Finally, after trying to loosen them up for a couple hours, I was able to sing a Chinese song (Tong Hua) with Xiao xiao. This really was an amazing moment for me. Xiao xiao is super shy and rarely speaks and always vehemently refuses when asked for a song. I know TodoHewellen will appreciate the significance of this event and maybe no one else. Anyways, now they have new waitresses at Hong Ying, and I just haven't adjusted yet. I need to go spend more time there to get to know them, but I haven't done it yet.

Xiao xiao, me, Xiao bu dian (Me and the Hong

Lots of the seniors are now heading out to go look for a job. Repeating the words of Rainflyqiu, it's just a time of big changes. Our great friend Pei Pei will be leaving tomorrow morning to begin her search for a job. Of course we wish her the best of luck and will miss her. Though some of the people closest to us are being relocated, things continue to look up here. I am constantly being encouraged in so many new ways. My connection w/ Him through Petition has been strengthened each day. I believe that if I say to this mountain, "Move", it will move. I've never felt this way before. I feel like my Requests to Him are actually being answered and they're being documented. Maybe I have never been so expectant before. But this is a good thing. It's such a different atmosphere here now than it was a year ago. As Spurgeon says, an atmosphere filled with the dew produced by tireless interventions produces a flourishing crop. The tireless interventions (from abroad or from the battle field) are necessary for the crop. Definitely, this is an area which I can always improve on. I am certainly encouraged, though.

Here are some more pics from the semester:

Our 14 ELT Edge teachers at training time in Maryland in mid-August

Temple of Heaven in Beijing on National Day (Oct. 3) (Wang Fang, Li Tian, Jon, Liu Kai, TodoHewellen, Liu Di, me, and Rick)

(Above) Birthday Party Table 1 (Oct. 13)

(Above) Bday party Table 2

Qinhuangdao Sunset near Boggy Marsh

The above pic (taken first week of November) shows us failing miserably at looking intimidating before this year's bball tourney between the teachers of different departments. Nonetheless, we managed to take home first place for the second consecutive year.

This is my first real entry, complete with multiple picks. I feel like TwentyMilesontheColtrane. This kind of output cannot be expected in the future. It's now about 30 minutes past my bedtime. Time to hit the sack.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:51:47 GMT

I understand it's been a long time (over 2 months) since my last entry, so the pressure is high for this entry. That's okay. I don't expect anyone reading this to have too high expectations. I'm back in Qinhuangdao, China. In fact, I've been here for the past month+. My two month summer vacation was spent in Oklahoma, U.S.A. Pretty hot, but good times. The lineup of foreign teachers here at Dong Da now includes: returnees, TodoHewellen, TheElder and myself, as well as our new folks, Jon the Sage a.k.a. tough_actin_tinactin and the lovely GreenEyedDawn. Not to mention, our buddy Chicago Rick, who isn't in our organization but is a fellow foreign teacher and friend nonetheless. My classes this semester include variations of Oral English. For TodoHewellen and myself, the English Department has taken away our responsibilities handling the more advanced classes like American Culture or Movies for Juniors. We now strictly are in charge of the Freshmen and Sophomores. We love the Sophomores and we're eager to meet the new freshmen, who begin classes next week. They're gonna be hungry for some English learning, rest assured. Hopefully we can cultivate that hunger rather than putting it out with an elephant water hose.

Today is officially our first day of a seven day holiday celebrating the National Day in China. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be taking a three+ hour bus to Beijing, where we'll stay for two nights, hitting the hot spots in the city such as Peter's Mexican Restaurant and the Silk Market, where I'll have no plans of spending money but somehow come out with a new pair of jeans that don't fit and a new pair of shoes that will have a hole in the sole within the month. I will make a special note that more than a year ago TodoHewellen and I bought some Jordan III's at the Silk Market for less than $20. Somehow, the shoes have survived some moderate to heavy wear in the past year and the sole remains in one piece. I had another pair of tennis shoes purchased at the Silk Market that wore straight through the sole within about three months. I guess even fake Jordan's are just superior in every aspect to other shoes.

Anyways, at this moment, all five foreigners are sitting in TodoHewellen's party room. We plan to celebrate the National Day and the Sabbath by staying up nearly all night, having moments of comraderie and laughter and the like. Actually, the main purpose of this late night party is to watch the NFL scores update on NFL.com and cheering for our Fantasy Football teams. Pretty awesome bonding experience for the guys, really. GreenEyedDawn is still with us, showing her loyalty to the group even though she couldn't care less about the football. Somehow, TodoHewellen has managed to stay up each Sunday night to watch the scores update (not actually watch the games, just watch the stats update). That is devotion. Even last year when his team was terrible, he was staying up nearly all night to watch the scores update. Now we're watching some highlights from the Michael Jordan DVD. My neck is sore from spinning it around from the desk to watch his top-10 countdowns, so this will mark the end of my entry. Expect another entry within the next two months. I'll be better this time, Xanga world. I promise.

Sites of Oklahoma

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 01:51:02 GMT

This is about the halfway point to my summer vacation. I've been back in the states for a little over a month. I'll be heading back to China in a little less than a month. So far, the time at home has been pretty great. I had a deal with Hewie about who could go to fewer weddings during the summer. I think I already lost that bet, as I went to a high school friend's wedding a couple weekends ago and Hewie (TodoHewellen) vows he won't be getting close to any weddings all summer. That's okay. Not all is lost.

A couple weekends ago, I went to the OKC Bombing Memorial for the first time. Joining me were TodoHewellen, tough_actin_tinactin, RyneMiller and Phatty. Below is a picture of us standing in front of the Survivor Tree. I have to admit I wasn't too familiar with the tree until I saw it in the movie 'Elizabethtown'. In the movie, Claire and Orlando visit two Oklahoma sites, the Big Red Barn and the Survivor Tree, neither of which I had visited before although both are within 20 miles of my home. So I vowed that I would try to visit both this summer.

Hopefully later I'll have a documentation of my visit to the big red barn, which has yet to happen. Apparently the Survivor Tree is so named because it was the only tree on the grounds of the Alfred P. Murray Building which survived the explosion in 1994. Also, there's a pretty cool Memorial and pool as seen below

Not in the movie, but still pretty cool. I figure if I'm seeing sites around the world I need to know more about the stuff near me.

Back in the States

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:11:12 GMT

I just received an angry comment from Jammie, so I feel it necessary to update a bit on life in the states. Well, I've been back in Oklahoma for four days. Before that, I was in Qinhuangdao, China for 10.5 months. I will be in Oklahoma for almost two months before returning to Qinhuangdao at the end of August for another round. Life in China is very simple. Each day I know what I will do. I will go to sleep early and wake up early. I will have daily morning time in the Word, with nothing luring me away. I have plenty of time to study Chinese, meet with students for meals and to chat. My schedule is busy and tight, and I have no time of idleness. I'll see the other lao wais (Jammie, Hewie, Tyler) each day and we have a good feeling of comraderie and accountability and we enjoy each other's presence. There are very little temptations of the flesh from outside sources. I have no Internet, no TV, and the moral values of the people in China are very conservative, thus reflected in their dress and attitudes.

Now fast forward to America. I have so much time I don't know what to do with it. I'm constantly bombarded from all cylinders by the media, magazines, tv, and other people encouraging me to be lethargic and indulgent. It's harder go to sleep early and wake up early each day, thus making it harder to have a daily Quiet Time. There are dozens more things luring me away from my time in the Word. When I take away this time in the morning, I really struggle during the day. My mind wanders and I can't take it off things of the flesh. Thus, more ease to falling into temptations of lust, idleness or other sins. It can be very easy to just sit around and watch TV. Because I have nothing to do, it can be tempting to do nothing at all, being absolutely unproductive with my time. I will say that I've only been here for four days, and today was the first day I wasn't busy.

So I have the entire summer ahead of me. I have hope that I can break habits of previous summers spent at home when I was idle and felt distant from God. I refuse to follow those patterns from the past. I would like to make it as simple as that. I refuse to go down like that. Yesterday I bought a book about the life of Hudson Taylor, who began the China Inland Mission in the 1800s. Obviously, I'm very excited to get cracking on it and several other books. I also hope to continue my study of Chinese. It has been great seeing my brother and sister and the rest of my family and friends. It was also great going to my church Grace yesterday morning. They have been an encouragement for me all year. I have much hope for the summer. It shall be a time of enlightenment and continued learning and building relationships, not a time of idleness and feeling distant from God.

New Photos

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:53:48 GMT

To look at some new pictures from this semester, take a look at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/billybooyeah/album