Leaving my 2nd Home.

Here is a short summary of some of the cool things we did.
I will write a final blog on more of the not-so-surface stuff soon.
I'll be home soon.
Love,
meg

It's been awhile...

It’s been awhile.

Hey friends and family.

I am really sorry that it has taken me so long to write since my lat update. Things have been beyond busy here. Actually, things have been quite busy and difficult. I’ll start from the beginning.

Our trip to Beijing and Xian was lots of fun. For me, it was a nice chance to see things that I have seen before. The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Place, the Pearl Market, they all looked the same but really they were quite different. Last time I saw them, I was a different person. I was single (and single-minded), 19, and I wanted to spend the majority of the rest of my life in China. Now, I am 21, about to be married, about to graduate college and move to Austin, and I find myself asking more questions rather than giving answers now. Last time I saw them, China was just beginning the process of preparing for the Olympics, China was different too. Now, China, this country that I love, is re-entering the world stage as a major player with a major role. It was been so interesting for me to see this country really market herself towards a western audience. More people speak English, spitting and littering on the street s against the law (sort of), and thus the number of foreigners and Starbucks’ in this country has more than tripled in the last couple of months. It’s crazy. Now I get to write one 6-8 page paper on it, and one 12-16 page research paper on families in China…. (If you are interested in the subject and are crazy enough to want to read those, let me know)

Speaking of crazy, I ate a scorpion. We were in Beijing at an outdoor street market where they are famous for selling fried scorpion. Some of the boys were trying to get the other boys to eat one and I was an idiot and said, “I’ll eat a scorpion….” Dumb. Well, I did and after that so did everybody else. They taste like popcorn.

I could write of all the beautiful things we saw and fun things we did, but I would rather just name a few. My favorite thing that we did was bicycle around the city wall of Xian. Xian is one of the only cities left that still has a city wall. It is about 14 kilometers around and very fun to bike on. We also got to see and take pictures of the Terracotta warriors in Xian. They were discovered in 1974 (I think) by a farmer digging well in the outskirts of the town. Now there are three excavation sites in the area. None are completed and after each day that passes there is more and more to see. We also got to meet the farmer that actually found the sites. We did plenty of other really neat things as well.

(The top picture is of two of the guys riding a tow seater bike around the wall and the second picture is of the first pit in the Terracotta warrior site.)

Since we have been back we have started our internships. I was supposed to be working with Hisense, an appliance etc. manufacturer here in China. The company has never actually had interns before and did not know what to do with us. We all wanted to teach English but instead we were stuck making copies. Thankfully, the staff at A&M recognized that we were not really learning anything and pulled us out. Everybody except for me was placed somewhere else. Now I am sort of doing a patch work of jobs from practicing English with four members of the staff from the department of liberal arts at OUC to a Tuesday Thursday proof reading job (I am currently at that job where

I have nothing to do and am writing this essay.) I am also tutoring a 15 year old girl on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

If I had nothing to do at home, this would all be ok. I am getting a lot of credit at A&M for this and so normally I would not feel like I am wasting my time. But with the wedding coming up in 46 days it is very easy for me to see all o this as a waste of time. B.J. and I have talked for days about whether or not to bring me home and we have decided that I will stay here. Even though there are a thousand things for me to do at home, we have decided that B.J. and our friends and family can do it together. I know that I am here for a reason. I have had several opportunities to share parts of the gospel with people in the last few days. I know that I am learning so much and that I will not regret staying, it is just hard right now because I want to be home helping and preparing. I really do trust God’s plan for me here, it’s just hard sometime. With that said, I really just want to say thank you to everyone who has been working with us in all of this wedding and moving stuff. You mean so much to me. I would not be able to be here without you. (p.s. yes, we did get a new apartment in Round Rock. It is amazing and B.J. did an absolutely fantastic job picking it out.)

Ok, just a couple more weeks and I will be able to see and hear from each of you. I love you all sooooooo much. Hopefully, my next update will be a good report of things that I have learned and things Father has done.

Pr. Requests

-Our team…. A lot of the guys are having a hard time.

-Me and Tory. We have been in close quarters for 6 weeks now. We are getting to know each other well and have recently started to talk more about God.

- Jack. A British guy who has been asking Tory and I a lot of questions about God.

-My classes. That they would benefit from such a young teacher. (They always tell me how young I am, I think I bugs them. In fact, one of my students was my Chinese teacher!)

-B.J. He is so amazingly talented and such a hard, smart worker, but there is a lot of work for him to do in such a short about of time. Also, pray for him as he starts his new job on Monday.

-My stomach. A day has not passed that I have not spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom. I have been nauseous for days… and no, it’s not the scorpion. ;)

Help.

Hey friends and family.

We just got back from Beijing and Xi'an on Sunday. I promise to update you all on that soon. I just needed to post and let you all know that I am not doing so well. I am having a pretty hard time being away from home (B.J.) and not being able to be fully involved in wedding planning. I started my internship today and it was horrible. I am really trying to find hope in what is going on and in where I am. I know it will all work out, but honestly, I'm not sure I can do this for four more weeks.
Love,
meg

and she's gone again,,,,

Hey Yall.

Well, we have now finished up our Chinese class and our Intercultural Communication class. I am VERY excited and relieved. Before we start our internships we are headed off to Beijing and Xian for 10 days. Beijing is one of my favorite cities, however I am a little apprehensive about being out of contact for so long,especially during a critical time in wedding planning. Speaking of which, I just want to apologize for being a little behind on most of that. I did not anticipate that planning would be so difficult from China. I love it here and I am learning so much. I would not change my decision, but I would have prepared better if I had the chance to do it all again. I know yall understand and most of you probably haven't noticed. So, thanks. I love yall so much.
Here are a couple points....

• I could now probably win against a second grader in a Chinese counting contest. I can count pretty high... ;)
• We found out that our favorite Chinese food place by our camps serves french fries!!
• I can order my meals in Chinese, I can give directions in Chinese, and I can tell the doctor what's wrong with me if I get sick!!
• I found the secret room in the local Chinese video store. Tori and I are working through watching season one of the Gilmore girls in our study breaks.
• I miss B.J. more and more everyday.
• I am going to miss getting yall's encouraging notes and emails for the next 10 days.

Below is a copy of our itinerary for your enjoyment. I love you and miss you all.

Love,
meg

Beijing-Xian Schedule

Pack light. Remember you will most likely buy things so pack some kind of extra bag if you have one. Bring umbrella, but most likely you won’t use it…we are going to dryer lands. But you will need sun screen and a hat. You will also need your passport, camera, batteries, etc, etc, etc. and a very good notebook and pen to take notes for your final paper.

Friday June 27

6:20 am - front gate of OUC

Take taxi to train station (Qingdao Sifang)

Train # D58; departs at 7:41 am

Arrive in Beijing 13:58

Ministry of Education Hotel

160 Fuxingmennei, Xicheng District, Beijing (Btw Fuxingmen and Xidan subways)

86-10-6641-7030

(If time: Lama Temple and/or Confucius Temple –close at 4 pm - and Hutongs)

18:30 (6:30 pm) – meet YingNa for Peking Duck at Quan Ju De (expensive but very famous….has a one hour acrobatics show, I think

Beihai Park - Lotus market…this is one of the night spot in Beijing…lots of pricey loud bars around a gorgeous lake…some goods for sale… I think this is a major culture experience (put your culture observer’s hat…well keep it on all the time, but make sure it is well placed on your head here….)

(Tio’s golden advice: keep an eye on your wallet…all the time….and if someone offers you something, I suggest you say no, and keep on walking…)

Saturday June 28

9 am meet at the lobby of hotel

Temple of Heaven

Lunch - noodle place across the street, very famous, very very good, very busy, very cheap, and hopefully easy to order…..

Pearl Market – on your own…Meg is our guide…shop till you drop and make sure to be at the hotel lobby at 6 pm so we can go to ….

(Tio’s golden advice: use your best bargaining skills here…and if it looks like they are suffering, keep on bargaining. You know their limit when they get intense and defensive…They will not sell you anything at a loss. So if they set a minimum and will not go below that, most likely you hit the bottom…but if you are not serious about the purchase do not enter into a major bargaining war because the seller will loose face if you don’t buy it and you will lose respect and will get harder for you to bargain on other booth….the word spreads very fast….)

7:30 pm - Kung Fu show

http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/14296097-1060886587.html

Sunday June 29

Meet at the lobby at 9 am

Pan Jai Yuan market….the mother ship of all flea markets…shop, observe, observe some more and remember, this is as much fun as it is work for you….how does this place looks like, what it say about China? What it say about their views of tourists? How do people communicate? How they behave? What is this place about? How you feel? How you behave? What images does this place create in your mind about China?

(We might go to hotel to drop stuff in case we shopped…too much…hehe)

4 pm - Tiananmen Square – hopefully by 4 pm so we can have a couple of hours here to soak in and observe life in the heart of Beijing

7:30 pm Lao she Tea house show

http://www.laosheteahouse.com/scg/

Monday June 30

7 am - Meet at the lobby ready to go to Great Wall

Hiking 6 km from JinShangLin to Simatai (no long…but the ups and downs are suppose to be challenging. Tio’s golden advice: Wear good, sturdy shoes and a light backpack)

Need to pack water and food

Evening free

Tuesday July 1

Meet at 9 am in the lobby with luggage ready to be stored

Forbidden City

This is an amazing place. It can easily consume many many days. We will get audio guides and pace ourselves. We do not need to be in a group if we don’t want to, but I strongly recommend that you take your time and enjoy. There are few places on earth that inspire such awe…. Take advantage of this opportunity.

Afternoon free OR If you’ll want I can try to hire a van to take us on a tour of the city to see the Bird’s nest, the aquatic center and a couple of other amazing buildings and drop us at the hotel or somewhere else. But I am not sure if we can get in or to close to any of the buildings. Would mostly be a road tour…what do you think?). This would require us to decide how many hours we want to be at the Forbidden City.

7 pm at hotel to retrieve luggage

Train to Xian departs at 21:24

Wednesday July 2

Arrive in Xian at 8:25 am

Nanyang Hotel

29 87665566

Thursday July 3; Friday July 4;Saturday July 5 – I am working on this pat of the trip… the University in Xian will have a plan for us…I hope….but one thing is known…if you like biking there is an amazing 30 km bike on top of the city walls…. Xian will be amazing even if a bit of a surprise to us all

Flight to Qingdao departs at 3:40

MU 2167

Eastern China earliness

Electronic ticketing

Arrive in Qingdao at 5:35

My Essay

Hey!

just finished my essay for my Intercultural Communication class. If you have time it might me a fun thing for you to look at. Below is a shortened and edited version for you reading enjoyment. If you really don't have much time, just read #4. My answer to 4 will give you some insight into how I am feeling these days.

Love,
meg

1. What is the connection between communication and culture? And

2. How does culture influence how people interact with each other?

Communication and culture are like twin sisters born two minutes apart. They have grown up together, changed together, learned from and taught each other, they have both hurt and helped each other. They depend on each other. They wear similar clothes and have corresponding jobs. People get them confused if they do not know them well enough. Even though Communication and culture are different ‘people’, they are twin sisters; one is not the same without the other.

Communication is defined as a “symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.” (Carey) Culture is a specific people group’s reality, simply put. One does not work without the other because they have too much influence over each other. Within a culture are cultural values, or beliefs and values held by a people group that tell the members what the group should and should not be. These set of values determine how people from different cultures communicate about different topics. Some Native American people groups believe that there is a specific harmony that exists between humans and nature. This cultural value will affect their intercultural communication in many different ways. For example, if I go visit this people group and use the word, “life”, I would probably be referring to my own life at home or the biological life within me, maybe even my 100 years. They may interpret that word to mean the world of “life” around me, including the trees, bodies of water, wildlife, and other things. Without clearly defining what I mean when I say “life,” we may find a serious miscommunication caused by different cultural values.

B.J., my fiancé, and I have different cultures. He is a man and I am a woman. (Although some may not see these as different cultures, just simply biological differences, I recognize them as different cultures because they can create a different set of cultural values.) In the beginning of our relationship on a drive from Austin to College Station our conversation landed on the topic of trust. I clearly told him that I did not “trust” him because I did not “trust” anybody. He immediately pulled the car over and told me that if I did not trust him, we would have to break up. Trust to him meant a basic understanding that he is dependable and that I can count on him to keep his word. B.J. is a man whose cultural values tell him that if he is not trusted, especially by his potential spouse, then he is not a man. To me, trust meant an absolute belief in that person, that they would never let me down. Having been let down so many times in the past, my trust is not easily given. B.J. and I reached a standstill that night. As we sat in the parking lot of a grocery store both frustrated and upset we tried to come to a conclusion about when one should trust someone. Thankfully after about 2 hours, he asked me, “What do you mean by trust?” (Obviously, we worked it out and now I can say without any reservation that I do trust him completely.) Culture hugely affects communication

Communication very strongly affects culture. Besides providing a common culture with a unified set of words (language) and a common way to interpret those words on the most basic level, communication is the key factory in shaping culture over time. Gerry Philipsen wrote that “culture is a socially constructed and historically transmitted pattern of symbols, meaning, premises, and rules…” I agree. Whether it is telling stories, teaching recipes, or sensitizing the younger generation to certain words, culture is passed down from generation to generation through communication. History, events, style… all of these things affect the way generations pass down culture. Culture changes with communication. (If you don’t believe me, just play a game of telephone.)

3. How can we think about identity and culture, analyze your own identity and how culture has shaped it.

I tend to lean toward understanding identity through both a communicative and a social scientific perspective. One’s perceived self Identity is an understanding of who one is based on culture, community, experiences, events, personality, and of course communication. Much of our identity comes from the groups that we belong to (that is easy to see later when I talk about which groups I belong to.) Yet still a large part comes from our interactions in this world. I like to think of identity as a block of wood set upon this earth. Each person has one. Say someone is born in Africa, they get certain notches cut out of their block. If they are born somewhere else, they have other notches cut. That same person may be born into a wealthy African family so they get some more notches cut. Basically each person starts with the same block of wood but they get different automatic notches cut out depending on the things that they cannot control, like place of birth, family traits, looks, class they are born into… As they grow and join groups or interact with different people, as they get hurt or learn things, as they change and grow different notches are cut creating an actual shape in the wood. When they are done with life and can change no more (life is over when you can no longer change) their carving is complete and so is their identity. None are the same. One’s identity is never formed until they stop changing, growing, believing, and interacting.

4. What are the differences between China and US that you have noticed so far? Focus on worldviews, culture, rituals, ways of life, public space, etc.

There are an endless number of examples that I could detail in the next few paragraphs because of the large number of differences in communication and culture between the United States and China. I will briefly discuss two of them, first, the way the different cultures treat engagement, and the way the two use Chinese and English names.

I am getting married on August 30, 2008. That is 68 days from today. Of all of the things I have experienced in China in my at three trips, “not feeling engaged” has been the hardest. I have been talking to Tory at great lengths about the non excitement over my engagement among my Chinese friends both here and in Inner Mongolia. If I were in the United States, women would be constantly throwing me parties, gawking at my ring, asking wedding question, etc. Here, when I tell women I am engaged, they simply ask me about B.J., if they say anything at all. I have told a few girls who know me at least on an acquaintance level (which constitutes at least some squealing in my culture,) like Sophia, Xing Lau Shi, and Xu Lau Shi They have mostly responded with a smile or a courtesy question. (Sophia told me I was too young.) I have also told women who know nothing about me, like store clerks when I was shopping for some unnamed scandalous items. They don’t really seem to understand what the big deal is even when they do understand English. Most surprising is the closer friends that I have told. I was able to tell my closest Chinese friend named Cissy. She is friends with both B.J. and I. We met her and helped her with her English when we were In China together in December of 2006. Although it was over email, I was very disappointed with her lack of excitement at my announcement of her two friends getting married. I know it is a cultural difference. Maybe they view marriage differently; maybe the engagement process is just not a big deal here. I do not know. In the states, anyone I told, whether they knew me or not would automatically get very excited and ask tons of questions. All of the women would immediately grab my hand and inspect my ring. Some of that would get annoying, but I never imagined how “unengaged” I would feel here. (Cissy will be coming to visit me in a couple of weeks and I am very excited to ask her some more questions about this topic.)

The second difference that intrigues me is the way that Chinese people will take an English name when Westerners come to visit them here in China. When foreigners come to American, rarely do we take a second name to accommodate them. I do not really have too much to say about this, it is just something I have noticed.

(This morning I told Jackie, our group’s music teacher who is a man, that I am getting married. Again he responded with, “You’re so young, I cannot believe that you are getting married.” I wanted to include this, but it happened this morning and he is a guy and I have limited my discussion to women’s reactions….) (This is a picture of Jackie and Tori and I.)

Hong Kong!

Hey friends and family!

I am so sorry that I have not been able to update. We arrived safely back in Qingdao Sunday night but we were so busy with laundry and school, that I have been unable to post until now. Things are so crazy, I feel like I need 8 different blogs to update you on all of the different areas of my life. So, I guess just shoot me emails with any questions you have. My next update should be a post about B.J. and I and stuff there.

Ok, Hong Kong was sooooooooo beautiful. (To the left is a picture that I took of it at night from a mountain that stands right behind downtown. If you can see the building that has diagonal lights across it, you are looking at a famous building that was designed by the same architect that designed the Louvre Museum!) It looks and feels a lot like Hawaii and it sort of has the flavor of Austin. I have NEVER in my life been in a more diverse city. Everywhere you look you can see Asians, Indians, Middle Easterners, Africans, Pacific Islanders, Westerners (Americans, Brits, Germans, Australians...) and so much more. Seriously, There were all kind of people. It doesn't just extend to different nationalities either, I saw the extremely wealthy, the homeless so far below the American poverty level that I would have to tell you what body parts they sell to describe it. We saw that people stuck in the 80's, 60's, and 1800's. We saw artists and businessmen, and cowboys, young, old, weird, etc.
(This is a picture I took of some of the most beautiful and expensive flowers in HK, from the Flower market.)









The classification of people that was probably the biggest shock for me was represented by a couple that I met when I was withdrawing money from the ATM. Tori and I were waiting in line when a white couple walked up behind us an started talking to us in English. I turned around and said hello. They saw that we had Texas A&M shirts on and asked where we were from. The conversation progressed and eventually I asked them how long they had been in HK. They replied, "16 years, we're missionaries." WHAT?!?!?!?! My next thought was, "Can they say that? I can't even write that word in my emails." Turns out they can. You see, HK leased from China to the British in 1900 for 99 years. Britain brought so many things to China, including double decker (the picture to the left is Tori and I on a double decker bus in downtown HK.) buses and western architecture, but the greatest thing that they brought was freedom. For 99 years HK has enjoyed all of the freedoms that you and I do in the states. In 1999 when China took HK back, surprisingly, they kept the freedoms in tact (it is for a variety of reasons, ask me when I get home.) So, religion is (almost) totally free in HK. There are churches all over the place. In fact, we stayed at the Hong Kong Baptist University. It is no longer a Baptist university because it is now run by the state but they did allow it to keep the name. So, even though China s closed to religion, HK is not. Praise the Lord! (This picture is of a Gideon in our University Hotel room.


We did so many neat things in HK. We visited some incredible temples both Buddhist and Taoist. We saw a colony of wild monkeys. Boys being boys, one of the guys 'accidentally' threatened a male monkey. Well, that monkey thrashed at two of the guys, stole of of their A&M maroon panchos and then inspected it. Although the monkey did return the pancho (and when I say return, I mean return) I'm not sure our team has fully recovered from the scare ;) You all will be happy to know that as soon as I saw they boys start to provoke the monkey, I hauled butt in the other direction. (I think I learned that bit of wisdom from B.J. When a monkey is provoked, dont stand there and take pictures, leave. Thanks Honey!) We also saw a lot of other neat things, we went to the jade market, the bird market, the flower market, and many night markets. We also saw the world's largest floating restaurant. I'll just have to show you pictures when I get home.


The picture on the far left is from the Taoist temple, they are absolutely full of palm readers and fortune tellers. The right picture is from the Buddhist temple, it was deceitfully beautiful. (I can explain that if you want...)







We ate some of the best food I have ever had in my life. Although I miss Jose's we were treated to some of the best food in the world. The most impressive thing I had was Peking Duck from the Peking Garden Restaurant in Hong Kong. Oh my goodness. It was as good as it sounds. WE had some excellent Thai food and so much else. (ps. they have 4 of the worlds top 10 hotels in HK, that should say something.) If it wasn't a 13 hours plane ride, I would totally want to honeymoon here!)
(This is Tori and I with one of my favorites of our professors at the Peking Garden Restaurant.)


Tori and I had some adventures. Some of you may shake your head at us, but we had fun. Don't worry though, I already promised B.J. I wouldn't do most of this again, at least not without him.
It rained a lot in HK. Two nights in a row, Tori and I went out, wanting some time away from the boys. Both nights we had a lot of difficulty getting back. The first night no taxi would pick us up, probably because we were soaked to the bone. Some British guy named David was convinced that all Taxi Drivers hated Americans and loved the British so he needed to help us. While Tori yelled at Taxi drivers I held this guys umbrella over him while he ate his dinner (at midnight.) Finally after half an hour of me asking him why I was holding his umbrella I decided that I needed to pee and that I didn't want to hold his umbrella anymore so I gave it back to him and Tori and I tried to leave. Just then he said he would give us $100 id he didn't find us a taxi in 5 minutes. Two minutes later Tori found a taxi and we got in and home, safely. The next night after some heavy shopping and eating Tori and I escaped from the boys again. After some time out on the town we wanted to go home. It wasn't raining hard and it was still early so we thought finding a taxi would be no problem. Wrong. It would have been no problem had we not spent all of our money!! I had forgotten to grab the money that I pulled from the ATM earlier that day, and with all of our money put together we only had 7 HK dollars. A taxi is about 40 HK dollars and 7 is not even enough for bus fare. We had to try so after a lot of walking and guessing on directions we finally found bus 7, the one that would get us home. AS we boarded the bus we prayed the driver would let us on with our measly 7 dollars. He did, and we got home, again.
We had a blast.