Roaches never get old....

This week has been yet another busy week here in China. Between CSP friends, Chinese friends, finals, business visits and packing for the Trek, I have been pulling some long hours. I must say though, it is well worth it! One of the biggest reasons for coming to China was to learn a bit more about Chinese Business as well as get a basic understanding of Eastern Culture, and that is exactly what I did this week.
This week the business students had an opportunity to visit Optera which is a Michigan based company specializing in touch screen production. The story behind this visit is even more intriguing. Before coming East, I was very much interested and involved in the concept of networking. On our flight from Hong Kong to Xiamen, with some standard networking of fellow students with a western family, we were scheduled to make a visit to a manufacturing company based here in Xiamen. It turns out, that Optera holds the largest share of Apple’s touch technology production for iPods and iPhones. This organization also is a large producer of the Lexus and Toyota GPS touch screens with its Xiamen counterpart TPK. Let’s just say your iPhone (Phil, Anderson’s, and Randy) and your Lexus GPS (Dan) was manufactured in this plant. I was absolutely amazed at what my eyes had an opportunity to gaze upon. I actually had no idea about how the production of touch screens happened, and have never seen a manufacturing plant in this type of setting. For starters, it was by far the cleanest plant I have toured and is thanks to Apple being their most rigid buyer in that all products must be produced in “Clean Rooms” with employees using Hazmat suits. I had an absolute blast and would love to tell you all about the production of touch screens (sometime) which is rather interesting. I can confidently say that such visits get my blood pumping and mind spinning.
Another great aspect of my stay in China has been spending time with Chinese friends. I really enjoy spending time putting our cultural differences aside and hanging out as friends. I do love the fact that we can laugh about our cultures and share stories about our life. Trying new foods is always a must when I am out with my friends. Usually it is not because I want to, as much as I just don’t want to offend anyone. As sad as it sounds, my favorite so far was a Japanese Restaurant which was incredible to have authentic food while being so close….and boy the Wasabi is much spicier.
As this week has come to an end and we prepare to leave for our Trek around China I have had some time to do some reflection. I have come to the conclusion that one of the best ways to educate ourselves is through travel. When we open our eyes, we attain new lenses that help us to look at the world in a new light. Many of the problems we have experienced here in China are cultural differences, and with a better understanding we can integrate more appropriately and live as the locals do. One thing I have found important to me is learning more about my own culture. While living in the States, we just do not realize our own cultures because it is the norm. When you take yourself out of the norm you begin to see the huge gap. We (The US) are merely one nation joined by many others in a diverse and changing world. I will say though….there are some things I will never get used to…like Roaches and rats.
Sometimes change from the norm comes across as a violation of our character and what we feel is right, but it truly is a tool that is used to teach us more about ourselves and how we can better integrate. On the note of change, I will no longer be spending Christmas in India. Though a huge disappointment, because of my past and current travels, I can understand the importance of our own cultures. Arjun passed on some incredible news that his sister is to be engaged and in Indian culture the priest decides on the engagement date…which happens to be in December, and he will be traveling with his family to Dubai for the month. Though I may not get to India this time, I am truly excited to try again. It was more of a lesson for me to be blatantly reminded that our culture, though we may not be able to put a finger on it, guides who we are and how we live.
On a fun note, this past weekend I ventured out into a botanical garden which included a rain forest, cactus garden, European Flower garden, a bamboo area, a palm resort, the highest peak in Xiamen and much more. I cannot describe how large it was except saying you could spend days there. Throughout the visit, I never felt like I was in China….I was all around the world. Something that I did not realize about Xiamen before coming here is the actual size of this island. I am on a huge Chinese Island. I also took a risk and got my first Chinese hair cut. I will leave it at this…he did exactly what I said since his ideas were a little too wild.
Tomorrow morning we are up and out at 5:30 Am and heading on our first Trek adventure. We first will fly to GuiZhou to spend a week in a rural mountain village for our service project. No running water should be another humbling experience, but this will help me to see how China is still a developing nation. Before long we will be in Xi’an, Beijing and Shanghai which is really exciting.

Wish me luck. Pray for us. And expect some great adventures.

Naked Turtles

When I was a kid, I remember being told that if you dug far enough into the ground, you would reach China. As I am now many years older and can realize the truth yet impossible nature of that experience, the thoughts of digging a hole to America come to mind at times. In no means do I dislike my experiences here or have feelings of homesickness, I just truly miss one aspect of life….convenience. We are spoiled individuals in multiple ways, and life in China has taught me so much about it. We really need to work for things here, right down to eating. The once a month treat of filling Chinese food and using chopsticks is a daily thing. Yes, the food is different, but chopsticks are a ton of work that we don’t realize when we dine at P.F. Chang’s and Panda Express. Some things we take for granted (aka conveniences) are things that we struggle with daily. These include protecting ourselves from foreign germs every second, access to internet, familiar foods, understanding of languages, and all those things we call “home.” Sometimes a simple taco, cheese, milk, and chips would be really nice. You really learn about yourself when you are put in such situations for a long period of time….meaning months.
Sunday marks the start of a two week count down until our trek through Xi’an, Beijing and Shanghai. As much as I am extremely excited, I am also going to miss aspects of Xiamen. Besides the summer, I hardly have the luxury of running up the beach on a daily basis….the California students who are with me getting that all the time which must be nice. The past week or so has taught me so much about Chinese culture. At first, some of these things just seem ridiculous or instill anger in my heart, some blow my mind and others just leave me in a confused state. When I reflect on all these situations, I can only shake my head and realize that it is part of daily life here, and truly interesting. Here are some of those experiences that just make you wonder…
• Sitting on the bus or in a restaurant and see a friendly cock roach running across the table…For me….this was an absolute first, however it is life here. Now I realize why I take my shoes off when I enter my dorm room….
• I go for my run, see kids peeing in the streets, smashed roaches in the road, poop chilling on the curb, workers trimming the flowers and trees perfectly, a Bentley and a Masarati passing BMW’s and Mercedes on the road, and men in suits getting on the buses.
• Beautiful Beach homes emptied out with cameras and odd devices affixed to the roof with a guard sitting at the front door and government postings surrounding the building
• Walking in a Wal-mart and seeing a wet seafood market in the middle……While gazing at all the products, the sight of shell-less turtles catch my eye, especially one crawling out of the box….all I can think of saying is “Qing Wen (Let me please ask…) get your turtle!” Within seconds of being amazed by that, I was graced with chicken feet sprawled across my feet from a box that was dropped 10 feet away shooting frozen chicken feet all over the place
As always, there are many more things that I could add to my ever ending list of incredible events. I often get to laugh at many of these experiences, especially ones like the Wal-mart experience, and try to understand why things are the way they are. There is one conclusion I have come to understand, and that is that there are two worlds co-existing and living amongst themselves. China is a developing nation living amongst the developed with the constant influence of the western world intertwined. It is a concept hard to understand unless you live within it. I see these things that are much different than the life I am used to existing with a life that is much more advanced than I have seen. These are the two worlds that I see existing amongst each other.
On an incredible note, this past week has been eventful with National Day which is actually an 8 day vacation as well as the Autumn Moon Festival. We have spent a lot of time hanging out with Chinese friends who have guided us through Chinese culture and have given us an incredible tour of Xiamen. ZhongShanLu is what I consider the “downtown of Xiamen,” and happened to be our romping ground for the weekend. I found the street to be filled with authentic Chinese shops, modern shopping plazas, bootleg DVD stores, restaurants, and street vendors. We ate Sea worms….gross, we tried some “famous” Chinese soup…which was drug through the sea of people, across the gross floor, and dumped into a basin, and we went into this cd store, winked and asked to see DVD’s…..and then immediately we were brought out of the store, down an ally and into an apartment filled floor to ceiling with DVD’s. Aaron and I call this our nights out on the town, and they sure are eventful.
It is hard to believe that the first week of October is over, and I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. As a Zambian friend of mine says… “That is Life.”

Life is what we make of it, so I am going to try to make mine….an incredible life.

Swimming with Dinner

It is not every day that one can shower with his dinner. Last night, a few of us went out to dinner for what ended up being an experience to remember. I guess the naivety of foreigners can turn into some fairly funny situations. It all begun with a waitress pulling a fish out of the tank about 10ft behind our table. As with most fish of the sea, the slimy creature slipped out of her hands and under my seat. Flopping all around and sliding amongst the cleanliness of the floor was the preamble for the seasoning entertainment to come in the kitchen. The truth of the matter is that we took it as a funny experience and laughed it off. It wasn’t until the waitress went in for a second one which put up a fight sending a tsunami wave of water down my back that was the icing on the cake. Was this normal, or just my lucky day? We are still not sure, but it definitely made for the start of an interesting evening.
Due to National Day today, the country of China has begun an 8 day vacation which makes for an interesting time in the town. Last night we were invited to a Moon Cake Party which was a blast. A few of us hung out in a Chinese friend’s apartment drinking tea, eating moon cakes and trying some of the unknown we have been afraid to tamper with. It was an incredible time to learn a little more about them and China, to share Western culture and to experience life beyond Xiamen University. Because of National Day, the city and country for that matter has had some interesting events. A huge parade to flex the muscle of China, Female dancers in front of McDonald's (Bet Dan’s McDonald's doesn’t have that) and moon cakes are everywhere. This is an extremely important time for the Chinese and we are in the middle of it.
The past few nights we have been soaking in the culture. We went to a Communist History presentation and a talent show the other night which commemorated Western and Eastern culture for the international students. It was nice to finally here others playing some more familiar tunes. As the weekend approaches and class work dramatically lightens these next few days, I look forward to a fun time. Before I know it, we will be off on the Trek, traveling the vast nation of China and experiencing its differences. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss you all, but it is more of a …I wish they were here to see this…kinda feeling.

Life in China is amazing.