Mainland China

Today (Tuesday) we made the journey to Shenzhen. We are now in real, authentic China! After a long ride on the subway, getting through customs, and then going on a one and a half hour bus ride, we arrived at our hotel. (It has 15 floors! In China, they don’t have a fourth floor because the word for “4” sounds like the word for “death.” It’s an unlucky number.) Our room is so nice! I was so surprised. We have a great view of the city, and it is very Chinese with everyone’s clothes hanging out their windows to dry.

Hong Kong at night.

Sarah and I are officially in Mainland China!
This is just after crossing the Hong Kong border.

We are in China! Today we split up into groups, walked the streets, and practiced talking to people in Mandarin. I got a bit of a culture shock. My group went to this street market and practiced bartering. I actually really enjoyed it, though I still need to kick myself into the water and actually barter myself instead of watching other people do it. A married couple returning to teach told us about how those people live so simply; they work in their little shops every day and live in the back portion, and that’s it. And they still find a way to be happy while living in such a small sphere. That re-taught me that no matter what your circumstances are, you are the one who decides if you will be happy. That couple also told us that people will live in places that look so run-down on the outside, but inside it is really nice. You can’t judge too quickly. I’m trying to remember that and keep an open mind about the Chinese culture.

Sarah went out with another group. They talked to people on the streets saying things like, “Hi, how are you, what’s your name, nice to meet you, I am from America,” etc. She got laughed at a few times, but one guy was so excited and asked the group for their email addresses all from a simple, “Ni hao.” The people are very friendly and excited to talk to us.

Everyone stares, and some get super excited when you smile and wave. Others just keep staring. I feel really self-conscious, but maybe I’ll get used to it eventually. J

Tonight we had an amazing, authentic Chinese dinner with our group. The servers just kept bringing out dishes! There was fried eggplant (SUPER good!), potatoes, the best green beans I’ve ever had, cabbage, chicken (complete with head—someone in the group actually ate it), duck (its head was decoratively cut in half and placed artistically on the dish. I got light-headed from that!), tofu soup (a gross texture I can’t describe), egg and tomato, rice, spicy dried fish, beans, and lentils or baby asparagus (we think), and mantau (amazing scone-like bread balls). Most everything was delicious! It was fun trying so many new things. Sarah and I are getting pretty good at our chopsticks skills. ;)

Backing up to Sunday after church and Monday in Hong Kong.

After we went to the Cantonese (at least we think) branch Sacrament Meeting, we went to see Big Buddha. The bus ride up was beautiful with the fog and the greenery and mountains; it looked like a Chinese landscape painting. We had to climb like 10 flights of stairs to get up to Big Buddha, and the fog kind of covered it up, but it was still really neat (I felt like Po in Kung Fu Panda). There were people praying up there. And burning incense. The monasteries were decorated so beautifully that I can’t describe them. Just look at the pictures.

Sarah and I really felt that we experienced the Chinese culture on Sunday, and it was so neat! I went a little camera happy. :)

Sarah is pretending to be nervous about the stairs.
But really, she is super fit and can run up all the stairs.
She's a Kung Fu Warrior. Like Tigris.

I'm amazed at how colorful it is outside this Monastery.
We really felt like we were in China when we saw it!

A Buddha inside one of the Monasteries.
I felt a little strange taking pictures inside, but it was too beautiful not to.
People would walk in and pray

That's my best friend! :) Sarah's so cute!

Burning incense. Pretty awesome, but also very smokey!

Monday was a very full day. We went to the 10,000 Buddha Monastery that morning. It was quite a hike! Definitely Po-style with all the stairs. There were golden Buddhas with different facial expressions and poses running up on either side of the stairs, all the way to the top where the monasteries were. It was beautiful. And we saw a monkey in the trees accompanied with a sign that said, “Do not feed the monkey. Beware of the monkey attack.” I love English signs here. Like the one on our hotel room window says, “The window has been fixed, please do not push by force. In order to protect your benefits as well as others, please do not hang your clothes on outside of the window to invoid to fall and hurt others.” It’s great.

Sarah and our beloved Chinese friend, Richard,
as we walked up the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery.

Richard is the best.

This is Sarah and Brad, our friend and one of the paid teachers at our school.
I told them to stop and then took a picture, and then Sarah and I broke out the song,
"Stop! In the name of love...before you break my heart..."

Richard positioned us for this picture at the top of the stairs at the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery. I don't know about Sarah, but I got a good work out while squatting down like that after taking pictures with 10 cameras!

Sarah and I and a lot of neat Buddha statues.

After that, we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. It was really eye-opening. Our history teachers never taught us about the Japanese occupation in China and Korea. The museum had fun exhibits with clothing, dragons, furniture, etc., showing the Chinese way of life through the ages. They had one display of a Chinese Opera. If you went around back, you could see back stage and how it would look. That was really fun to see.

That night we went on two short “Star Ferry” rides and watched a light show that a few of the major buildings along the harbor took part in. Hong Kong is so beautiful at night with all the lighted up buildings and decorative lights for the New Year. However, there are no stars. The pollution is too thick.

It’s been a really great arrival tour! Along with all the other great people in our group, Sarah and I are making friends with Brad Johnson (the paid teacher who will be at our school in Nanjing) and his Chinese friend, who's English name is Richard. Brad is really nice, and Richard is so fun to talk to! He teaches us things like how to count to ten in Mandarin, and what the hand gestures are. It's fun to teach each other how to say things in our languages. We love Richard! His Chinese name is Pin Pin. Cool, huh?

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday we have our teacher training. Teaching and learning to live in China (and live with each other—even with your best friend, it takes a lot of effort to live together harmoniously) will be such a good experience for us. I’m so grateful for the opportunity we have to be here! (Kimee is a good friend because she puts up with me. I’m a little hard to live with. J -Sarah)

We love you! Have fun in America! ;)

-Kimee