Shengdan Kuai Le!

Shengdan Kuai Le!(Happy Christmas!)

It's Christmas Day and I'm at the school. It's not a public holiday here in China. Alot of students didn't come to school today because it's Christmas, but things are proceeding as normal for the locals.

So what's been happening in the past week?

Last week was were mainly (apart from class) just checking out places like Hou Hai, Sanlitun and eating good Sichuan food. Again the weekend was a pretty hectic time but managed to do quite alot.

On Friday night the school organised a Christmas dinner for the students. The food wasn't great but it was a good chance to meet other international students. So that night after we went to a club called Alfa and stayed there for a while, but a few of us left because the place was nearly 100% laowai's (foreigners). We went off to a pretty big club called Angel. Somehow we skipped the cover charge so that was good.

After 3 hours sleep, I woke up the next morning and we ventured out to the Great Wall. We visited the Mutianyu site (the more famous one is called Badaling). We hired a mini van to take 5 of us there. The views are absolutely spectacular. There were hardly any people there which was good and the weather was just about right. The architecture involved and the magnitude of the task of constructing the wall is mind boggling! The trip was definitely worth it. It's times like these I would love one of those Canon Digital SLR's (or whatever they are called).

After trekking the wall there is a pretty long walk to get back down to street level. To do this there are three options:

1. Loads and loads of little, big and steep steps.
2. Cable car
3. Toboggan!

By this time everyone is pretty buggered and walking on dead feet. Naturally, we took the toboggan (except Judy, she was quite sick) ... and it was mad fun! For 40 kuai (around AUD$6-7) one gets a ride down a 1600m slide. It's not super steep still fairly speedy and a cool way to end the day.

After a short powernap and dinner we hit Sanlitun for another night of bar/club/drinks. The place was called Bar Blu and wasn't too bad because the music wasn't so loud so a conversation was possible. We learnt how to repel the 'lady bar' hagglers on the streets and how to deal with people who in general just annoy tourists.

That was good fun! The next morning involved a visit to the kids migrant school which was out in the suburbs of Beijing. This was a visit well worth making. The kids were just full of joy and happiness to see us tourists and even more so when the school gave them each a shoebox filled with goodies for the harsh winter. They were oh so cute! It was pretty hard communicating to them in Chinese but the universal language used to communicate with kids works all the time.

After that I went on a visit to the Silk Markets with Ed and Richard. This was pretty cool cos we were just bargaining as hard as we could, and conversing and practicing Chinese. Most of the stall owners were pretty cool to talk to but maybe they were just talking to us to make a sale (most likely). The place is good fun if you don't get flustered by people haggling non stop.

Christmas was capped off with a nice dinner at *drum roll* ...... McDonalds! Yep, it's pretty lame. We were that buggered and McDonalds was close to our apartments. The other restaurants around the area were jam packed with people (Christmas Eve celebrations) so that's where we ended up eating. After a quiet night at home watching NBA and studying Chinese I hit the doona for a long sleep.

Have a happy and safe X-mas y'all and keep in touch! I'm really missing a nice Aussie Christmas barbeque.

Kris

End of Week 1

Hey all,

It's just been over one week now in Beijing.

I think I'm starting to settle in ok now. The weather is still bitterly cold and it's not the peak of winter yet. I've also managed to meet a few more peopole this week so it's been good to get more contacts to hang out with. Met some ABC's from Perth so that was good and also a few Americans and Chinese locals too.

I've been really tired in the past week but surprisingly felt better on the weekend (when I had less sleep). On Friday night there was a Christmas celebration at the school which was quite good. Managed to meet a few people and talk to a few locals. After that a few of us went to an area called Hou Hai. It's got lots of little pubs and cafes. It was pretty cool because the architecture around the area was old school chinese architecture. Got home real late and felt sick because the weather was super cold.

Saturday was even colder! It was the coldest day in my LIFE! (No joke). We went to Tian'anmen square and the Forbidden city but the winds were so vicious that we all became numb. Even Friedtjof (German guy) who normally experiences -5 degree winters in Germany said it was the coldest he's ever experienced. Because of this we ended up leaving early and bumming at a nice warm cafe. I reckon it was around -10 to -15 degrees that day. Regardless, Tian'anmen square is awesome looking and massive and can apparently hold one million people.

After a nice afternoon nap we went to some dumpling place. After that I was then was ready to go sleep when John (American college dude) called up to go to a big hip-hop/r&b club called Mix. It's actually a really good club and better than alot of the ones in Sydney. Lots of little and big rooms. Music was good and atmosphere was good too. Also no try hards/trouble makers like normally seen at clubs in Sydney. It was even better because John knew an American Chinese guy who booked out one level. Thus we basically had free drinks for the whole night (which are really expensive in clubs in China, more expensive than Aussie prices).

On Sunday, the weather was much better so we ventured back out to the Forbidden city. The place is amazing, it's so big and so grand and it's truly worth a visit. The only down side was that quite a bit of the city was under refurbishment so they were no go areas. It just makes me appreciate Chinese culture and history even more than I already do.

So thus it's been so far so good in Beijing. I'm still feeling a bit sick and have stacks of ulcers but getting through ok. My chinese is definitely improving so that's been good. I just hope I'll keep studying hard at it. As for quiet times, they have been constant but I guess sometimes I'm just powering through them and not as conscious of them as I should be. Contact with you guys back in Australia is giving me encouragement (much thanks!).

I hope England salvages a draw in the 3rd Ashes test. This cricket series is getting boring.

How's the weather back in Australia? Take care guys.

Signing off,

Kris

PS - Gonna go check out the AUD$200 tailor made suits this week. That's craaaazy cheap!

Hello from Beijing

Hey guys,

Well I'm now at Beijing, arrived 2 days ago. Currently sitting at the school office waiting for the orientation for my program. It's 8:37am local time (Beijing is 3 hours behind Sydney).

Few observations I've made:

• Hardly anyone speaks English.
• It's DAMN cold here.
• Traffic is incredibly crazy. No rules and no love for pedestrians. Gotta be really careful around here.
• The Chinese people are really hard working. I think manners are much more apparent back in Australia, but it's something I just have to get used to.
• When I changed money at a big bank, my flatmate told me that even big banks issue fake RMB100 bills. Everytime I used one the shop owners would check to make sure it's not fake. How dodgy is that!

My mobile number is 15901376514. For some reason roaming doesn't work.

Anyways, that's it for now. Missing everyone back in Oz!

Kris

Goodbye Australia, Hello China

Well, for 3 months anyway.

Been a hectic week. Just came back from attending the Annual Chinese Methodist Church of Australia Youth Convention (what a mouthful). It was attended by youths from all the different CMC's from around Australia (both English & Chinese congregations), I think there were around 14-15 different youth groups, and a few were missing.

Other than getting sick, I had an absolute blast, learnt alot and was greatly encouraged during the time. The theme was 'Out of this world, into the world' - a very fitting title, for as Christians, we are out of this world and set apart by God, but we are to go into the world, to spread the message of Jesus and build God's kingdom.

Next year, the convention is in Sydney, so there'll be busy times next year, but very exciting and fulfilling times too.

Well, after all of that, I'm off to China tomorrow, very early in the morning! It's been a hectic time of packing, making sure all the little details are backed up in various places, and savouring the last few things that one can get in Australia (clean toilets, clean water, clean air, etc - I'm probably overestimating the poorness of hygiene in China, but it's better than underestimating)!

But for some reason, I'm not thinking too much about China, the excitement level hasn't really peaked. That'll probably happen once the jet flies out of Sydney airport. My mind is still buzzing from the youth convention.

I'll be in Beijing from December 10th until February 4th and I'll be studying Chinese here.

One thing that I've been preparing myself for and have been prayerful about is how my quiet time and relationship with God will develop (or recede) whilst I'm in China. I won't be surrounded by family and will have little time to attend any churches (which I won't understand). Also I won't have the chance to meet up with Christian brothers and sisters and just be encouraged in fellowship. To prepare, I've brought along a few books, a Bible and my iPod (loaded up with sermons in mp3 format). It'll be quite easy to just lose myself in the foreign country and forget about keeping that regular QT going.

There will also be many temptations over in China, and I'm wary of them (and have been warned by many people). I heard and was reminded of God's power and grace at the convention through Paul's words in 2 Corinthians. They were food for thought in the light of the trip to China and the potential pitfalls.

But he said to me, "My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong".

Now I doubt that I'd face persecutions or much hardship (relative) in China, but this verse reminds me that in a time when I may face spiritual dryness, that I can rely on Christ's power. Please pray for me!

Anyways, I'd love to hear from you guys, email me at : blasterlim at gmail dot com (I didn't put it in regular format so won't get majorly spammed by those annoying net bots).