I am from...

This is from an exercise we did today during training:

I am from movement. My family is my constant.
I am from tea parties with stuffed animals and my brothers micromachines.
I am from a struggle between different worlds.
I am from a culture few understand.
I am from silence within chaos, and love, grace and forgiveness
I am from the sound of cows and the sound of street hawkers and cars.
I am from conflicting emotions.
I m from a loving family and fearing for their lives.
I am from mango, papaya, kiwi, and pineapple.
I am from my own decisions.
I am from unending joy and hope for heaven.
I am from my insecurities.
I am from the sound of birds chirping, frisbees floating by and pinecones dropping.
I am from somewhere on the planet earth.
I am from being unsure of how to answer 'where is home'?

free time?? what's THAT?

So today is my first day that I have really been free in the last five or so. back at Whitworth, RA training has been a blur. I need to read some tonight and finish up on hall decorations, but the goal is to be in bed at eleven. Then I'll let myself read for half an hour. Maybe.

Point being, I am exhausted. I also feel slightly like I'm missing out right now - the vast majority of my team is on a run. But I don't really want to test my potential for an asthma attack and my running shoes are on the other side of the state with Karen. Part of me is incredibly excited about the prospects of this year, and another part of me is absolutely terrified.

We've talked about self care and how it is important to do that, but I am beginning to wonder when I'll actually find that. For instance - today I finished up most of my hall decorations, putting up door tags and such, and decided I would reward myself by going 'dorm hopping' to visit other people who I haven't had the chance to see yet. I felt like the response to that was somewhat '....ok' from people on my team. So. This is going to be interesting. All I really have left to do is put some stuff in the bathroom and a couple more hall decorations. So I suppose I am going to be walking around seeing who I can help out. Maybe tomorrow I need to get for a run in the afternoon sometime if I get a chance. I'm starting to feel tense but that might be because today's sharing of stories was pretty emotional. At least for me. Anyways, kind of following what Mollie did:

Things I love about being back at Whitworth (optimism!)
1. my team. absolutely all of them - also the specialists.
2. my room - cannot WAIT for laura to get here
3. the fact that eric was awesome enough to bring my stuff to me from travis's house when he was busy
4. rachael yamagata and her music
5. chap stick. my skin is really not used to the dryness
6. sunshine
7. belle the RD - she is AMAZING
8. blue tape
9. china
10. my new sheets. they're brown.
11. home made food.
12. the loop
13. my new purple dress
14. small world interactions
15. laundry machines that work
16. meeting a room of new people
17. pounding tacks into the walls attempting to hang things up - takes me back to freshman year
18. terry's message today - fix your eyes on Jesus and he will take you through the good and the bad
19. my new lamp. it's green.
20. my new coffee pot. it's also green :D

spokane!

I have returned to my homeland! Moved into the new room - partially, am finishing up training homework and then going to decorate until midnight! A new post shall come sometime after traditiation. This is going to be a very, very busy two weeks.

massage/food/taxi's

So, anybody that sees my pictures of the last few days will be all 'what, did you just eat the whole time?'. I have this thing about liking to be inconspicuous about taking pictures, which is difficult when you already stick out like a sore thumb. But boy do I have pictures of food. Friday night we went out for Szechuan food which comes from Northern China. It is traditionally very spicy. We were eating with a group of 28 adults, 2 kids. 25 bottles (big bottles) of beer were consumed (and my parents and I only drank probably 3/4 of 1 or maybe a whole bottle). We had 16 dishes. It was nuts.

Yesterday we went to the fabric market first for fittings for my dresses and jacket. Today we're picking the final product up. Then we went to a restaurant called Tiger Prawn with the Bauer's again. It was Vietnamese food and so good. My favorite dishes were lemongrass fried tofu and a coconut red curry with rice noodles, chicken and fried tofu. It was AMAZING.

And of course we shopped. A lot. Oh man. Though, I am proud of myself for being restrained. We went through this mall called 'one link' and it was six floors of stores. With almost everything in it. I was overwhelmed. Also, got some stinking awesome presents for my girl friends :) so good.

Today is my last full day, didn't sleep well last night but that is okay. Heading to the church for foreigners and then off for a good lunch and possibly another back massage. Oh yes, did I mention, yesterday we went for a two hour massage? It only cost about $14 US.

Please, be a little bit jealous :)

anonymity...a good thing?

So, as a warning for those who read this (doubtful that many, other than my parents, do to be honest) I will be updating regularly! Though only while on vacation and whilst I have free time. Once I get to school, no guarantees.

Yesterday I was at school with my dad. It was great. I sat in his office that has a view of his classroom and he introduced me to all of his classes. One girl walks in and immediately goes up to him and says "Mr. Navis, when is your daughter coming to school?" so he yells from the other end of the classroom "NANDA, WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO GUANGZHOU?" and the poor girl looked so embarrassed. Way to go dad, way to go.

We got on the bus to come home (with all the teachers - of whom at least one mistook me for a substitute teacher, how's that for a thought?) and dad asks the driver to stop a little early so we can go to Decathalon "the sports supermarket". So we walked from where we were dropped off to Decathalon and after we checked out, the real adventure started. The area we were in is known to have few free taxi's since it's pretty far out of the city, so we decided to get on a bus. My dad assured me that he knew where he was going, so we hop on a bus, it goes through and intersection, makes a u-turn and stops. At the end of the line. We were on the bus for maybe a minute. So we both laugh it off, and get on another bus, which my dad again assures me goes to the right place (all the bus signs were in Chinese, which I know he can't read). Someone told him that all buses starting with a B (we were on B26) go to one bus terminus. Do NOT blindly follow such information if you are in a similar situation. As it turned out, the bus was taking us towards Shenzen, and Hong Kong, opposite where we want to go. So we get off at the bus stop after my dad has a hand signal and broken Chinese conversation with the bus driver and cross the highway on an overpass, assuming there is a bus stop in a similar location on the other side of the road. Negatory. So we keep walking (I probably inhaled as much pollution in that 10 minutes as I do in a year in Spokane) and much to our luck (empty cabs don't usually drive the highways), we were able to catch a cab back into the city for a grand total of 51 yuen (about 7 dollars). Boy was I happy to be home.

Otherwise, I have some general thoughts about China:
anonymity - something I do not have here. It makes me realize how much I loved blending in when I lived in Hong Kong. I could wander around the city without a problem in most areas, whereas here I stick out like a sore thumb. Most of the markets or places we've gone are not frequented by many foreigners. As I was telling Ticcia on facebook, I wear my sunglasses when possible. Being a foreigner makes me stick out, but man my blue eyes just draw so many stares that it makes me uncomfortable. I think I would have trouble living somewhere where I stick out so much. Though I guess when I was in Saudi it was the same, I just wasn't as aware of it.
it's so HOT - Again, this is the same and yet different than Hong Kong. In HK you walk into buildings and are blasted with such cold air that you need to carry a sweater around with you. Here, they use as little AC as possible which leads you to sweating all the time. In an incredibly hot and humid climate, sweat does you no good.
cheap - the construction is so bad. There is a ton of it, everywhere, but it is such shoddy work. The building my dad works in was built three years ago and already it already looks like a 10 year old building in the US. Other things are cheap, too. I got two pairs of glasses with lenses for a fraction of the price I would have paid in the US. Massages - one hour for about 6 or 7 dollars. Manicure/pedicure combination (tonight!) is the same. The cost of living here is just so much less than what I am used to.

There are things here that are just so incredibly opposite of the US. Only coming here for the first time in about four years do I realize what polar opposites there are in the culture. For one, Guangzhou is preparing to host the Asian Games in October. This is almost like a mini-Olympics for countries in Asia. There are stadiums being built all over the city that will either be left without being used afterwards, or will simply be torn down as quickly as they were built. The excess of spending is incredible. And then to see the living conditions of people juxtaposed against that is appalling.

As I was sitting up here listening to my iPod hooked up to the speakers and skimming over different websites, I realized that there is something missing here. It almost feels like a sense of absence amidst the rush of the city and building of the infrastructure. It might come from my inability to have a conversation with someone in this culture, or simply my distance from a lack of relation to it, but I feel like there is a disconnectedness with God. I've met people that my parents have fellowship with, but it almost feels that everything is a facade - just like all the flowers and revamped parks for the Asian games. It makes me wonder where people find their fulfillment and hope. Is it in their job or in the things they buy, the standards they place for their life? This summer has been a challenge for me. I've realized that I don't really do a terribly good job of keeping in touch with people and I'm awful when it comes to talking on the phone and having good conversation. Sometimes I just don't call people back out of a fear that I'll say something that is misconstrued or just silly. I also realize that it is not only an inability to keep up relationships with other people, but also with God. I feel like though I read my Bible off and on and pray when I think about praying, my life isn't focused like it is while I'm at school. I think it comes from a lack of accountability. At school I have the chance to talk to people and have people asking me questions like 'what did you read in the Word today' and I seem to fade out when I'm not being asked those questions. So for those of you who care to pray for their friends, I'd appreciate prayers for focus and a desire to really delve into the Word and allow Christ to really take over my life again.

ta ta for now!

starting a blog in...china??

So today I find myself sitting in my dad's office, at the AISG Science Park campus reading the news. I find that when I have nothing else to do, and the only access to facebook is on a very slow bandwith, I tend to read the news. By 'news' I tend to mean the BBC. I typically will look at the headlines and then keep up with the Premier League, now that it has started. Watched part of the first game: Tottenham v. Manchester City. Tottenham – oh boy what a GREAT game. Manchester City, a disappointment. No joke. Yeah, the owner forked out a ton of money to buy some really world class players, but those players are all used to being the star, not sharing the ball and working it out with everybody else.

I've kind of been trying to ignore the business about the mosque near where the world trade center was, because honestly, there are so many opinions that who really cares about mine? I just think that it's sad how people get so riled up. Suddenly it's 'America vs. Islam'. Ok, yes, the terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center towers were Muslim, but why do they suddenly define all Muslims in the world? After living in Saudi for three years, granted awhile ago, I was exposed to Islam – the majority, non 'I want to kill infidels' side. It really frustrates me when people want to politicize everything, even something as simple as building a mosque. What if someone wanted to build a church? Nobody would care. A Synagogue? Now, a sikh temple might be too 'close' to Islam in the American view, so there might be some people against that. There, off the soap box now.

Other than my days being filled with news, I have been having a very varied schedule. When I first flew out to Hong Kong I was able to spend some time wandering around Causeway bay and Stanley, a couple of my old 'haunts' as my mother would call them. Seeing how the city has changed is INCREDIBLE. Driving over the mountain on the 66 bus, I was just kind of daydreaming out the window when I saw this brand new building, probably 60-75 stories tall, that was definitely not even in the works when I last visited. I also had the opportunity to go and see HKIS and how it has changed, as well as quite a few of my old teachers. After some good conversation, about three hours of it, I went back out to the curb, hopped onto the 16M and headed toward Stanley and eventually back into the city where I met Cherie and Jo for dinner at the American Club in Central. Also, random meeting of the day – passing JJ in the big crosswalk in cwb.

The next day I made the decision to head up into China to Guangzhou that afternoon, rather than waiting another day. I figured if I head up early, I'll be able to spend some more time with family, and come back down here early to see Sai and a few other people. And I'll be staying in town so I can stay out later :) So I spent the rest of the time with Cindy and the girls, taking Vi to school and then spending a wonderful two hours in conversation with Cindy. Sometimes talking is a wonderful balm on the soul – especially so before heading back to school.

Since taking the train (in which I was the only guailo in the car) up to Guangzhou I have gone to the eyeware market where I have been able to get two pairs of new glasses (one sweet pair that is PURPLE and shiny!) and contacts for the year. Then we proceeded to go on an adventure to find this market that my mom had heard of, who from, she didn't remember. A bus later we were at the fabric market where my mom and dad introduced me to Shirley, their tailor. I told her what I wanted made: a winter pea coat and two dresses, she told me how much fabric I needed and I went to buy all of the fabric in the market. We came back and she took all of my measurements and we were set to go! Now, just remember, this is all done in incredibly broken English with many, many hand signs. We ended the day with a foot massage and then dinner at a Turkish restaurant. Such good, good food. In fact, I saved my Baklava as long as possible and just finished it off as a mid-morning snack today. Yesterday I stayed at home to spend a tiring day of reading and watching movies.

All in all, many wonderful adventures! And I've only been here for 6 days. This evening has a manicure/pedicure combination to look forward to, as well as a visit to Decathalon (a sporting goods store, I think) on the way back to Ersha Island. If not the trip to Decathalon, perhaps a massage? I won't say no to it.

Until next time!