Book Preview

One thing I would like to do at the blog is review (or suggest) books I've read.  Of course, not all books, but there are some out there that I've read and thoroughly enjoyed, and think you should therefore know about them.  Problem will probably be that those of you who read the blog will have already read the same book...b/c I know pretty much who my audience is and how our interests are similar.  Or, there are those of you who read the blog, but will have neither the time nor the interest to read what I review/suggest.  Oh well.  I'm not really blogging, about books or any other topic, to please my readers.

Anyways, I've read 10 books so far this year.  Which is maybe a little low for me.  I read 47 last year.  (Yes, I keep a log.  I started it in July 2007.  First book on the list was Mao: The Untold Story by Jung Chang.)  Of these 10 books so far, there are at least 5 that deserve mentioning...and of the 47 last year, there are probably 20 worth writing about.  So...there you go.  Look for some stuff throughout the year (or however long I keep up this writing thing) on books.  

Today though is more about a book that I read about, and will probably buy on the kindle here shortly, that I look forward to reading, tearing apart, and then writing about it.  Reading other blogs this morning,  I found a review/article on Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua at Dr. Al Mohler's website.  Briefly, Mrs. Chua's book is about how the Chinese way of parenting is better than the undemanding form of parenting often found in the West (America).  She argues the proof is in her two very successful and intelligent daughters, who she has pushed to succeed and seemingly deprived of a warm and loving family environment.  Below is the link to Dr. Mohler's article, and having not yet read the book, I will refrain from commenting on it now.  However, living in an Asian culture for just 2 years, I already have lots of arguments and questions for her, and one can only wonder if her worth is found primarily in the success of her children.

Okay, I have to stop pretending like this is my job and unload the dishwasher now.

--da

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

What? Two posts in one week?

I know.  But I promised.  :)

So, let me fly over the past 5 months of life.  This is like the 35,000 ft. view from the air.

We finished up our time there in JH mid January.  We were uber busy from October to January...w/ fun stuff like hosting friends and making a trip to BJ and SH, an awesome welcome home to some of our teammates right before Thanksgiving, a great Thanksgiving complete w/ mad Wii Dance parties, Logan making a two week trip to Thailand to do some research and have some dental work done, a Christmas that was good but not traditional at all...we ate Chinese food for lunch, Logan spending a lot of time w/ our supervisor building an aquaponics system (more about this another day), and then us packing up and heading back to America.  It was busy and good.

We arrived in TX January 17th, and it was a fantastic homecoming.  We spent a whirlwind of two weeks visiting friends and family in the Lubbock area, and then made our way to Louisville, KY so that Logan could attend Southern Sem. for the semester.  We are settled and enjoying our time here, but...we're looking forward to making it back to TX in May and then BACK TO ASIA in July!  Its all official now and we'll be heading back for a more long term position.  We are very thankful for the opportunity to go back, and we're very thankful for the opportunity to be here too.

Anyways, that's the fly over of what's going on in our lives.  More about life in Louisville later....

--da

5 months since the last post....

Whoa, five months.  That's ridiculous.  Did you think we had given up the blog?  I did.  Let's just say we're not very good at this, but you've realized that by this point.

There were lots of times in the last 5 months that I wanted to post something.  Seriously.  But I didn't for multiple reasons....let me name a few.  For one, there's the time factor.  Not enough time, or already wasted so much time that I felt guilty for getting back on the computer, or the time I feel like it takes me to post about something (more on this in point 2).  Two, my writing is not that great, and it usually takes me way too much time to organize my thoughts and get everything written out in at least a decent style.  Three, I don't ever know what you want to hear about.  There is a constant tension in my mind between what I know would be an abnormal thing for you to read or see, and what is very normal for me to see every day...i.e the market, where meat that's not refrigerated is normal to me, but very abnormal to you.  Lots of cultural experiences and things that made up daily life began to be very normal for us, which in many ways is a very good thing for us, but it led to a lack of what I considered worthy blogging material.  Plus, I'm not one to really think that you want to hear all about what Logan and I do...I mean, sometimes we are just not that interesting.  We don't jump out of planes or anything like that.  Yes, we lived in Asia for 2 years.  But overall life was very similar to what life looks life for you.

Anyways, there are a lot of other things I could say about not keeping up the blog.  We burned out on it, honestly, which is sad b/c it wasn't like we were blogging every day.  But really, from the bottom of my heart I want to continue the blog.  I really desire to develop my writing a little bit.  And so now I have a semi-goal of 500 words a day.  Not 500 words a day on the blog, but just in general 500 words a day.  Most of the time it will be my own personal journal that I put those words in, but hopefully over time I will be quicker to reflect on my surroundings/life/what's going on, and see how I can write about those things.  And, I hope the more I write, the easier it will become to sit down and crank out a blog post in a 10-15 minutes.

This is not a commitment to you, our readers who have not given up on us (which would probably only be my mom and dad), but hopefully I will find this post to be the one that starts us over again on this blogging thing.

One other reason for the desire to blog:  sometime in December or January, Logan and I watched The Social Network (movie about facebook) and it made me really despise facebook.  Now, I'm not trashing it or the creators of it, and I know that the movie had an element of drama to it that probably wasn't present in the real life story of the creation of facebook.  Before we watched the movie, I seriously was playing around w/ the idea of deactivating my account.  After we watched the movie, I was done.  That was it.  It took me a while to actually follow thru, but around the first of March, I was sitting in front of the fireplace, reading Wendell Berry, and then I grabbed my computer and deleted my account.  Completely done.  It has been the most freeing thing in the world really.  And so w/ the deletion of facebook from my life, I realize that this could become one good way that I still have random communication w/ those of you who I don't see daily/monthly/yearly.  (By the way, there will be more on Wendell Berry, facebook, and what we're up to in later posts.  I promise.)

Anyways, here's to trying to write more consistently.

--da

Another video...

The people group we live and work among are closely connected to the people spoken of in this video.

Check it out.

http://deidox.com/films/pii-chui/

lh

A video!

I have finished up the story part of our trip to the village and want to take a little break before sitting down to write a bit more explaining certain things.  In the mean time, enjoy this short video!  :)




--da

Village Trip--Part Four

After we returned from the temple, the women once again set to work on cooking food.  Logan sat downstairs w/ the men where they had set up the grill to cook some pork.  I went upstairs into the house and tried to be of some assistance, but pretty much just got in the way.  YH's dad kept telling me and Logan to watch tv or take a nap, and Logan eventually made his way into the house to sleep for 20 minutes or so.  They finally let me peel and slice cucumbers, but SY didn't like the way I was using the knife, so that job didn't last long.  (Chinese and Americans seem to use knives differently.  I've experienced this twice here.)

Around 11:30, a few of Mr. Luo's co-workers arrived from the school.  Logan and I sat under the house w/ them in the shade and talked about what it would take for them to go to America.  Almost any conversation w/ new acquaintances goes this way....how much does a ticket cost, do you need a visa, how much does the visa cost, where does the plane land, how long does it take to get there, and so on.  The night before we had the same conversation w/ three of Mr. Luo's other friends, and one of them declared that if he ever had the chance to go to America, upon arrival he would get off of the plane, eat a bowl of soupy rice noodles, and then get on a plane to come back to China.  At this, his friend replied that he surely would not be able to find soupy rice noodles in America.

The women called us all into the house, and we were all able to sit down to eat.  That is, everyone but Yi Han, her parents, her brother and sister-in-law.  They kept cooking and replenishing bowls of food and sliced cucumbers and DL hot sauce.  (Which is delicious.)  After I had eaten enough food and had sat there for a long enough time to be polite, I excused myself to go sit w/ Yi Han and her brother and sister-in-law at the entrance of the house.  Her dad and mom were nowhere to be found, and in fact when we left about an hour later, they still weren't there and she did not try and find them to say good bye.  (Perfectly normal I'm sure....)

After Yi Han had finished eating and we had all talked for a little bit longer, we gathered our things to leave. We were given left over food to bring back home w/ us, and then we loaded up into a van and headed off to the bus station.  We found a bus and arrived back at home 2 hours later.

And just like that, our weekend in the village was over.  We are hoping for a chance to go again soon!

--da

Village Trip--Part Three

12:45 am.  I need to go to the bathroom.  Bad. The house is completely pitch black.  If I got up, would the door be locked?  Is there another door at the base of the stairs that lead up into the house that might also be locked?  I didn’t pay attention enough yesterday to know the answer.  What if I got up, and woke everyone up, and Yi Han had to find the key to let me out of the house?  I decided to risk it and not get up.

So I prayed.  “Please God, let me make it until morning!” 

Off and on throughout the rest of the night I would wake back up….because I still needed to go to the bathroom, and also thanks to the fact that Mr. Luo snores.  Big time.  The fact that he smokes like a freight train and had a cold on top of that probably aggravates his ability to breathe at night, and I had to wonder if he was just going to completely stop breathing at some point during the night. 

6:45 am.  Its light enough that I can make it outside now, and Yi Han is building a fire in the kitchen stove.  Walking out to the bathroom her dad meets me and says, “You’re up early.” 

The food starts again as soon as I walk back into the house.  Yi Han’s mom offers me some sticky rice and as much as I love sticky rice, I couldn’t manage to eat it all….still so full from the night before.  There would be a special noodle dish this morning as well for breakfast.  Stinky Noodles.  Those of you who know me in this Asian context know that I’m not big on noodles for breakfast….much less ones that will be stinky. 

The sister-in-law was in charge of the whole noodle making process.  There was a bag of some special type of homemade rice flour that had undergone some special process and was then steamed in banana leaves before she added a lot of water to it to make a very sticky dough.  She kneaded and kneaded the dough and then used a type of press to make the noodles. 

The dough and the press.  

Sister-in-law making the noodles.  Notice the turtleneck and pants.  I was wearing a light cotton 

skirt and a t-shirt.  People here start to think its cold if its less than 75 degrees outside.

Much to my surprise, the noodles where not as stinky after being cooked.  Logan and I were encouraged to add chives, cilantro, pepper, salt, and MSG to our noodles, and they were really pretty good.  

After breakfast, Yi Han took me and Logan and SY to see the temple.  Yi Han had talked awhile to some of the ladies at the temple, and then we walked back to the house to start preparing for lunch. 

-da 

Village Trip--Part 2

The van pulled up outside of Yi Han's house.  Her mother was waiting at the gate, much like my mom and dad will walk out and wait on the front porch once they see headlights or hear my brother's pick up headed down our section of dirt road.

It was a traditional house on stilts that Yi Han spent most of her growing up years in.  The house was built in 1984, and when her dad was asked how old the house was, he had to turn and look at the beam where "1984" was painted in what probably used to be a bright red before he could answer us.  Or rather answer Yi Han. Yi Han's mother doesn't speak a word of Mandarin, although she understands some.  Her dad speaks a little, but he relied more heavily on speaking to Yi Han in DL rather than speaking to us in Mandarin.

We were instantly welcomed and told to sit out on the patio.  And as soon as we sat, the food starting coming and it didn't really stop the whole time we were there.  We were served cucumbers and purple sticky rice w/ peanuts and some sugar wrapped in banana leaves and steamed (delicious).  Yi Han immediately started cooking various things, catching up w/ her mom, and talking w/ her sister-in-law.  We sat and sat and talked and talked, and every so often someone would yell at Little Luo to stop messing w/ the chickens.  I pulled a stool inside the house to sit with Yi Han and her sister-in-law and watched them spoon a mixture of sticky rice flour mixed with brown sugar and a mixture of crushed red beans and more brown sugar into more banana leaves to wrap and steam for later that night.  Yi Han said, "When I get done we can go buy something to drink besides water, I know you're thirsty, and we can go see something, or do something, because I'm sure you're bored."  I replied, "Yi Han, don't you know that you are the only person who has invited me to their home?  We are more than happy to be here with your family and sit and talk and just be."  I don't think she fully believed me at first, but finally I convinced her that I was telling the truth.  When she believed me, she then asked whether or not we wanted to sleep there at the house or for them to take us into town to a hotel for the night.  I didn't want to impose, but secretly wanted to stay there, so I said essentially, "As you please.  But I know that sleeping here would be a lot of fun."  So it was decided that we would stay w/ her family and sleep in the living room on the floor w/ Yi Han, Little Luo, Mr. Luo (her husband), and SY--the friend who had accompanied us.

We all kind of sat around until it was dinner...well, the guests sat around, and the family worked.  And then suddenly Yi Han carried out onto the patio a small wicker table full of food.  Logan, I, SY, Mr. Luo, and Yi Han sat down to eat, and a few of Mr. Luo's co-workers from the school joined us.  Yi Han's mom and dad weren't hungry, being used to eating around 9 pm, and Yi Han's sister-in-law and brother went out to cut the rubber trees...which is mostly done at night after it gets dark, or very early in the morning around 4 or 5 am.

We cleaned up the patio area after we had all eaten entirely too much and Yi Han said, "The girls will now go next door and take a shower where there is hot water, and the boys can stay here to shower."  I didn't expect to get a shower, so we didn't bring towels, so there was a lot of 不好意思 (so embarrassed b/c I didn't bring a towel) going on until a fresh, clean, unused towel was produced and we girls marched off to shower.  (It did feel good to get the sweat off, even though I refrained from washing my hair for the sake of time and trouble.)

When we got back to the house, YH's brother and sister-in-law had returned from the rubber trees, and their daughter was entertaining every one in the house.  She is about 2 years old and super cute.  She loves her grandmom and granddad, and followed her granddad just about every where that he went.

We unrolled our mats and blankets and hung up mosquito nets and essentially were ready for bed.  Everyone was pretty tired, and I didn't have a problem going to sleep.  Staying asleep was going to be a different story.

--da


Two pictures from the afternoon at the White Pagoda.  I had to beg Little Luo to take this with me.

And here is Little Luo and Mr. Luo.  No begging had to be done to get this photo.  It seems like with Mr. Luo gone all week teaching, Little Luo really, really wants to spend any moment he can w/ his dad.  He needs both of his parents at home, and he needs his dad to be more of the primary disciplinarian in the home, but the Chinese family and discipline practices and education system are another post for another day too.  

Village Trip--Part One

On Friday, I finally was able to nail down the details of our weekend.  We would leave on Saturday around 5:00 pm and then come back on Sunday, sometime in the afternoon.  On Saturday, Yi Han called me at 11:00.

“Business is slow today, so let’s just go after you eat lunch.” 

Logan and I threw a few things in a bag, ate lunch, and met Yi Han at 1:30 at the newspaper stand.  She and her husband would ride on the motorcycle, and Logan and I would accompany their son Little Luo and one of Yi Han’s friends, SY, on the bus.

We got off the bus at MFL, about 5 kilometers before YH's village in order to do a little sightseeing in the area.  MFL is the home of the famous White Pagoda of Xishuangbanna.  A woman caught us at the beginning of the road that led to the pagoda and insisted on the foreigners buying tickets for 5 kuai (74 cents) a piece.  I've always joked that most times it seems that nationals get in free, or for cheaper at least, and we get to pay what we call the “white face discount”.  Whether it was because Yi Han argued w/ the woman that she was from right up the road, or it really is the case that all this business about buying tickets to get into places is just to make a buck off the foreign tourists, Logan and I were the only ones charged.

Legend has it that Buddha stepped here and left his right footprint on a rock.  His left footprint can be found about 3 miles down the road, where the Black Pagoda was then built.  We spent maybe half an hour looking around.  The place was deserted of all tourists but us, probably due to the fact that it was incredibly hot.  Here is the image of the Buddha.

The pagoda from the front entrance.  It was build in 1204 AD.

The back side of the pagoda.  Pretty much like the front side...but I liked the clouds and the super blue sky in the background.    

After we looked around to our heart's desire and couldn't stand the intenseness of the sun any longer, we all marched back down the stairs and found a van that took us the few kilometers to Yi Han's village.

--da  

Village Trip--Intro

Around the time of Chinese New Year (February), I met someone who is now my very best national friend in all of JH.  She works all day every day in a small stand where she sells newspapers/magazines/milk/yogurt/water/etc.  To buy fresh milk here, you purchase it from a shop like hers instead of the grocery store….the grocery store sells self-stable milk, and I don’t even know how you make milk shelf-stable, so maybe that will be a post for another day. 

Anyways, I bought milk from her a few times in January and February, and then suddenly her shop was closed for about a week.  Because I walked by her shop almost every other day, I immediately noticed when she reopened.  I bought milk from her that day and told her I was glad she was open.  She explained that she had had to close when her father-in-law got sick and had to spend some time in the hospital.  (Hospitals and the whole health care system is also another post for another day.)  We talked a bit, and I headed home.  You could say it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. 

Since then I have frequented her shop often, and we will sit and talk for a few hours, or as long as my Chinese can hold up for the day.  About a month ago, we really started working on English together, and I can honestly say she is the only person I have ever really enjoyed teaching English to.  When we had some friends from Lubbock here for the summer, I took the girls by one day and we chatted.  Here is a picture two of the girls took w/ 玉罕。 (Yu Han would be how you pronounce the characters…but b/c she belongs to a minority people group, her name is actually Yi Han, and so 玉罕 (Yu Han) is just the Mandarin (Chinese) version of her name.)

A few weeks ago she invited us to come out to her village.  She rarely goes home (because she works every day), and so we were super excited to accept her invitation and travel about 45 kilometers to her hometown.  Over the next few days, I’ll blog about our time there.  We did manage to take some pictures while we were there, but not many.  I’ll admit that it makes me feel really strange taking pictures sometimes…kind of like its an invasion of the person’s privacy to just go around snapping pictures of their way of life.  Anyways, look forward to at least a couple of posts over the next week!

--da

(Thanks to Elizabeth for letting me jack the photo from facebook w/o asking.)