LAST DAYS IN CHINA

BEIJING FUN

Illegal photo standing in front of the Forbidden City gates. We were wondering why no other bikers were riding past.

After six weeks of travel in Hong Kong and China, we ended our spring trip in Beijing. We enjoyed four days of once again visiting China's capital city and historical sights. Teresa Woodland and her two children hosted us for 4 nights. It was fun meeting her children, Kaili and Kaishang, and catching up on news as we all came to China in the 80s with ELIC.

Legal photo as I was actually biking past LeRoy to get the shot

Teri let us use two of her bikes to travel to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Wufangjing area. Security was very tight near Tiananmen but since we were on bikes, we breezed by. Our only mistake was stopping in front of Forbidden City gates to get a tourist to take our photo. Evidently we were not supposed to stop and a security guard was on us immediately, waving for us to get going. The foreign tourist already had my phone so he snapped a quick photo before we headed on. My maxim for China has always been 'life in China is not always fun but always an adventure".

Dave with Kaishang and Kaili

Teri and Kaishang on the way to school

Sally Chen, assistant to the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Beijing
She has worked at the embassy for 10 years. She was in our group in WF when she was 16.

Sally, her husband and daughter drove us to the airport to get our flight to Seattle.
Dave was also seeing us off before flying to Kunming.

Kaitlyn came with Tim to get us in Spokane.

No telling when we will have our next adventure in Asia. We've been involved in China for 30 years and it seems like 'home' to us. We just got new 10-year passports and 10-year China visas. We have luggage and go when we next get an opportunity. We will let you know our 'future' plans!

Thanks for joining us on the journey!

NORTHEAST CHINA NOW

ON TO WEIFANG

After a good visit with family and friends in Kunming, we flew to Qingdao where we were met by two friends and taken to Weifang. Our roots in Shandong Province include two years in Qingdao (1987-89) and three years in Weifang (1998-2001).

Weifang has changed extensively since we lived here but we have been able to find a few familiar places. All five of the original buildings left of the North American Presbyterian Mission that were on my "Eric Liddell Walking Tour' are still standing!

Our friends have been hosting us and filling us with the best of Shandong cuisine. I will not want to get on a scale when we return to the States.

Dave arrived in Beijing yesterday and hopes to join us in Qingdao. We will be taking a train to Qingdao Thursday.

 Memorial on the site of Weishen Civilian Prison Camp where Eric Liddell died and American paratroopers liberated the prisoners at the end of WWII

 Celebrated Mother's Day with Mark Song and David Chen at Wanda Plaza

Welcoming banquet attended by 16 people. I usually count the dishes served but was overwhelmed by the number and variety of food. 

Mark Song's mother let me watch her cook this meal. The last dish was homemade jiao zi (dumplings) that were delicious. 

Hong Kong Opportunity

Dominican Adventure!

Great time in the Dominican Republic but returned exhausted. The trip had equal amounts of struggle and blessings. I thank all of you for praying for Dana and I. We definitely needed your prayers as plans changed, storms came and many obstacles to overcome. It was a strong spiritual battle at times so we are not just exhausted physically but also mentally and spiritually.

The children and staff at the Deaf school blessed us so much. Since my ASL skills have improved, I was able to communicate with the staff, students and visiting African teacher. I did not remember much Spanish from my high school days. I always think (and speak occasionally) in Chinese when I am in any foreign country! Crazy but true.

The teaching technique I used seemed to work well. The problem was two of my students knew no sign language. Not certain they benefited but enjoyed the coloring and craft time.

Here are a few observations of my two weeks in Hata Mayor:

Never saw even one person smoking

Third world countries have many similarities

Will never take for granted having running water (without water for 4 days so collected rain water for flushing toilet, showers and washing hair)

Gasoline was $8 a gallon so few cars but many motorbikes

So encouraged by the commitment of the teaching staff for the welfare of the students

Go To the People

Go to the people, live among them.
Learn from them. Love them.
Start with what they know; build on what they have .
But [for] the best leaders, when their task is accomplished, their work is done, the people will remark, 'We have done it ourselves.'
Lao Shi, Chinese philosopher. 
From the book, Biting the Bamboo by Dr. Tan Lai Yong