Pictures on the Way to Beiyuanlu Subway Station

Heading northeast out of our apartment building in the morning

Just outside our apartment building

Pretty Day in Beijing

Day Eight (By Mark)

Are you ready for a long blog? I will aim for under a thousand words. My first impression is that a once-a-week substantial blog post is a realistic goal. More than that is a luxury. My objective is to provide our friends and family a periscope into our new lives here in Asia and encourage them about our work.

We have now been in the megapolis of Beijing, China for a full eight days: 3 days in language school, one Sunday with BBC, two trips to Wal-Mart, and lots of time walking and riding the subway. There is so much to observe and think about. How do you summarize trading your life in the US for life as a language-learning pedestrian (I mean walking versus driving) pastor of an international church in one of the world’s great cities? We have traded a 3,000 SF house in the suburbs with a yard and garden and four kids for a 1,650 SF apartment on the 33^rd floor (29^th level J). There are kuai or yuan for currency instead of American dollars. We have traded walks past gardens for tending our own. And, last I checked, none of the kids stowed away in our luggage on the way here! It looks like it will just be Cheryl and I for the next nine months…

 This summer we had five cars at our house; in Beijing we have none. We knew all our neighbors on the cul-de-sac in Greenville, SC; in eight days we have had one 20-second sighting/interaction of our 33^rd (san shi san in Mandarin) floor neighbors. It was Bi-Lo and Wal-Mart for groceries in Greenville; here it is a combination of the most humble street vendors to a mid-size market to a formidable 3-story Wal-Mart near our language school that requires at least an hour to do it justice. And some of the street vendors know literally no English. Today I asked a street vendor for the price of half a watermelon.  He wrote down 4 ½ kuai (about 75 cents). Then I asked him for the price of a whole watermelon. He wrote down what I thought was 1 ½ kuai. What? Clearly I lost something in translation.  I guess I will work on my Mandarin…

Speaking of Mandarin – the Chinese speak lots of it. And they are quite good at it. And they speak it really fast. The good news? Our two language instructors (Liu Luyin and Tong Ting Ting) - both ladies – seem very cheerful, patient, and competent. They better be, because Beijing Mandarin sounds nothing like anything I ever heard in Greenville, SC. Well, maybe one word or two over the first week. Basically, the language school drill is simple: Up at 5:45 AM, take off at 6:50 AM for a 12 minute walk to Beijing’s Line 5 Subway at Beiyuanlu Bei in the north of the city. Take Line 5 three stops south to the Huixinxijie Nankou station at the intersection of Line 10, then proceed six stops to the west to Zichunlu station to exit for Dian Da (Beijing Open University) in the northwest central part of Beijing. The total trip is fifty to fifty-five (50-55) minutes door to door. We arrive around 7:45 and sit around talking and reading before our first class at 8:30 with Liu’ Luyin and two other fresh-out-of-college graduates. At 10:00 AM a bell indicates it is time for a 15-minute tea break. Down eight flights of stairs to a central hall for tea, coffee, cookies, and rushed conversations. Then back up eight flights of stairs for 90 minutes with Tong Ting Ting. She writes all the simplified Chinese characters and speaks Mandarin so fast you feel dizzy. In my head:  “Tong, laoshi (i.e. teacher Tong), how can I learn Mandarin if you only speak to me in Mandarin? I guess that is the point; she embraces the learn how to swim by being thrown in the pool method.  On Wednesday at around 11:15 I felt I had been dumped in a washing machine, placed on the spin cycle, and left for who knows what? And, then, once we have left you for a few hours, we might return. But I have to give our teachers credit – they’ve got us thinking, writing, speaking, and dreaming in Mandarin. And they have accomplished this with humor, grace, and cheerfulness. For that, Cheryl and are grateful. Prospectively, we will have two 17-week semesters this first year in Beijing.

Speaking of Cheryl, I have a new glimpse into my wife and her gifts, character, and graces. She has demonstrated grace and grit these first eight days. I give thanks to G for her. We have spent virtually all our time together in this first week, except for an hour on Wednesday. She has walked endlessly, climbed innumerable steps, been shoved and packed into the Line 5 subway at 7:00 AM on a least four occasions,  prayed like a real saint for family/friends/church/world, carried a fully-stocked backpack, read/listened to/written to Mandarin every day, used hand sanitizer daily, avoided tap water, washed dishes by hand without bemoaning the absence of a dishwasher, figured out how to use appliances with instructions only in Chinese characters, learned how to use a gas stove, entertained cheerfully, endured no vanity light in the bathroom, helped me get in bed by 10:00 PM most nights, up at 5:45 most mornings, never complained about the poor air quality that threatens every Beijing day, prepared to teach MKs home school chemistry beginning on Tuesday, etc., etc. I am so blessed!

Post script: I just saw that Cheryl spoke of many of the same things in her September 3rd post which I have just written about. If on any matter we differ in the description of our experience, please assume she is correct! :)

Inside Day

Today is an "Inside Day." The air quality progressive worsens as the day goes on. That's OK. I have laundry, cleaning, and studying to do.

I finally figured out the Chinese washer and dryer. The washer is bilingual so that was easier. But the dryer only has symbols with no explanation. After pushing all the buttons, probably too many times, I finally got hot air coming out of it. Which means that heat is going into the dryer.  Yeah! It ran for quite a while just tumbling so the clothes weren't drying too fast.

I am very thankful for a dryer. Most Chinese apartments don't have dryers. They have drying porches where people hang out their wet clothes to dry in the enclosed porch. The dry China air and the sun slowly evaporate the moisture.

Yesterday Mark and I attended our first Mandarin class. I think this class will be fun. The teacher is young, energetic, and funny. Of course, Mark initiates conversation and makes it fun.  She laughs a lot. We have four students - two young men besides us. Yesterday we spent the time learning consonant sounds, vowel and vowel blend sounds and tones. Most of the consonants we focused on are similar to English but the vowels are different. The tones, on the other hand, are difficult. We will continue to practice, practice, practice. As time goes on, hopefully we can find some locals who would be willing to help us practice. The other day we met a dad and a young boy on the elevator and practiced floor numbers. They were friendly and helpful.  Maybe a bit confused as to why WE wanted to speak Mandarin.

Our day yesterday gave us a taste of what our school days will be like. Up at 5:45am. Not difficult right now as the sun shines directly into our bedroom at that time of morning. Begin our walk to the subway station by 6:50am. Meet our friend Rodney then catch the packed subway. Two subway lines. Then walk 10-15 minutes to the school. Yesterday we arrived 40 minutes early. A little more than an hour in all. Rodney's strategy is to get there early to beat the subway crowds, relax, and use that time to either eat breakfast or prep for class. Then in bed by 9:00pm. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays will be our study days and Mark's prep days.  Soon we will establish a normal routine. Is anything normal right now?

In all the newness and changes, I find comfort in our G who never changes. His steadfast love, faithfulness, justice, and righteousness never change, never fail. The psalms really bring those qualities to life for me.

Views from our apartment

View from our living room balcony on Friday morning, Aug. 30. Notice the lovely green space.
We can even see mountains beyond on a clear day.

The park near our apartment complex. AQI=45

The view from our apartment on Tuesday morning, Sept 2 about 6am. AQI = 156

And the smog rolls in - Tuesday, Sept. 3 afternoon about 2pm. AQI=170 and rising.

Getting Settled

Wow! We have now been in Beijing over 48 hours. There is so much to do, so much to see, and so much to think about. We arrived here on Thursday afternoon Beijing time, or early morning Greenville, SC time. We brought eight pieces of luggage and four carry-ons. I wonder if it is too much. The flight from Detroit was long but completely fine. Between Russia in October and China in March, I was familiar with the long flight.

We have a 33rd floor apartment on the 29th level on the north of Beijing. I say 29th level, because the Chinese believe that any number with "4" in it is unlucky (in addition to 13), so there are no 4th, 14th, 24th, or 34th floors. So, we have the 35th floor directly above us. We have windows on three sides of our 1,650 SF (150 square meters here in China) 3-BR, 2-bath apartment; our bedroom faces to the east, the other bedrooms and kitchen face to the north, and the living room faces to the west towards the north (Bei) end of the Olympic Village Green. There is around 1 1/2 miles of green space between our apartment and the Olympic Village. We have had gorgeous weather for three days; highs near 82 and lows around 60. This is the forecast for the next ten days.

Here are a couple of quick observations. Mandarin is a brilliant if complicated language. Four tones, many characters, no verb tenses. Go figure! And Chinese can speak their language and write their characters with amazing speed!  Perhaps I will feel differently later, but I cannot believe you appreciate a culture well apart from its language and its food.

Did I say food? Our perception is that food is somewhat expensive, but eating out is inexpensive. And western-style restaurants are also available. For example, four of us ate out yesterday at KFC for around $12.00 total. That is 72 kwai, RMB, or yuan (CNY). Why there are three different terms for currency I cannot explain. Another feature of the money experience here is that the largest bill available is 100 CNY, or around $16.00. The result? You carry a thick wad of cash, or six times the normal rate if you think in terms of carrying $100 bills. 

We have shopped so far at Wal-Mart, a small shop/market, and a medium size shop/market. The first and the third of these take credit cards, but the small shop does not. In the small shop there are many vendors (fruits, vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, breads, noodles, etc.) competing for your business and waiting to negotiate with you. You might have four fruit vendors with exactly the same offerings, but they stand ready to sell you their goods with smiles on their faces. At Wal-Mart there are no bags, nor do they bag your groceries for you. You provide the bags; you bag your goods. But at Wal-Mart there is an enormous variety of rice, soy sauce, cooking oil, rice cookers, bread (surprising!) and woks. But, to my disappointment, only three coffee makers were to be found. In the seafood section there were live shrimp, crabs, and fish - and squid (on ice!) so big I kept a healthy distance!!

Speaking of subways, 10 million people ride them every day - for 2 CNY or $0.33/ride. Mass transit is a normal part of the urban life here. The signs are clearly marked in both Chinese (Mandarin here) and English, so it fairly easy to navigate. For us, it is about 10 minutes to the subway station, 40 minutes to our stop, and then about 10 minute walk to both language school and church. We have friends spread throughout the huge metropolis of Beijing; this is how we will visit them. What we will do when it is very cold in winter, I cannot yet predict. Cheryl will have a say in this, as taxis are numerous throughout the city.

Speaking of my bride, she has been very busy "setting up shop" with our clothes, cleaning, organization, etc. I am very thankful for her "can do" spirit in this whole endeavor.

Enough for now - more tomorrow!

The Journey Continues

Tonight the journey continues.We are packing last minute stuff for our trip to Beijing tomorrow. Three $ 100 gifts in the last three days (one Sunday, one Monday, and one today) have provided for our third and fourth pieces of luggage with Delta. Today was filled with financial arrangements, the requisite Walmart trip, last minute instructions to HBI staff, dinner with family, visits with nephew Reef, sister Kathryn and nephew Zachary, Pastor Selph and Cathi, and final dinner with my sister Ellen, her husband Victor, nephew Avery, and Cheryl's parents Dale and Elizabeth Carmichael. We said goodbye to the Piepkos and Mills in our cul-de-sac. God is kind to us as we consider all the preparations leading up to this moment. It was only seven months ago that we received the news from BBC of their interest in us, Now the day to depart has arrived. The words from Hebrews 13 comfort us: "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It is difficult leaving four kids behind in the States, not to mention extended family and your church family. But by God's grace we will take advantage of technology to stay in touch well. To Detroit and Beijing we go!

Goodbyes

Mark & I are very thankful for a beautiful and challenging commissioning service this morning. Now to say our goodbyes. That's hard. We have never been on the 'sent' side of the rope before. Please remember us as we leave for East Asia Wed.