Xi'an adventures

(written Sunday, May 27, 2007)
Greetings from Xi'an (pronounced she-an). I'm excited that I have finally figured out how to pronounce all these Chinese words that begin with an Xi - it is like our Sh. The morning we left Beijing, the sky was clouded over but not with clouds, but instead sand. The news indicated that there was a sandstorm from Mongolia that had blown over much of China- at least the more northern parts. Apparently this is normal in the winter and spring, but unusual for summer, which is what the Chinese consider this time of year to be. The air had an unusual look and feel to it and I was glad we were flying away to Xi'an to hopefully avoid it, but alas, it was even worse once we arrived here. The skies were so thick, the mountain tops were not visible. Coincidentally, I lost my voice by the first full day we were here and it has not returned as of yet. I feel fine but I'm thinking that the pollutants must be the cause. The air is clearer today and I have been taking some Chinese herbs for the throat (there is a Chinese student in our group so she wrote out the Chinese characters for me to get some medicine - very helpful - I am drinking this herbal concoction three times a day and drinking lots of water). Today there is a very slight hint of phonation in my cough so I am hoping my voice will re-emerge within the next week. In the meantime, I am doing what I have heard my voice teacher friends recommend - not to whisper too much, get plenty of rest (I skipped one day of our excursions to sleep), gargle with salt water and drink lots of water in general. Anyone with any other ideas is welcome to email me! The most impressive sites we have visited was that of the Terra-Cotta Warriors - an amazing place not far from Xi'an that was unearthed by a farmer in 1974. There are three vaults that contain around 7,000 life-size warriors and horses made of terra-cotta by the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang (221BC) so he would have lots of company in the afterlife! He started building a huge tomb for himself along with all these figures, but died before it was completed. Nonetheless, he was buried along with these amazing figures and it was not discovered until 30 some years ago. Archeologists have had a lot of work to do (and they are still doing it) but the site is quite impressive (some have called it the Eighth Wonder of the World!). It takes your breath away to see the magnitude of it all and imagine what kind of character this emperor must have been! While in Xi'an, we also met with the youth of an open house church (fairly unusual in China). There were a couple hundred (college age or older) there on a weeknight evening. Words are inadequate to describe the magnitude of the Father's work in China. More can be said at a later time. Last night we attended a Tang Dynasty "show." It had a variety of traditional music and dance performances, characteristic of the Shaanxi Province, where we are located. I got the entire show captured on videotape - so I have some new material for World Music class in the fall! (I expect to get some more when I am out west). This afternoon some of us meandered through the Muslim market in Xi'an. What a fascinating place and a good place to bargain. Even without a voice, I did pretty well in my bargaining, occasionally assisted by some with more voice and expertise at the skill of the bargain. Then tonight, I had Chinese foot massage #2 - a vast improvement over the one in Nanchang - not so painful and still that wonderful feeling in the end. These will definitely keep me going through my trip! We have one more day in Xi'an - visiting the mosque and another museum and then will fly back to Beijing on Tuesday.

Journey to Nanchang

(written Wednesday, May 23, 2007)
Greetings from Beijing once again! Our schedule has been so full and we have seen so much - it is difficult to write about it at the end of every day as I get so tired. Since I last wrote, we have seen the Forbidden City and walked through Tiananmen Square (that was a powerful experience - more on that on another post), seen several tombs of ancient Emperors and climbed the Great Wall (an experience that far surpassed any expectations I had). I am also learning a great deal from our classes which I am really enjoying - and it gives a helpful perspective to the sites we visit. This past weekend, I made a quick trip to Nanchang in the south of China. What a contrast with Beijing! While we had absolutely glorious weather the first week we were in Beijing - warm, but not unbearably hot, very dry (no humidity), blue skies, breezes and no pollution, Nanchang was hot and humid and somewhat overcast. It is lush green as there is lots more rain in the south of China. I saw rice farming, lots of rivers and some lakes so it is perfect for farming. The city of Nanchang has many universities and is a bright and cheerful town - lots of color and decoration in the downtown square. I visited Mikayla - a former student and friend who is teaching English there - and we had a wonderful time - lots of great conversation, some different food and a glimpse into Chinese university education
and living - very different from what I am used to. I also experienced my first Chinese foot massage - a fairly painful experience but oh so wonderful once it was over! Most of all, these experiences and conversations are causing me to think a great deal - a lot of which I am formulating in my mind - too soon to write about. I am learning more about the church in China - somewhat different from our perceptions and what we are told in the US; the faithfulness and suffering of many people for their faith; the long history of those who have been faithful to the gospel. Today we went to the Ricci tombs - Mateo Ricci was a Jesuit who came to China to evangelize around 1600; many other Jesuits followed and made a significant impact in China. It was a powerful experience today to have some of the students in our group reading the translations of the tomb inscriptions as we stood in front of them - 60 some graves - and how they had been faithful to their calling to the Jesuit order and to Christ, and all of this before the US was a country. Pretty amazing to think about! Well, I will stop here... tomorrow we fly to Xian - an ancient dynastic capital southwest of Beijing. We will be there for five days.. To be continued...

A note of explanation

(written Tuesday, May 15)
I am writing this at the most relaxing, largest Starbucks I have ever been in and there is free wireless. I ran into a little difficulty trying to post my blog entries from China. First of all, my blog shows up in Chinese which is a little confusing and while I posted them from here, they did not get to you, so for now I am having someone post these from the states...so they will probably come in fits and starts. I may get some help when I travel to Nanchang this weekend to see a former Wheaton student who also has a blog...she may have some ideas to help me. In the meantime, if you want to contact me, please email me as I can't approve your comments to post either. More coming soon...

The Food!

(written Sunday, May 13)
I could write a lot about this topic and may do so later as well, but suffice it to say that the Chinese way of eating - somewhat family style with chopsticks is a wonderful change of pace. It is so conducive to developing community. The first evening we got here, we were welcomed with a big, traditional Peking Duck dinner. Instead of ordering one dish and eating it, it is more family style. The food just keeps coming out and there is a great variety of meat and vegetable dishes and of course, rice - all eaten with chopsticks and one spoon for liquids (and in my case the spoon was used for some of the other foods that my rudimentary - or at least inconsistent chopstick technique - could not, after several tries pick up and navigate to my mouth!) As an introduction, we have had two large meals like this together as a group, but tonight we began the process on our own in one of the student cafeterias/restaurants at Peking University, where we are having our classes. We have several choices of places to eat there and we pay for it with meal
cards that deduct our ala carte choices. I'm sure I will have more to say about the food as I get further into this experience!

Church in China

Sunday morning we went as a group to one of the five registered Christian churches in Beijing - a very small number for the huge city of Beijing. Consequently, there are many services and they are packed. While we were handed translation devices, none of our group could get them to work, instead getting local radio stations instead. There was a choir complete with choir robes (in this very cramped and really hot room) and they sang 4-part familiar choral repertoire. As far as congregational singing I could join in on a few songs, all hymns. I was glad for a faint remembrance of the words to "The Church's One Foundation" when we sang that at the end. And apparently, there must not be a Chinese word for "Hallelujah," as we sang a somewhat familiar song with the word, "Hallelujah" repeated several times, so I joined in when I could. Also, my musician friends would be interested in the fact that the song books had no musical notes, but all the melody was notated with numbers. The singing was strong - no doubt some of that due to the acoustics of the room and the number of people crowded in there, but there was a fervency there as well. That's probably all I need to say about the service for now...

Arrival in Beijing

(written on Saturday, May 12)
Well, we are here! But not without a little drama. The last 20 minutes or so on the plane were extremely turbulent - strong winds caused the plane to erratically move
side-to-side and up-and-down..and it felt like it would never end. On top of that there was a screaming baby in the row behind me who was wailing at the top of his lungs non-stop. I thought I would go crazy and kept praying that his screaming and the movement would stop but apparently it was difficult for the pilot to get us down because we kept circling before we landed. And then the passengers on both sides of me lost their lunch, which had just quickly been served in the last 40 minutes before landing. Thanks to my fast moves I got both of them their bag just before they lost it, because I think I sensed what was coming before they did. Both were students-one from our program and the other was in another student group. After that, I had all I could do to keep from getting sick, but I managed to keep it together, though I didn't settle down until a couple hours later. Having a minimum of sleep didn't help either, though I did manage to sleep about 4.5 hours out of the 13 hour flight. But all of this is in the past...I am here and all is well.

The Journey Begins

(written on Friday, May 11)
I am writing this on the plane¦.crowded in seat 53B but doing quite well, considering that the last 24 hours - or 72 for that matter - have been very hectic, as those of you who have traveled on long flights know they can be. All the preparations are stressful, but the body begins to relax once at the airport and checked in and even moreso when walking down the long enclosure into the plane.

Our route has been a northerly one - first over Green Bay, Wisconsin then northwest
through Canada. The pilot said we would be within 50 miles of the Arctic circle and sure enough, as we got further into Canada the polar ice cap began to appear - very cool to say the least. We will also be flying through Russian airspace and will eventually end up in Beijing.. after 13 hours! Since I only had 4 hours of sleep last night, I have already slept almost four hours and we have about 6 hours left on the flight so that has been really good and I am feeling much better.

The most amazing event thus far today is that three of my doctoral professors from the University of Illinois are also on this flight - the three people who taught me most of what I know about ethnomusicology. Mind you it has been 25 years since I studied with them, but the irony was that just this week, when I taught our Wheaton group a class on Chinese music, I referenced the woman who taught me - and there she was along with her husband, my Indian music professor, as well as one of my doctoral committee members. What a small world. We have had a couple good conversations and it has been nice to reconnect with these people who really ignited my passions about the music and cultures of the world..

The Food…….. (written Sunday, May 13)

I could write a lot about this topic and may do so later as well, but suffice it to say that the Chinese way of eating – somewhat family style with chopsticks is a wonderful change of pace. It is so conducive to developing community. The first evening we got here, we were welcomed with a big, traditional Peking Duck dinner. Instead of ordering one dish and eating it, it is more family style. The food just keeps coming out and there is a great variety of meat and vegetable dishes and of course, rice – all eaten with chopsticks and one spoon for liquids (and in my case the spoon was used for some of the other foods that my rudimentary – or at least inconsistent chopstick technique – could not, after several tries pick up and navigate to my mouth!) As an introduction, we have had two large meals like this together as a group, but tonight we began the process on our own in one of the student cafeterias/restaurants at Peking University, where we are having our classes. We have several choices of places to eat there and we pay for it with meal cards that deduct our ala carte choices. I’m sure I will have more to say about the food as I get further into this experience!

Research papers are done!

Well, I just finished reading my research papers and I still have final exams to grade but I am feeling lighter already! I can start to think a little more about China - I leave in one week! I cannot believe this semester...I had 50 students in my 20th century class and each of them...well most of them..wrote 61 listening logs - that is a total of 3,050 listening logs that I read and graded....though it was probably more like 2,900 because not everyone did their work...Then there were their research papers - 10-12 pages - most students wrote that much..so if you do the math, you can understand why I'm starting to feel better. This would be a drag if I didn't absolutely love what I do.. So I have a smile on my face as I write this.. My writing is going to start to pick up as I have less to read!