Vanished

China is ever-changing giant chameleon. Things never stay the same for long.

I'm sure there are more cranes in Beijing alone than in all of America combined. Don't quote me on that, it's a guess.

My Jiaozi Parents proudly displayed this picture on top of their TV. 

China has gone from the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Era in the span of fifty years. It took Europe a little longer.

When things change here, they change fast.

People are constantly changing too. Not just fashion, but location. Beijing is like Las Vegas in that few people in the city are from the city. There are millions of migrant workers who come to the big city to earn money and send it home to their parents or children.

The other day I was biking past my old house (The Cloister) where I lived for almost two years and thought I would stop in and see my "Jiaozi Parents."

Jiaozi is a Chinese dumpling and this couple made it better than anyone I knew. Their little shop was about seven stone throws from The Cloister, so I used to eat there two or twelve times a week. They really cared for me like a son. They always tried to give me food for free. It was a fun game - I would hide 10 kuai ($1.55) underneath my bowl and run out before they could catch me and return my money. When I met my Jiaozi Parents I knew no Chinese, but we were really good at charades and smiling. And a smile needs no translation.

Anyway, I wanted to drop in and say, "Ni hao" the other day. But as I rolled up to their shop I could see they weren't there. There was some other dude cooking noodles. I asked him, "Where did the old owners go?" He replied, "They went back home."

I didn't cry, but must have walked past someone cutting onions because my eyes got a little moist.

Here for a season, then vanished. Things never stay the same for long.

米佳 mijia

Best Easter Egg Ever

Tonight in my Youth Group study we dyed Easter eggs.

They wrote on the eggs with that invisible crayon, so you can't see what they wrote or drew until after it emerges from the coloring.

I saw young, innocent Angela pull her egg from the red dye. I couldn't make out the message, but was forty-seven percent sure I read the word, "screw."

I asked Angela what she wrote, and what I heard was the crudest yet most beautiful Easter message I've ever heard:

"Screw you evil." 

Amen Angela.

It is Finished!

Look to the skull-shaped hill.

On that Friday we call “Good.”

His blood signs our sin-stained bill.

So that God’s wrath is understood.

“It is finished!” Hear him cry.

The liberating exaltation.

For Jesus crushed the Prince of Lies.

To win, for ants like us, salvation.

From rootless orphans who fear it all.

To heirs of the Ancient of Days.

Our Messiah swallowed sin and gall;

So that our souls would not decay.

What unfair love is this.

What unending grace we see.

Have no fears for we are His.

His wounds have set us free!

The Voice

Everyone knows the Great Wall.

It's pretty great.

Everyone who comes to Beijing wants to see just how great it is.

In October my buddy Dan Schwartz and his brother Luke came to the Big B. Schwartz and I aren't not good friends. He texted me and asked if it was possible if we could go camping on the Great Wall on Monday night.

I initially thought, "Not possible. It's a Monday night. I teach Monday afternoon, have Mandarin class Tuesday morning and teach in the afternoon." But the thought kept nipping at my cerebellum. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was possible. Just head out to the Wall on Monday night, skip Chinese class then get back in time for class on Tuesday.

"Giddiup!" Read my text to Schwartz.

So Schwartz, Luke, Mike Luetke and I set out on Monday night to camp on the Wall.

Subway to bus. Bus to black taxi. Black taxi to Wall.

We reached Mutianyu (one of the most famous sections of the Wall) around 8pm. We quietly exited our taxi, strapped on our packs and started hiking up the paved road to the Wall. When the sun is up there are vendors shouting choppy English to you trying to persuade you to buy a cheap momento.

"Hellooooooooooo!" 

"Very good price." 

"You buy from me? We make deal!" 

No articles. No problem.

But when the sun goes down the avenue of trinkets goes silent. But then a flashlight cut the night. We heard a security guard walking down the path. He saw us before we saw him and yelled at us, telling us that the gate is closed. The privilege to hike the Wall is about a 50 kuai ($7) investment.

So we turned around until we were out of sight then jumped into the woods and started hacking our way up the hill. We turned our headlamps off so as not to get caught.

We were clawing our way upward. Branches slapping us in the face like a spurned woman.

Then, we saw the slide.

Mutianyu is famous for its silver toboggan slide that snakes down the mountain. And we had stumbled upon it in the dark. That's like getting into a car accident with a stranger who later becomes your spouse. Well, not that dramatic, but still a huge find.

So we start climbing up the slide. Just like we did on the elementary school playground.

After about two minutes of moonlit slide climbing a robotic voice blared,

"SLOW DOWN! YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST. SLOW DOWN! YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST. SLOW DOWN..." 

I'm glad I brought an extra pair of underpants because that voice in my ear in the dark while doing something illegal prompted something that is a natural consequence of shock.

We had crossed the laser speed sensors on the slide.

We jumped off the track and sprinted into the cover of the forest faster than you can say, "Mogadishu."

We made it to the Wall after about another half an hour of hiking. It started to drizzle. So we found refuge in a friendly 烽火台 fenghuotai - turret. I started boiling water with my camp stove, made some manly spaghetti while the fellas set up the tent.

We ate in joy.

Noodles in an ancient welcoming turret on a Monday night.

The next morning we woke up early, made some instant coffee and started our descent. It was still drizzling and clouds were covering the Wall with misty mystery. I snapped these shots before the sun melted it away.




The Wall was ours that night.

We didn't have to share the Wall with any noisy tourists. Just four dudes, a slide, The Voice, a drizzle, a turret and some noodles on a Monday night.



米佳
mijia

St. Patrick

I love St. Patrick. 

An English kid who was kidnapped at seventeen and forced to become a shepherd by his Irish captors. Returns later in life and sets his captors free with the Gospel. 

Last week I taught my Social Studies class (ten seventh graders) about St. Patrick. After making the fatal error of drawing a three-leaf clover on the board, I had them write a journal that answered this question: "What are three things that St. Patrick teaches you?"

Here are a few comments I thought you might enjoy. 

Be careful outside, be careful don’t be kidnapped, it is a dangerous thing. You are in danger and your parents will have to get a lot of money in. (Simon)

Now, he was very famous, in the internet, he was very hot. He do a lot of thing big. (Franklin)

Patrick, you are hotter than I thought. 

米佳

mijia

Little Richard

Last year, every Thursday I had a play date with Little Richard.

Little Richard's Mom is named Miss Gao. She was my boss at my school. So when she asked if I could 玩儿 wan 'er (play) with her son for one hour a week. She said, "He needs a man in his life." I said, "Yes" with a sigh. Seeing it more as another job rather than a joy.

But then I learned Little Richard's story. This seven-year-old boy is fatherless. Well, I should rephrase that. He has a father, but he lives in Pakistan and comes back to China once a year during Chinese New Year.

Miss Gao is not divorced. She and her husband are still married. But like so many marriages in the Middle Kingdom, providing for the family is more important than spending time with the family.This is not an anomaly. This is freakishly normal. Husbands and wives living in different cities or different countries, still married, probably cheating, but together for financial purposes and "face" purposes. Being an unhappily married woman with a cheating husband is more honorable than a single mother.


I never asked him, but I know Little Richard's answer to this question, "Would you rather have more money from Dad or more time with Dad?" I think every kid on planet earth would answer the same way.

So Thursday afternoons in the park behind school there was a big white dude with three Chinese seven-year-olds (Little Richard's buddies) waging war against each other with stick guns and imaginary grenades. That's what boys are meant to do. Just play. Blow stuff up with your mind. Turn a stick into a flame thrower. Run around. Laugh. Get your new shirt so dirty that Mom shrieks in horror when she sees you return as a muddied warrior.

I had those experiences with my Dad, brothers and cousins. But Little Richard just had me.

For one hour on Thursdays.

米佳
mijia

Year Four

I have decided to come back to Beijing for a fourth year.

Every fall I tell myself, "This is my last year in China."

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

It was a really difficult decision to make. I kind of felt like there was a tug of war in my heart, but I feel like Abba wants me here. Maybe so I can nurture relationships, maybe to improve my Mandarin, maybe to mold me into a leader, maybe to humble me, maybe to test me. Whatever reason He has, I know I will be blessed.

Thank you for your yarps, support and love!

米佳
mijia - excellent rice

Mandarin with Mijia

I love learning Chinese. And yet I hate learning Chinese.

The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing.

It's been two and a half years of plodding, and I'm discovering learning this language is a journey without a destination. There is not stopping or graduating, but continually humbling yourself, memorizing, listening, writing, saying, forgetting, humbling yourself once again.

In my Bible I found a saying from a fortune cookie that I ate in February of 2010. It said, "Learn Chinese." God, you're funny.

Here are a few Chinese words or phrases that I've gleaned over the years and I thought you might enjoy the language I love. I've written the character, the pin yin (which is the phonetic pronunciation), the literal translation, and the real meaning.

火车
huo che
fire car
train

小心
xiao xin
little heart
"Be careful."

加油
jia you
add oil
"Let's go!" It's what people cheer at basketball games. Add oil to the fire...

胃口
wei kou
stomach hole
appetite

电脑
dian nao
electric brain
computer

交际花
jiao ji hua
social flower
social butterfly

嫉妒
ji du
jealous
jealous - But what makes this interesting is the radical (the part of the character on the left side of both ji and du is 女 nu: which means "woman." I love this one!

矛盾
mao dun
spear shield
conflicted and confused - The spear and shield are clashing in my heart.

家
jia
home
The top radical is a roof and underneath is a pig.

安
an
peace
The top radical is a roof over a woman.

炒鱿鱼
chao you yu
fried squid
"The boss is killing me! I feel like a fried squid!"

骗子
pian zi
cheat, liar
The radical on the left is 马 ma, "horse." So if you're a cheater, you better ride a fast horse.

铁哥们儿
tie ge men er
iron brother
"Our relationship is unbreakable, like iron."

老黄瓜刷绿漆装
lao huang gua shua lu qi zhuang
old yellow cucumber painted green
"An old person pretending to be young."

马马虎虎
ma ma hu hu
horse horse tiger tiger
"So so. Not that bad."

狼吞虎咽
lang tun hu yan
wolf eat, tiger swallow
"Gobble."

人山人海
ren shan ren hai
people mountain, people sea
"A sea of humanity."

義
yi
righteous
This is the traditional character meaning "righteous." The top radical is a "lamb" 羊 yang. Underneath is "me" 我 wo. My righteousness is thanks to the Lamb!

Donkey Meat

This arrogant donkey boasts, "Wo zui bang!!!" "I'm the greatest!!!"

Here's a Chinese delicacy you won't find at New China Buffet...

That's right. Northern Chinese love their 驴肉 lu rou donkey meat. And so do I.

My first lu rou experience was an accident.

Two years ago I was on lunch break and decided to grab some street food. I saw a line of people outside this little stand and got in line clueless and hungry - which is pretty much the two adjectives that describe me best. I got to the window and said in choppy Chinese, "wo yao liang ge na ge." "I want two of that," as I pointed to the dude who just ordered. That's bread 'n butter Chinese, say that sentence and point to what someone else ordered. That's how I didn't starve my first year.

Anyway, I get two of these little greasy pita things. I take a bite and savor the smoky yet tough meat. I'm wondering what I'm eating then turn to my right and see a cartoon donkey with his thumbs up and smiling.


I smile ... then take another bite.

Chinglish of the Week