Putian!

This past weekend was possibly the coolest of my experiences in China, I ventured to the city of Putian with my new friend Phil (his hometown). Check out the pictures.

After a long week of not getting much sleep we awoke at 6am on a SATURDAY to catch a bus for the 4 hour journey to Putian. Not much is said on the way to the bus station as both Phil and I are zombies only wanting to get onto the bus so that we can return to our slumber. After little trouble we are soon on the bus and my ipod is helping me get back to sleep. After a short sleep I awake to the bus slowing down and realize that we are in some sort of traffic jam, Phil also wakes up to see whats going on. Having not been awake for more than 5 minutes the driver turns to us (we are in the front seats) and starts yelling for us to do something. I turn to Phil to ask him what is being said but he says nothing, instead looking rather puzzled himself. The driver is motioning us off of the bus so I follow Phil off while everyone else stays put. Phil then explains to me that the driver wants us to direct traffic because cars are coming on the off-ramp that we need to take. Just as Phil finishes saying this two semi trucks come around the corner right at us and we just start waving our hands trying to get them to turn around. Phil approaches one driver and I go to the other and just repeat mei-you (may-yo), roughly meaning no, unable to give a further explanation to the driver. Luckily this suffices for the driver and he starts to turn around after he sees the traffic jam ahead. Pretty soon we see the driver of the bus running down the off-ramp toward us yelling at the trucks to turn around. Its pretty obvious he is loving the situation as am I, and that its the most adventure he has seen in a while. We board the bus again and are quickly on our way, what an adventure! Needless to say it was pretty hard to get back to sleep.

We arrive in Putian around 1 and get off the bus and immediately I am reminded of my trip to Africa, the smell, the atmosphere and the HEAT! The smell being one of automobile exhaust and burning brush, very distinct to Africa and apparently Putian. The feel of Putian is much more rural and not as modern as Xiamen, despite being roughly equal in size. As we exit to the bus station we see about two dozen motorcycle taxis waiting, all of which get excited at the sight of a white face and begin to compete for our business. We both hop on one and speed off to downtown ignoring all traffic laws on our way, I think that the driver felt he had to show off for the laowei (foreigner). We arrive at Phil's house and have dinner with his mother and grandpa and head off to the mountain, only after Phil's mom expresses some worry and tells us to be careful, mothers don't change too much with culture I guess.

The walk to the mountain from Phil's house is an amazing exposure to a side of China that I had missed being in Xiamen and I love taking in the sights and sounds of it all. We stop to ask an old woman for directions and after an attempt Phil tells me that she could not understand him. He is a bit disheartened as the local dialect he is speaking cannot be understood, too much time in Xiamen I guess. We get directions from another person and continue on our way. The hike up begins with a discussion on some Chinese history. Having limited knowledge I am eager to get Phil's perspective on things from the Nanjing massacre to China's current position in the world. I chime in a bit on US history and we are able to relate after I mention Pearl harbor. The conversation soon fades as the hike gets harder and we are both simply trying to gather some mental toughness to get to a spot to stop for the night. We decide on a spot on the side of a road we come to about 3/4 of the way to the top (and no it was not road the whole way up, just the last quarter). After a fire and a dinner of mostly junk food (cookies, chips, sausage) we head to bed. Morning comes way too early and we pack up and get to the top around 9AM. After a brief chat with the 3 guys running a radio tower at the top we make our way down to a temple that is about 1/4 of the way down. Phil finds someone who is heading down the mountain so we hop in. It amazes me how the message even comes across, between the local dialect sounding almost like donald duck and the cigarette in Phil's mouth, but what do I know. We pay the driver and make our way to a local lake for a swim before our bus trip back to Xiamen. The swim hits the spot, and we even do some fishing with a group of locals at the lake who join us for the swim. After a bite to eat and a shower at Phil's house we are soon on the bus back to Xiamen and are both passed out, exhausted from the weekend. Luckily there is no traffic directing this time and we make is back to Xiamen slightly refreshed.

KTV video

i forgot to post this video from the KTV, enjoy!

KTV, mafia, haircuts, and more chinese food

get it while its hot, new pics from the PRC!! ,

But for those of you that don't want to take the few extra clicks to the album and need instant satifaction heres a couple of samples. This is a group of people from the office that went to KTV, basically Karaoke on steroids. The white guy is one of my bosses and his wife.

It really was amazing going to KTV, a true Chinese pastime from what I understand. Basically KTV is Karaoke in your own private room with room service. Now while it does have the reputation as a time for drunken wildness, it should be known that it can be wholesome fun. The place we went had about a hundred rooms, and some were very luxurious. We switched between english and Chinese songs and sang our hearts out, including a duet with my boss of Avril Levine's So Much for my happy ending, good times. Time sure flies when you are having fun, we were singing for over 6hours! Needless to say were were all horse
by the end of the session.

Another fairly popular thing I was able to partake in was Xclub. Now I know it sounds bad but its not what it sounds like. It was basically a very formalized version of the card game Mafia. You all sit around and are dealt fancy cards and assigned roles as either mafia, police or townsperson. Then you are "put to sleep" by putting a mask over your face and loud music is played and the mafia "wake up" and decide by hand gestures who to kill and then go back to sleep. The police then wake up and guess at who the mafia are and the moderator tells them true of false. Then everyone wakes up and everyone attempts to discover the mafia while maintaining anonymity, and each round someone is killed and someone is voted off by the group. The game ends when all the mafia are discovered. It was a good time! And the fact that there was a mix of Chinese and foreigners made it all the more interesting.

I had to include a picture of the mall. Things to notice in the picture are the number of people, KFC, Mcdonalds, and on the right hand side is Wal-Mart, nuts! Its an adventure, but from what I hear Shanghai is the place to be. I was planning a trip to Shanghai but the plans fell through so I am looking for another adventure in the remaining 2 weeks.




I am however planning on taking a trip out to the country-side to balance out all of the city living. I will keep you updated on the happenings on that.

I have also been reading a book called China Road. It is about the travels of a British journalist who travels from Shanghai across the country-side of China basically to Kazakhstan on route 312, written in 2006. I am only 3 chapters in but it has been a great read, with history woven throughout and a current day snapshot of China is it very interesting. I think its so much more powerful reading it while living in China.

pictures for ya

I uploaded some pictures of the day at the beach onto my picasa page below is bubble tea off the street bay bay!

pass the pi jiu

wow it has been a long time since i updated my blog, sorry. i wonder how many people actually read this blog.....

.....well about 3 weeks left in China, and boy am I torn. On one hand I could not be happier to be going back to the states, to familiarity, same dialect, family, friends, weddings, no diarrhea. On the other hand I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy my time here, the great food, the constant state of learning/being stretched, new friends, adventure.

One thing that has been a great contributer to my longing for home has been my recent case of giardia (or so I think). It began with a day trip to a beach about 3hrs drive from Xiamen in a town of Long Hai (I think). We, about 12 of us, spent the whole day in the sun and swimming in water that most likely was less than clean. It was a blast but the next day and all this week have been the aftermath of that fun, severe sunburn, sun poisoning, and giardia! That day I also found out that the memory card puked on my camera, but I had someone take lots of pictures during the day which I will upload when I get them. Despite the giardia and such I still think it was worth it for the whole day of fun.

Other than the beach I have been really falling into quite the routine, of which includes a mens group that I attend. This past week we went out to eat as a send off for a member who is heading to the states to work, and it was an all you can eat buffet of amazing food. If you can't tell I really like the food here. It was all sorts of sushi to fried chicken to Koren seafood specialty dishes. We got a discount somehow so it ended up being $7, amazing! And the ice cream was great, a rarity in China I am discovering.

On a non-food note I am trying to ask myself what I can give. It seems like the trip up to this point has been all about me and what I want to experience and learn and take from this time here. I want to always ask myself the question of what can I give and how am I blessing the people here and contributing. I asked my Chinese tutor yesterday what she wanted because I was I wanted to give her a gift for her teaching me and she simply said "your smile". After trying to argue with her she, I realized that the best gift I could give her would be to lift her spirits each time we are together for our remaining lessons.

where has the time gone?

I am almost halfway through my stay here in Xiamen and it seems like just yesterday that I got here and I was recovering from jet lag. First order of business, I updated my Picasa page, see link below. Sorry for the limited number of pictures, I planned to take my camera with me for one Saturday and take pictures all day but of course I get away from the house and my batteries run out. Having rechargeable batteries, I am not about to spend money on new batteries so this is all you get until later.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikesudyk

Well I am finally feeling settled into my position at work and I am beginning to tackle some projects. I am really noticing the language barrier at work with this new found responsibility and duty. Having spent most of my time before not talking much with my co-workers, I did not discover the fine art of communication through hand signal and broken English+Chinese. I was put on the design of a frame that goes around a decorative piece of glass and was working with the current product designer, and he speaks no English and I speak VERY little Chinese. Having a girl in the office translate we spent about half an hour communicating something that could have been done in 5, but I had to just laugh at myself and realize that there is nothing I can really do but try and make the best of the situation.
Other than that instance most of my work had been either with my boss (and expat) or with the production manager who speaks English (still a struggle some times). It is so encouraging and exciting seeing the things that I do actually go into effect and get done, I truly am going to be spoiled when I go work in the US at my first job. I do feel like I am learning so much, on a professional level that is - so much preparation for the working world.
On another note, I have enjoyed learning more Chinese. My Chinese tutor has been very kind and has shown me around Xiamen. Tonight we went to a Chinese BBQ place with AMAZING food. Basically it has several waitresses walking around with bowls fulls of meat on skewers and they come around asking how many you want. I am discovering that eating out really can become a hobby here, so much more than the US because it is so CHEAP.
For those of you that don't know, Karaoke is pretty big here. I got invited to go by someone at my work and I think I might go some time soon so I will keep you updated it should be an adventure.
I have been partaking in events called English Corners. They are a time when local Chinese get together and practice English and are usually run by foreigners. They are a time for outreach and community building, and are a great way to meet local people. Once again I notice just how bad of an English speaker I am, oh well, I guess I am just giving them practice at understanding different dialects of English :) .
Well until next time, as the Chinese say.... buh bye

wo hen hao!

First order of business, pictures! Follow the following link to see my photo album, I will update it as often as I can.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikesudyk

I spent most of the day venturing onto the small island of GuLangYu that is just off of Xiamen (which is also an island). I went with my Chinese tutor from my work who lives on the island. Having her along was not only good because she spoke Chinese but because she live on the island and she was able to get us into everything for free! As they say pictures speak louder than words so I would just reference you to the pictures to see our adventures. Some highlights were the climb to a giant rock on the island, allowing us to see the entire island and the city of Xiamen , amazing. Another highlight was the number of tours going on around the island. Each group is lead by a person shouting in a mega phone and most of the members wearing matching baseball hats, hilarious! The Chinese tutor (Maggie) was teaching all sorts of new Chinese words as they presented themselves around the island, I think I forgot most of them but it was fun learning new words. After the island we went into Xiamen and had some dinner and ended up just talking at the restaurant for a couple hours. Her English is not the greatest so it took us a while to talk sometimes, but so interesting talking with her and learning more about the Chinese culture. It so funny because she asks me words in English and I am realizing that I really do have an accent and I say words so incorrectly. Apart from the adventure today, the time seems to be flying by. I am continually learning so much and being exposed to so many new things. My host informed me that if I needed a few days off of work that would be fine. He says your body can get overloaded, luckily I have not hit that wall yet. So on another note, I didn't get the memo that it apparently is monsoon season here now. It has rained for like the past week, and not light rain like hurricane type sideways rain. Where does all the water come from? Its nuts. And with the rain comes the umbrellas, everyone has them its so funny. On yet another note, I have been blessed with meeting some really cool people here. There is a family of 8 who started an orphanage here and are doing support raising in the states for a couple years but are here on a visit and we have lunch after church every Sunday. It is so fun, it ends up being a group of about 20 and they are such a blast, they welcomed me just like family. Well it is getting late, I should get to bed. If the link to the pictures is not working someone drop me an email.

are you engaged in the adventure?

Once again no pictures, but that just means that once I do decide to put picutres up there will be tons so be patient.

I must say that I have been getting much more comfortable and settled here. I have gotten into the routine of getting up early and going to work and then attempting to explore as much as I can in this great city while not working. I am deiscovering that my boss really does love to work. We generally leave the house around 7 arrive at 7:30ish and work until about 6. So from that respect I am really getting a taste of what it means to put in a full day at the office, a very important lesson to learn I must say. On the other side of the coin, I am trying to fight the urge to just crash when we get home. I have been blessed with meeting a group of people that are around my age and are very fun. Most have been in Xiamen and while or grew up here so they have been showing me around to all the local joints. On girl had a book of questions that we spent hours one night just asking each other. Anything from absurdly funny to serious. At one point we were laughing so much we got the guard called on us, good times. One night we went to a salon to have our hair washed and get a scalp massage. It was amazing, and only $3, I love this country. I even scared the person massaging me. I don't think that it is in their culture to do something like that but it made for a great reaction. On Sunday afternoon I went to a thing called and English Corner, a place where locals can practice there English with someone who is fluent. It was a blast. It was hard to understand some times due to the rooom being full of people talking and very loud, but it was a great way to learn about the culture and the people. I really need to start taking more pictures, i just always forget to take my camera places.

zai jian! (goodbye)

its about life...

in the great words of my host "its about life", sure we are saved by grace and we should celebrate that and have security in our salvation but this life does matter. the parable about the talents has taken on a much greater meaning since being here, hearing and seeing that how we manage this life is a preparation for the next. much like an interview or a resume gets us a job so do our actions in this life get us a job in eternity. there will be a new kingdom we know this. but what we rarely hear about is how that kingdom is going to be run. the answer is with his people. he uses us and the skills that he has given us that we choose to master here on earth. we need to live everyday with this in mind as it is so against my thinking. what would the new kingdom be like if we were just sitting on clouds with cupid? fun? maybe for a day or two but not for the rest of time.

having gotten my speech out i suppose i should update on the activities that have taken place the past couple days. well I have been assigned a job, which has been a huge encouragement and a much needed sense of direction. i will be in charge of the creation of a new production line. i won't bore you with the product details and such unless you inquire but i will let you know that it has been a learning experience. i am learning and being pushed everyday it seems and i am loving it. i am not sure i loved it to begin with but i am realizing that problem solving really is something that i enjoy. so as for now i continue to soak up as much knowledge as possible and contribute 100%. sorry for no pictures yet again, i will try and work on that, i know that words just don't satisfy all the time.

Spa anyone?

So the family has gone, and I am left in Xiamen. Its taking on a whole different feeling being here by myself, one that will stretch me and show me a lot about myself and China. I suppose I must do a bit of back log. Before Laura and Andy left, we took a day trip out to a 5 star spa about an hour from the house we are staying at, and it was an adventure! Two busses a taxi and a chinese version of McDonalds later we made it to the spa. I must say that I was pretty impressed with our ability to get there seeing as how none of us speak Chinese and NOBODY here seems to speak english. The Spa (http://www.riyuegu.com/english/index.php) was amazing and only $20! We met some people from the states there too, it was pretty crazy how you could be half way around the world, and hour from a major city and meet people from your own back yard.
I have been trying to learn the bus schedule as fast a possible so I can be somewhat mobile. Its only 2 yuan to ride the bus witch is like 30 cents, however that makes for very packed buses!
I have been trying to wrap my head around the culture and how it is so drastically different than the US. My host Bill says its easily related to the worker bee mentality, everyone does what is best for the hive. It is true, the strong sense of individualism we see in the states is not here. However they do hold a strong sense of saving face, and that to shame someone is a great punishment. In that same vein, passing the buck becomes a common practice, if it causes you to lose face then the shame is usually passed to someone else.
I am trying to learn as much as I can while I am here, about life and about work. Work has been interesting, I really am finding out a lot about myself. Being that I am not doing much engineering type stuff, its been a learning experience for sure.
Well its time for work, as it is 8:20am here so I must end. I will try and update every other day or so from now on and take more pictures so I can post them.

XIAMEN and reality setting in...

***disclaimer*** apparently blogspot.com is somewhat limited in China and therefore I am able to post but unable to see any comments that are left. I would love to hear the comments if you would drop me an email and mikesudyk@gmail.com Also blog might be missing details due to editing for China standards.

Well it seems like we have been here for a week already, and maybe we have because my whole time frame is thrown off. Xiamen has been a bit of a surprise because it is a lot more modern than I had expected. I never would have thought it could be so similar to a big city in the states. One thing that is strikingly different is the amount of people, it is crazy everywhere you look you you are seeing tons of people! Well moving on. Saturday, being our first full day in China consisted of us sleeping in a bit then Kevin, my Dad and I headed into the office for a several hour meeting. I spent most of the time attempting to absorb all that was being said and to learn a thing or two about what Bill's (the guy I am living with this summer) company does, their current position, and consulting in general. It was very informative, a bit intimidating, and very cool to see my dad and cousin Kevin in their element doing the consulting thing. After about a couple hours of meeting (all the while I was trying to keep up and not really saying much at all) we headed out to a beach event that some folks from Texas that were hear chillin' with the Chinese and meeting people from Xiamen university. It was a good time, playing beach volleyball and some soccer, somewhat surreal that I was playing volleyball on the beach in China, and minus all the aisan people the beach front was similar to that of one in the states. Most of the Chinese we were playing with were from the university so they could speak some English. After the beach we got some food at a little hole in the wall place for dirt cheap, 6 people with drinks for $20, and we ate a ton of food. Today (sunday) we went to a international christian fellowship that is registered with the government but you needed to show a foreign passport to get in (part of the government regulation). Later in the day we all got massages. The massages were done by blind massage therapists, were 2 hours long, and only cost $13, it was amazing! Tomorrow is an early morning so I must end this post. So much has been going on its hard to try and sum it all up. I will try and post some more pictures and get a link to an online photo album, but I have been not taking my camera around the past two days, I figure I got all summer to take tons of pictures.

three days later...

Well I/we finally made it to China. I really do wish that I could put down every thought, detail and memory into writing but I simply can only try my best. We (me, my cousin Kevin who is working for my father, my sister Laura, and my brother in-law Andy) left Chicago O'Hare at 10:50AM Wednesday morning on a flight headed to Tokyo Japan, more specifically Narita (just outside Tokyo). We ran into some traffic going through Chicago, which made for a little bit of a stressful time making our flight. 14 hours later we arrived in Narita at 1:45PM local time Thursday. We had a 20hr layover there before our flight to Xiamen so we had booked a room at a Hostel in town. After dropping our stuff off at the Hostel we headed into town in to grab a bit to eat at the grocery store and see a few sights, namely a massive temple with a stop at the thrift store by our hostel (yes thrift shopping even in Japan). Narita was surprisingly clean, modern and very quiet, something that would change in the early hours enroute to our flight the next day. It was very surreal, it almost seemed fake, a very indescribable feeling. While at the grocery store we found it hilarious that the shelves in the isle came up to my cousin's shoulders (he is 6'6''), as well as all the people in Japan. The grocery store was actually very similar to any other grocery store you would find in the states, apart from the weird cuisine and short shelves. The temple was amazing, very much what you would envision an Asian temple to be like. It was closed so none of the buildings were open but it was still great to walk around and see the outsides of them. The main street around the temple was definitely a tourist spot because everything was expensive, and there were a handful of white people. On our way back to the hostel my Kevin spotted a young white girl who looked lost and it turned out she was headed to the same hostel. She is from England and was on a several week trip including Japan, New Zeeland, Australia, Singapore, and San Francisco. We stopped at the store and got some more snacks for dinner and ate back at the Hostel, while it was a good time to mingle I was extremely tired from the trip and went to bed around 8PM, and proceeded to wake up at midnight thinking that it was time to go, jet lag can be so inconvenient. I must take a little time and express how much I love ANA (all nippon airlines), they are the best airline, so hospitable, we got 2 generous portion meals on the flight and snacks and drinks. The stewardesses would come around almost every 10min asking if we wanted more drinks, and the food was amazing! I am so spoiled now, all American carrier's seem so crappy now.
Our flight to Xiamen was at 10AM the next morning and we arrive at the Airport around 8AM.
On our way through the airport walking by the shops we spotted women women holding what appeared to be cologne samples. When we got closer we realized that they were drinks in little cups, and not knowing what they were and wanting to be adventurous I drank it and it was definitely whiskey, nothing like a shot of whiskey at 8AM, only in Japan! That is all for tonight, I do not have the stamina to write about the arrival in Xiamen just now, until next time...

I have started a posting of my pictures on picasa, link to follow when I can get all of them uploaded, internet is kinda slow here, more to come...