Dec 3, 2007 Mt. Emei Golden Summit Sichuan Province Words cannot describe the feeling one has on the summit, of being "in the clouds and above everything else in the world". It really is a spectacular place to visit. As the clouds would roll in and out, whole buildings would disappear from view, and at one point, we were walking along a path beside the cliff, and the clouds simply caused the whole world to disappear from view. It was magical.
Nov 29, 2007 Climbing Lingyan Mountain in Mudu : SuZhou On the previous occasion with Chiara, we had followed lots of people who seemed to be going somewhere. But after leaving the pathway and climbing some rocks, the heat became too much and we abandoned the chase. We returned to the temple, where I sat on the fence and tried to cool down.
Nov 24, 2007 LeShan Buddha Sichuan. Not being a tourist, I am often privileged to witness 'real life' in China, and our visit to the railway station in Chengdu was no exception. Being too tired to bother standing in a long queue with Mingxing, I decided to take a seat opposite the entrance to the ticket hall. I really have no idea how long I was there, but gee it was fun.
Nov 20, 2007 On the Matilda Trail by Captain Sandy Stewart During the Server Change at Magic City, the photographs that accompanied that story were lost. It is my pleasure to inform you that the photographs have been reinserted into that article, and this file simply contains a few more.
Nov 18, 2007 Chapter 11 : Time Out (Part 2) One of the things he said was that no matter what your philosophy in life (religious or secular), every human being has a need to have a purpose. He pointed out that many people who strive and struggle to 'arrive' at their destination, often do so, only to find that they are not happy.
Nov 17, 2007 Fear and Fun : Time Out in China : (Part 1) I've called this Chapter 'Time Out', because I want to take time here to tie up some loose threads in what I have written so far. In order for you to understand that, I have to begin making the connection between political correctness and the reasons why I love my life in China, in contradistinction to how I felt about my life prior to coming to China.
Nov 15, 2007 Tourist Sites : Beijing China Today, without commentary, except for quoting signs found at those locations (errors included), I provide some of the less that 'usual' tourist photos. I hope you enjoy them.
Nov 14, 2007 Captain Sandy's N.Z. Tour Photographs. That original text article now has photographs inserted, and these photographs of New Zealand are in addition to the ones in the original article.
Nov 12, 2007 Centenary Celebrations in Suzhou. SuZhou Polytechnic Institute of Agriculture celebrated it's centenary on Sunday 11th November, with Speeches, a Gala Performance by students and others, and a free lunch for we 'important people'! Dignitaries included the Deputy Governor of Jiangsu Province, and VIP's from Italy, Holland and Michigan State University.
Nov 11, 2007 Macao Summer of 2007 He laughed and said: 'Come! I'll show you!' And he did. 'Over there' was a place a couple of hundred metres 'over there where they are digging' and you could get 'over there', by a little walkway that they had prepared. Ah! I went back and got my bicycle and headed off to go 'over there', but when I got 'over there', I found myself on a main road, and had to ask a policemen where to go. Finally someone who could help me. He kindly pointed out that the ticket office was 'over there'!
Nov 10, 2007 Once More into the Breach : Living in China My relationship with those boys however went beyond the mere four walls of my apartment, for what it did was open up to me an opportunity to slip into Chinese culture, perhaps faster than the Average foreign worker living in China.
Nov 7, 2007 Du Fu Chinese Poet - Chengdu Sichuan This is predominantly a photographic article just for your pleasure, and it includes the content of a sign at Du Fu Thatched Cottage park, and one sample of Du Fu's poems. I hope you enjoy it.
Pt. 2: Traveling in Exotic China: 2004 It is the many conversations that I have had with ordinary Chinese, under ordinary circumstances, that provide me with the fondest memories of China. It's great to be able to describe 'things' that you seen, but it is altogether a different feeling to be able to relate meaningful conversations that one has had.
Nov 3, 2007 Traveling in Exotic China (Pt.1) : 2003 Seeing, visiting, and wandering in an 'out of the way', tiny, shabby, but regularly patronised Buddhist temple on the banks of the Yangtse, is far more interesting to me, that the beautifully decorated, neon lit, 'gilt leaf' temples found at so many 'tourist sites'.
Aug 26, 2007 Finding Myself in China: Shan Tang Sheng Ji It's very easy for us to accuse others of saying, thinking or meaning something that they never intended to be taken 'that way', because we filter what we hear and read through our own worldview. We can I think, throughout our lives, waste a lot of valuable time by being unnecessarily offended with people.
Jul 10, 2007 A Visit to Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province China. Leisurely would probably be the right word to describe the ride on any other occasion, but as we had taken a small craft with 4 passengers, one of which was a very overweight (but currently slimming down) white guy, every time the old coot turned to look at something, the boat 'pitched' and both passengers and captain screamed at him to sit still.
Jun 10, 2007 Staying Sane in China. Leo Rosten in the Joys of Yiddish wrote that there is an old Jewish saying, that the difference between psychotics and neurotics is that while psychotics believe that 2 + 2 = 5 neurotics, although fully cognisant of the fact that 2 + 2 = 4, just simply can't stand it! Personally, I think there are a lot of neurotics in the world.
Jun 6, 2007 Trip to WuZhen, Nanxun, and Tongli Towns in Jiangsu The girl beside him who was taking a video, turned the camera on me, and in English said: "Look! A foreigner!" In Chinese I answered that I was not a foreigner, but a Chinese person from the Muslim Province of XinJiang. (Yes it sounds crazy but you would be surprised how many believe me). Anyway, the girl then apologised to me in English. It was quite funny really.
May 5, 2007 La mia nuova vita a Suzhou, provincia del Jiangsu. Al che mi ha detto che sarebbero arrivati al mio appartamento immediatamente. Con solo un paio di minuti di preavviso sul suo arrivo, mi sono velocemente cambiato, ho riordinato la stanza e mi sono preparato per la visita. A questo punto la legge di Murphy ha colpito. M sono sentito male. Non so cosa abbia causato questo improvviso malore, ma proprio mentre mi veniva presentata l’insegnante italiana, le mie ginocchia hanno ceduto sotto di me e ho cominciato a tremare. Ho dovuto sedermi rapidamente. Sia il mio battito cardiaco che il mio respiro erano irregolari, e mi sentivo avvampare.
May 4, 2007 16, Gay and Homeless in China. I do not know who this boy is, or where he is, or where he will be, but between now and the next time I run into him, I am going to do some research in the hope of finding information and contact numbers, so that I can refer him to professionals who will be of assistance to him. It's far too dangerous for such a young man to be living this kind of lifestyle at this age. Those of you who pray, remember this nameless and faceless Chinese boy in your prayers.
Apr 10, 2007 My New Life in SuZhou City Jiangsu Province. With just a few minutes notice of their arrival, I quickly changed clothes, tidied the place, and prepared for the visit. Then Murphy's Law struck. I got sick. I don't know what caused this sudden illness, but just as I was being introduced to the Italian teacher, my knees buckled underneath me, and I began to shake. I had to quickly sit down. Both my heartbeat and my breathing became erratic, and I felt flushed all over.
Mar 31, 2007 Another City - A Different Country. I had been aware for a long time that many of my students were depressed, but it was not until I came to SuZhou, that I realised just how depressed the students in Hubei must really be.
Feb 25, 2007 What is There to Like about Living in China? I even remember the time I challenged students to consider their reactions if they discovered a close friend or relative was gay. Oh you would have been so proud of their western like politically correct BS, and BS it was. One boy was really good at giving the appropriate answers until I asked his reaction to a scenario in which his little brother not only announced that he was gay, but that he was getting married to his lover. The response? I would kill him! 'You mean you would beat him up?' "NO! I would get a knife or gun and kill him dead! I would not allow such a dishonour in my family!".
Feb 13, 2007 A Trip to Xiangfan City Hubei Province China. There isn't really much to write about my trip, given that it was mostly spent indoors, but I did have a lot of fun; had two massages at the Blind Doctor Massage Office; and spend a good deal of time conversing with my friend's Mother. I've posted 28 larger photos at King's Calendar.
Jan 28, 2007 Photographic Story about Children in China. With something like a 70% Rural Population, many kids grow up in the countryside, in tiny little villages, or larger but still small towns. They run, play, fish and swim in the nearby fields and streams. Probably most don't have running water in their homes, and certainly not bathrooms. The outhouse is literally the outhouse, and the waste will run off into some fish pond or similar.
Jan 19, 2007 Sheep Stealing in China Australia has a reputation as a pastoral country, producing some fine Marino sheep. Years ago when I was a policeman in Blackall in Central Western Queensland, I made friends with the Mitchell-Hills who were managing one of the Walker sheep properties. There was a saying many years ago amongst some evangelical Christians that: 'We don't steal other people's sheep!" By this they meant that they seek to convert those who do not believe in God, rather than try to win over people who already have an existing faith.
Jan 13, 2007 Teaching Conversational English to Chinese Students You may well laugh at that last point, but I have heard it from students. It is a great answer, and an ironic one at that. You see, in my 4 years of teaching so far, I have found that students hate to talk to the Teacher in English, and yet hate listening to the teacher talk talk talk! One day after class, a student approached me and asked: "Why did you teach us that lesson?" I replied: "For the same reason I teach anything, because you guys won't talk, and I have to do something to earn my salary.
Jan 11, 2007 Honesty, Patriotism and Plain Living? Who Said This! 'We must not allow the boundaries to be blurred when it comes to right and wrong, evil and kindness, beauty and ugliness' he said. "What we support, what we resist, what we oppose and what we promote all must be crystal clear". 'Who said this' about patriotism, hard work, plain living, consciousness of others, honesty, credibility, and obeying the law? Do you know?
Jan 5, 2007 Christianity and Martyrdom in China The difference between Martyrdom and Suicide is that the Martyr will gladly die for his faith, if that is the lot that befalls him; whilst a suicide takes matters into his own hands.
R.P.BenDedek is from Brisbane Australia and is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at http://www.kingscalendar.com His academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
He writes photographic 'Stories from China' and social editorial commentaries, both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing newspaper columnist. He currently teaches Conversational English in China and in addition to his English Lessons at KingsCalendar, he has created specific sites for Students of English.
