Hello Banana?
Hello Banana? Was the greeting by several of the old ladies in Yangshou when we would walk down the street. Now I know what your thinking. She thought we were banana's but my hypothesis is that she actually wanted to sell us the banana's she had in her basket. Later that day we saw T-shirts for sell that had a picture of a banana and the words Hello Banana. So the whole trip Dan and I would walk around and say Hello Banana, Hello Apple, Hello Mango...to all the vendors...and one time I said it just as we walked up to a lady and sure enough she said, Hello Banana?
So this trip has been chalk full of funny things like that and not so fun things.
Like walking home to our hotel everynight we had to wade our way through a small market that was set up in the street every night around 8. The problem was not the market or the people but what they were cooking. They had tanks of water with live fish swimming around, crawfish clattering around, frogs all bundled up in a mesh bag, and the occasional group of snakes. Now this wasn't the problem. The problem was the smell. (What I look forward to the most back in the USA is the fresh air!)
The minute we stepped inside this death zone for small critters we automatically felt the sting of airborn spices that permeated everything....and most notably our eyeballs. And as our eyeballs cringed in pain our nostrils where filled with the rank smell of critter blood being fried for the Chinese palatte.
Anyway...two small stories among hundreds...I could go on and on but at this point my stomach is beckoning me to lunch.
I leave tomorrow and I am sad. I loved Yanghshou, not so much Beijing, but Yangshou was great. I love the Chinese people. It is so sad to see an almost entire country of 1.3 billion people in the dark. We need to shed the light on this country.
I took every opportunity I could to do just that and I have several stories to tell about those experiences as well but that will have to wait until I get back to the States.
I do look forward to seeing everyone....I look forward to being back with my church family in Baltimore. I miss you guys in the youth group!!
Much love to everyone and even though I may be back home I will still post stories and pics from my trip.
-Jordan
Oh and by the way, I have been able to see the comments to my blog through email, and thanks so much for all the responses...although I cant respond to them at this point because the government won't let me see my own blog.
posted by Jordan @ 12:46 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Its always sad to leave an adventure behind. But we will be glad to have you back in the states my friend. I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the stories and exciting tales you will have. Have a safe trip home
"I love lamp!"
murmur
i assume that you are living in the light in comparison of chinese people living in the dark. but why? what make you feel that you are living in the light?
Well....the light dark analogy refers to a couple of things. The whole time I was there I never smelled fresh air...there always seemed to be a cover of smog and clouds...at least more so in Beijing...when we took off for Guilin we could actually see a yellow sheet of smog covering the city. So it literally felt like they were living in the dark, completely used to breathing the dirty air without even the knowledge that the air elsewhere might be clean. (In fact we ran into two girls that claimed that America was polluted, they said their government told them so, compared to China America seems like Eden)
Which leads me to my second point. Their government leaves their population in the dark. The communists have rewritten history for the last 60 years. It was they who liberated Tibet, when in fact they invaded it and killed millions of people. During the cultural revolution 50-60 million died due to Mao's policies, labor camps, and outright executions. The history books say it was merely a famine. They say that it was America that invaded Korea when in fact it was the Northern Korean communists that did. Plus the governement filters current affairs, both domestic and international.
They have no clue that upwards of a thousand people get arrested each year simply because of their faith.
Which brings me to the third and most important point. They live in the dark because they nothing of Christianity. Nothing of the Bible, and nothing of God. Their government doesnt feel they should have the right to even have the access to the knowledge of religion. And being a Christian myself I find this tragic.
My American friend was arrested for teaching Chinese Christians more about the Bible. It is illegal to meet together as Christians, illegal to evangelize or talk to others about God. The people that were with my friend were beaten, tortued and kept in prison for days, two are still in jail and its been almost a month, including a 68 year old woman who they beat everyday with a chair to the face. They also chose to tortue these people, mostly young pettite women, by pulling their thumbs out of socket with handcuffs, by beating them in their head with a metal chair and burning their cigerrettes on their faces. One of those arrested is still in the hospital.
That is why I made the reference to the light dark analogy. As a Christian I felt like these people were in the dark because they didnt know Christ and they didnt even have the freedom to know him.
In America we do.
I will make a longer post about that tomorrow.
I also used that analogy because I couldnt type about it while I was in China. Everything on the internet is watched. I couldnt view my own blog over there because there too many references to God.
I have seen pictures of Yanghshou and youre absolutely right about the balls of clay thing. But I can only imagine what it must have been like for you to see them in person! :)
~ Emily
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