Home, Sweet Home

Well, I'm back in good ol' Shiyan. Our train got in the station around 4:40 this afternoon, we were met by our good friend Zoe, dropped our stuff off at our apartments, and were at Happy Guy's for dinner by 5:30. All in all it was a great trip, but it is so incredibly great to be back. I'm headed to bed right now, but tomorrow I plan on doing laundry, cleaning the layer of dust that accumulated in my absence, spraying for cockroaches, and posting pictures from my trip. Come back later for more.

Change of plans

Well, I've been all the way around the stinkin' Taklamakan Desert. By the way, did you know that this name is a Mongolian name meaning "Enter but never return"? Well I entered and I definitely returned. I still haven't ridden my camel and camped overnight yet, but I did climb a sand dune when our bus made a bathroom stop. More about that later. For now, I will give a brief status update and reveal our plans for the rest of this trip. Angelyn and I are alive. We're back in Urumqi (the furthest city from the ocean in the whole wide world). We were planning on going to Turpan, about two hours from here, and spend a few days taking in the sights and maybe camping in the sand dunes. One reason to do this was to pass the time until next weekend when our friend Orange (yes, that's her name) would be coming home to Urumqi and we could spend two or three days hanging out with her and her family. Two days ago, while lying exhausted in a hotel in Khotan, I received a message from Orange saying that she still isn't sure if she can come home or not. That kind of pushed us over the edge of our exhaustion, so Angelyn and I immediately went out and arranged transport home to Shiyan. Tomorrow we'll fly to Xi'an and the next morning we'll take our final 8 hour leg of the trip by train and arrive in Shiyan. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to my apartment. A lot! Anyhoo, we cut out the Turpan, desert camping, camel riding part of the trip, which really stinks. I'll find a way to make up for it before I die. At least we got to do the Karakul Lake, mountain climbing, glacier viewing, Kyrgyz yurt sleeping part. Now I'm going to shower and go to bed because I am really really tired after last night's bus. I didn't exactly fit in the crevice they provided on the sleeper bus so I'm sore today. Plus Orange's parents tracked us down this morning and force fed us for about 7 hours straight. It tasted good but I think I exploded so violently about 5 hours into it that I actually landed back together in one piece. Weird, I know. I'm signing off until I'm back in my own place, so I'll catch you guys and dolls in two days!

P.S. - I lost my phone on the bus last night. :(

Fun with trains and buses

I'm in Xinjiang! If you don't know, that's the far northwestern province in China. It's barely Chinese, it's more Central Asian/Turkish. Most of the people out here speak Turkish languages such as Uighur, Kazak, or Kyrgyz. I don't have a way to post pictures at the moment, but when I'm back in my own apartment then I'll have loads to put up.

This trip started out with loads of travel. I left Nashville on the afternoon of Tuesday the 7th and arrived in Xi'an on the morning of the 9th. I spent one night with a friend there and on the 10th my friend Angelyn and I hopped on a 34 hour train to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. I've been on long trains before, but this one was special because we only had a seat, no bed. Usually you can upgrade once you get on the train but for some reason there wasn't a single bed available the entire 34 hours. Needless to say, we were quite exhausted with jetlag and two nights on the long train. We got off the train for about 4 hours and met up with a friend's mom. She had gotten us more train tickets to Kashgar, our desired destination. At noon on the 12th we went to board our final 23 hour train, only to find that it was cancelled due to bad weather. Since at this point we were on the edge of the second largest desert in the world (I read that somewhere), I assumed this meant a sandstorm. It turned out to be heavy rains. Weird. So I stood in line for 3 hours to return our tickets and we made our way to the bus station and ended up with beds on a 22 hour bus. Because of a rockslide and the same bad weather that stopped the train, our 22 hour ride turned into a 41 hour ride, but that was okay because at least we got to lay in a bed for those 41 hours. On the train we would have been stuck with seats again.

That adventure got us to Kashgar on the 14th, just about as far west as you can go in China. I'm pretty sure if I stick my arms out and twirl around in a circle that my hands will pass through Kyrgystan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakstan, India, and maybe even Russia. That's how close I am to all these countries. Two nights ago we went to a mountain lake and spent the night with a Kyrgyz family in their yurt (huge tent). At that point I was only a few hours from Pakistan and India, and even closer to Kyrgystan and Afghanistan. But I'll save that story for another time and put up some pictures with it.

In a few days we should be taking a bus straight through the middle of the desert back to Urumqi and then going to Turpan for some desert adventures. So far no sand dunes. Now I'm off to retrieve my laundry, hunt up some breakfast, and figure out where we're going today. Salaam!

Oh, how little I've done

Well, I've been back in the US for 6 weeks. During that time I drove through 10 states, pumped gas 11 times, drank 50 root beers, ate 20 Sonic blasts, talked to 13 friends on the phone, got 185 mosquito bites, ate Chinese food 3 times, called China 2 times, checked my email 252 times, wore the same 4 shirts, did laundry 1 time (just kidding), scored a 222 while bowling on the Wii, played with 5 nieces, 1 nephew, 9 dogs, and 1 cat (not all at once), attended 1 Christmas dinner, 1 Thanksgiving dinner, 3 1/2 birthday parties, and 1 wedding (mostly all at once), listened to "I Can Be Your Friend" (from a VeggieTales CD) 904,296 times, chipped 90 golf balls in Matthew's backyard, gained 17 pounds, ran 0 times, slept on the floor 15 times, slept on the couch 23 times, helped change 4 spark plugs, took 22 trips up and down mom's stairs to carry boxes down so she can move, mowed 2 yards, and I did ALL of this while living out of 1 suitcase. I'm tired of my suitcase.

I've had a great time being back, but I'm ready to go back to work now. I've been overloaded on free time, couch time, and ice cream time. I need to go back to where I can walk everywhere and there's no Sonic. Anyhoo, if I missed talking to you I'm really sorry. Most of the time I was here my mind was in a daze so I really don't know who I passed over. Let me know and I'll make up for it! Tomorrow I'm flying to Xi'an, and from there I'll make my way down the Silk Road to Urumqi and Kashgar for about two weeks. I know what you're thinking. "I thought he was tired of his suitcase!" Well, I'll be using a backpack (thanks for the gift card, Guy!) so it's not the same. Plus I'll be surrounded by non-Chinese culture, which will be weird since I'll be in China. I'll talk more about that as I go. I vow to take good pictures, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to post them before my trip is over and I make it back to my apartment. Thanks for the good time everyone, I'll see you next time.

Chaos

Sorry for the drought of updates, I've been on the road a lot plus I've been lazy. Good excuse? I hope so. Now I'm at mom's in MS, but in about a month it won't be ours anymore so it's a little weird. Everyone came home this weekend so there have been 6 little kids running, screaming, crying, pooping, kicking, screaming some more, kicking some more, and screaming all weekend. Now we're down to 5 kids, but I get a bed now so it's not as bad as before.

I gave a presentation on China at our Sunday night meeting today. Now that it's over I can concentrate on making sure I have what I need to go back on the 7th, planning my trip to Xinjiang, getting my car on the market, packing up all the stuff in my old room, and taking a nap. I'm not sure what to do first. Maybe I'll throw in a little Nintendo Wii.

Continued

Last time I mentioned the troubles going on here at home. Well today there was a congregational meeting at which anyone who signed up on a list could speak for no more than 5 minutes, only addressing the current issue. About 50 people spoke, the meeting lasted just over 2 and a half hours. A lot of good things were said, and a lot of hotheaded things were said. I said my piece, giving my perspective on this mess after having spent 2 years in China. I know the next few weeks will still be tough on the folks here. I am convinced that a lot of people who are in the opposition are only there through misguided teaching. I'm also convinced that the current preacher is poisoning the church here and that as long as he remains very little good can be done. I say all this to encourage everyone to remember the church here in Cleveland, to pray without ceasing, and to be on guard for wolves in sheep's clothing. As I said today, you can have a lot of zeal for scripture and have a total lack of zeal for Christ. If your interpretation of a scripture does not match the example Christ lived, then you need to go back and read it again. There's no room in the church for personal agendas, there's only room for God and his work.