bill's rabbit trails

Weddings

2008-08-18T23:17:00.001-07:00

Reg & Faa's wedding - for more pics, see:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48650&l=901fc&id=593826968

Agrifair & Krahn's visit

2008-08-18T22:58:00.001-07:00

We canoe-ed in the rain, entered Bill in the pie eating contest at Agrifair, went swimming at the new Centennial Pool, went to Stanley Park, the night market and Celebration of Light - all on the long weekend in August.

More pics at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48647&l=24597&id=593826968

Summer 2008

2008-07-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hi!

If interested, here's a link to some pics from our trip with
Charlie & his family:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44788&l=ebca1&id=593826968

Take care!

Louise & Bill

Trip with Dad during Spring Break

2008-04-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Maui. My dad & I went to celebrate his 70th birthday. Had lots of fun enjoying the views and the sunshine, driving crazy roads exploring the island, enjoying huge, tropical breakfasts at Charley's, seeing humpback whales, snorkeling (my dad's first time!), Easter Sunday service at the beach, a fantastic luau (my dad said it was the best night he's had since my brother & my weddings!), exploring a lava tube, sunrise on top of the island...etc. My only regret is the sunburn I got snorkeling (oh well) : ( Was a lot of fun though!

Visiting Greg

2008-03-16T23:27:00.001-07:00

Greg almost died from being given wrong medication. He almost died, then was in a coma and in hospital for 5 weeks. We went to visit him in Feb. He's getting better! He forgot that Christmas happened so we got to celebrate Christmas again in February!

Bill & Louise are back from Mexico!

2008-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here's some more pics from our trip! It was great to see some friends we hadn't seen for a long time, enjoy the Mexican people, Spanish & tacos. "Hogar Para Ninos" (Home for Children) is the orphanage we were at for a year when we lived there (12 years ago) - we went on a tour there then headed off to a sea lion cave with our friends, the Morales, spent New Year's with Erma (our friend that's a missionary there) at a Mexican friends place (they had a pinata), ate at Bill's favorite taco stand, Bill worked on a church (that's being rebuilt) while I hung out with Erma and visited a Christian rehab centre, etc. On the way to Tijuana, we were able to give a ride to a Rachel (a young friend of Erma's that's going to school there). On the way north through California, we visited some more dear friends (Northrops & Grassmans) and then survived the snowstorms to make it safely home (Gracias a Dios! Thanks be to God!).

We're in Mexico!

2007-12-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

After the Christmas rush, at midnight Christmas Day, we packed up our van and headed south. After a blizzard and a speeding ticket (Merry Christmas!), we're here! We've (Bill, me, Ang & Hanny) had a good trip, a lot of time in the van (good bonding times)! Hanny tried her first real Mexican taco (and actually wanted another one!). Bill panicked cause his most favorite taco stand ever moved farther down the street (he thought they were gone for a scary moment there!). It's nice to visit here again. People are a bit older (as are we!) and things have changed a bit but mostly it's still the same Mexico. We were originally at the orphanage 12 years ago! They actually have 2 banks and a Starbucks in Vicente Guerrero now! Wow, it's growing! Hanny went to her Laguna Beach & Laguna Beach High School (some teenager TV show or something) yesterday so finally she can stop saying "are we going to Laguna Beach? are we going to Laguna Beach?..." haha. We had fun in Hollywood (Ang got "hit on" three times in Hollywood due to her new Italian high heeled shoes she bought there ! We said they must be magic shoes) and San Francisco, visiting with Jim & Nan, and Dave & Eva (in Tijuana) on the way. Dios Les Bendigas! (God bless)

2007-11-18T22:47:00.001-08:00

Funny pic of Haeni, Tommy and I at Fun Fair at my school on Oct. 30. I'm wearing my Chinese clothes and Tommy's wearing Bill's Chinese clothes and Haeni's wearing my kimono (I rec'd from a Japanese student that lived with us).
Jon carved a different pumpkin (I like it!).

Dan celebrated his 25th birthday this month (the kangaroo is because he plans to go to Australia in January).

Haeni made him a cute card (at Bill's expense - ha ha)!

Oct happenings

2007-10-26T20:57:00.003-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Had close to 20 people! It was busy and fun. At the end of the weekend, we went to the asian night market with Benz, Salem, my Dad, Vu & Han.
Next we went off to Nanaimo to get our "kid fix". We took our friends' 5 kids to a movie - "Game Plan" (good movie - I enjoyed it). The 3 year old said to me "You ate all the popcorn! You ate it all!" Oops, I do enjoy popcorn so I had to "borrow" some from her sisters (or else)! We had a fun visit - played "Settlers", went to Coombs (tourist spot that we like to shop at), played with the kids, had a nice dinner out with some yummy sushi, etc. After a visit with Bill's brother, we arrived at the ferry and it was 99 % full! We just made it with just 4 cars behind us - crazy close!

Becoming Jane

2007-09-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Saw a great "chick flick" tonight called "Becoming Jane". Bill was away on Mayne Island, working with a friend of ours, so it was the perfect opportunity for a night out with my girlfriends. I totally recommend this movie. I wasn't really sure if I liked it at first, but I ended up really liking it. I love romance movies! The greatest part for me though was the values portrayed near the end of the movie (albeit sad!). It had a very Christ-like theme of self-sacrifice, laying down your life and your happiness for the welfare of others. This is something that is lost in this society. It's all about "me first" and living for self and for the moment. The movie was set in a time of honor and self-sacrifice, living for the interests of others, etiquette between the sexes, proper and improper behaviour, having your family, your elders, very much involved in your lives and having a crucial role in your most important decisions. We see that as so archaic and repressive (and, maybe on one hand, it can be). But it's also a time where you depended on others because there weren't such things as welfare or credit cards, etc. We tend to be so independent of needing each other and that has positive and negative connotations. It's such a foreign concept to us these days - needing to think beyond what we want and thinking of what is best for others. We think our own personal happiness is all that matters and that seems to justify hurting those around us, that look up to us or depend on us. Anyway, it's a wonderfully tragic tale of romance that I heartily recommend! On a side note, it took me half way through the movie to realize who the lead male actor is - Mr. Tumnus from Narnia! He's great and so is the female actress, Anne Hathaway. Guys would definitely hate this movie. Although there is a fight scene or two, there's definitely not enough "blood & guts" for their liking - poor souls that don't know what a good movie is (ha ha).

Seattle weekend

2007-09-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

We had some fun in Seattle this weekend. Haeni (our Korean student) was really excited to go shopping! We brought along Tommy, a friend of hers from school. I don't know what was with the pigs, but there were these different pigs everywhere. Some things we experienced were staying in downtown Seattle, walking to Pike's Place market, going to the original Starbucks (the first one - there's something like 469 in the Seattle area alone!), having the fire alarm go off in our hotel (hence Haeni in the fire truck), going to these lock gates where there were fish jumping, taking a walk through the park there, seeing some views of the space needle and sunset, eating what is apparently a Seattle creation - a pancake baked with custard in it, going to the Rose of Sharon (an African American church) - I love the music and preaching there and the people are really friendly.

Last few weeks

2007-09-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks I have been adjusting to my new job (same job really but at a new school). It's been kind of stressful. September is anyway when you work at a school, but esp. when it's new people, new procedures (it's a traditional school), and you have to figure out what someone else has done, where things are, etc. But it's coming along. The staff, parents and students are great and I have been encouraged with it. Change is good! I also had a get together with the staff from my old school so it was fun to see them again.
Over the last few weeks, I went to the PNE with my dad (1st pic is my dad with Haeni, our Korean student, and her friend), went to our friends (Dave & Joan) 25th Anniversary (next pic - it was a surprise!), went to the MCC Festival (verenki - yum!) and the golf tournament in my brother's memory (we had a good time laughing at our lack of golf ability and enjoyed great weather, etc.). I have reconnected with my 95 year old aunt and gramma Virdi (the punjabi gramma from my last school). It's been busy, but good. We have a dog staying with us that I've been walking occasionally, too. Been on a "diet". I hesitate to call it that. Just trying to eat healthier as I need more energy for going back to work from summer. Kind of "blew it" this weekend, but oh well!
Next weekend we plan to go to Seattle, then the last weekend of the month, Dan & Jordan are moving out, then it's Thanksgiving. Seems to be something every weekend lately and the weekends go fast when you work 5 days a week (I was spoiled at my last school I had Fridays off, but now am full time).

Richmond Night Market

2007-08-26T22:49:00.001-07:00

Yeh, a taste of S.E. Asia! We had fun at the night market on Friday. Vu was really excited about it, too - a taste of home for him. The funniest part was that it felt just like a night market in Asia, but there were all these "white people" there so that was pretty funny. The food was so good! I loved the skewered lamb - it was just like when we ate it in China - and the bubble tea, dim sum, etc. Yum!

Visiting Doug in Wisconsin

2007-08-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

This is Doug's house that we stayed at in Wisconsin (front & side view). Doug is a friend of ours from the orphanage in Mexico we were at over 10 years ago (we met there). Doug's been out to visit us in B.C. twice so we thought it was time we checked out his world. Doug is working at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission (kind of like a union gospel mission). He gave us a tour of the ministry there and what God is doing in changing the lives of the people that come to them needing food/shelter, etc. He is involved with the homeless men that come to get food and a place to sleep and many times they receive new hope in Christ, too, which is the really exciting part of the ministry God has placed him in there.

We enjoyed a real Wisconsin tradition of the Friday Fish Fry (yum!) in a gorgeous setting outside by the lake, with 2 of Doug's friends joining us for dinner. Some other highlights of our time in Wisconsin were walking on the sandy beach of Lake Michigan, eating delicious frozen custard, touring the House on the Rock, watching fire flies, etc. The abundance of old character homes and antiques were fun to look at, too.

We made it back home in 2 days driving from Wisconsin! 15-16 hours to Sask, then another 15 or so home.

Wisconsin Dells

2007-08-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

We stopped next in the Wisconsin Dells (I think they said dells means flat rocks) which, apparently is the 2nd biggest attraction place next to Las Vegas in N. America (news to me). We rode the Wisconsin Ducks (a vehicle that can go in water and on land, and was used in the Korean War) and went on a boat trip to have a look and walk around at some of the scenery.

Beyond Saskatchewan

2007-08-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, after Ronnie's, we stopped at "Corner Gas", then headed toward Manitoba to visit Kent's parents. We had a great visit with them and Kent's brother and his wife.

Then we headed south to Minnesota. A bridge had just collapsed a few days earlier in Minneapolis and, in spite of it maybe seeming morbid, we headed there to take a few pics as Bill was interested in the structural end of it.

Visited my cousin in Regina

2007-08-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have very little extended family so it was special for me to be able to meet up with a 1/2 cousin in Regina today for lunch. We had a good visit : )

This is a door Bill & Ron put in to access his back yard.

We also celebrated Priscilla's 19th birthday.

Trip to the Prairies

2007-08-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

We're now in Caronport, Sask., visiting with Ronnie and his mom & sister.
We met this really cute 95 year old gentleman while we were in Maple Creek, Sask. We'd just gone to an Assembly of God church and were having lunch at a Chinese food restaurant after church when Bill starting talking to him. His name is Jim. His wife had passed away recently from Alzheimer's and HE had recently DIED for 18 minutes! He said he had shared at a cowboy church in town about his experience of going to heaven's gates and wants to let others know of the amazing experience God led him through. What was really cool is I showed this pic to Verna (Ronnie's mom) and she knows him! from the church her dad pastored...wow small world!
We've had a great trip so far. Have visited Greg in Salmon Arm, Bill's cousin, Noreen and her husband, Stan, in Cranbrook, been to Dinosaur Park and the new Creation Museum in Big Valley, AB, visited Rolf in Edmonton, our friends the Krahns (just outside of Edmonton), Cypress Park and the mystery rocks (at the AB & Sask border), a T Rex museum, etc.
It was a really encouraging time with the Krahns. The Krahns were our neighbors and Bill had the opportunity to pray with George to receive Christ and his life was transformed by the power of God. Bill said it was one of the times where he most strongly felt the presence of the Lord (while they were praying together). When the Krahns first moved in next door to us, I told Bill, "there's more scary neighbors next door" cause at that time George smoked, drank, did marijuana, etc and we had had a lot of "druggie" neighbors living there. After he received Christ, God did a major work in George's life (and the whole family). He was set free from smoking, alcohol, marijuana and a serious illness (he had thought he was dying cause he was coughing up blood but God healed him of that too). George shared how his mom had said out of nowhere "you're going to be a preacher" and his wife, Irene, had prayed (before she was married) for her husband to be a preacher and how God had answered those prayers/prophecies. George went to Bible School in Winnipeg & Paraguay and became a missionary/pastor in Paraguay (where they had lived previously). We hadn't seen them for 11 years and during that time they were involved in a boat ministry where George & the family were part of a music & evangelism ministry in hard to access places along rivers, and an outreach radio ministry. It was really encouraging to share and hear about all the adventures God brought them through since we'd last seen them. George shared about how God had protected him from bandits near Bolivia, how there'd been a miraculous healing on one Christmas morning as he prayed for a man who'd been shot and was near death. He was miraculously healed and saved! How he tried to visit friends in the river/boat ministry by riding a dirt bike there, and he got stuck in the mud with a huge snake coming at him, etc. We enjoyed singing Spanish worship songs together and praying together and celebrating George's 40th birthday !
It was a wonderful time to celebrate all that God has done!

Another highlight for Bill was seeing the mystery rocks. This is something from possibly before Noah's flood and there's all sorts of theories of why they're there. Bill has known about this since he was a kid and always wanted to see it.

We've seen all sorts of wildlife, including antelopes, a badger, buffalo, dinosaurs, a dog that eats vegetables? (haha), etc.

The Reception at Olivet Church

2007-07-22T18:51:00.001-07:00

The groomsmen sang a lovely song with lots of actions too!

Teresa's brothers being "hambones".

Teresa & Daryl's parents shared their thoughts, with some humour, too ...
Bill shares about how we'll miss the phone not ringing, the message board being empty, etc.

Daryl & Teresa's Wedding! Yeh No Rain!

2007-07-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Teresa's aunt & uncle came out from Nova Scotia.

Wake up: 5:30 a.m. (thanks dad) Arrive at Crescent Beach to help get ready: 8:30 a.m. Wedding starts 10:50 a.m. (scheduled for 10:00 so we were praying for no rain and the tide to not come in til after !)

Bill is either going back to his Scottish roots (tossing the caber) or preparing for a wedding on the beach!? Dig the suit with the shorts and flip flops!

Welcome back from Africa Ang!

The guests arrive with their chairs & umbrellas!

My Dad came down from Princeton and this was Vu's first time at a Canadian wedding!

It would be a nice pic of the 2 of us except for Keeley spoiling it (ha ha).

Here's Pastor Cam & Daryl having a laugh before the ceremony.
I think we were talking about Teresa's humorous past experiences with driving directions (the girls missed the turn off - oops!).

The moment finally arrived and Daryl & Teresa were married today. It was a wonderful day and God held off the rain which was fantastic!

They looked very gorgeous and happy and it was a very beautiful and touching ceremony.

It was an amazing setting and we really felt God's blessing and presence.
Pastor Cam talked about how the "hoopa" (the white lacey thing above the couple) signified the presence of the Holy Spirit as God unites the 2 into one flesh. It was a great picture of the covenant relationship, the vow made before God to each other.

Day at the Aquarium with Gramma V.

2007-06-12T22:55:00.001-07:00

This is a fun relationship I've had at my school with a punjabi gramma. She's so adorable. She tries to sneak into the school without me seeing her. She brings the staff vegetables (peppers or cucumbers). My school is closing as of June 30, so I will miss her!

Vu and Haeni came along on the field trip.

Spring Break

2007-03-24T11:17:00.002-07:00

This is Andy, Benz, Hanny (our Korean student) & I at a Korean restaurant in Vancouver on my birthday.

It was nice to have some time off work. Felt a little guilty because Bill was out of town working (but not too guilty - haha). Stayed a couple nights in Vancouver while Andy (his brother, Charlie, was an int'l student that lived with us before) visited from Victoria. On Monday, for my birthday, Benz met up with us (from UBC) for dinner, then an all-you-can-eat chocolate fondue after. Yum!

Then, we went snowboarding for a couple days at Mount Seymour. This is Hanny & I. It was fun! Can still snowboard in my 40's - Wow! Tried to talk Bill into trying snowboarding, but he says he'll stick to skiing. Right now, he's not doing much of anything but staying in bed due to a very sore back : (

Happy New Year 2007!

2007-01-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

We had a good Christmas and New Year's.

We started off with our annual Happy Birthday Jesus party and went carolling in the neighbor
hood. Jamie did a great job playing guitar for us and it was nice to have Bill, our new Vietnamese friend from church, join us this year. We had some of our "old" care group friends and other friends from our old neighborhood (Kevin & Rose) and church come along.

We had a very good response this year! Our best year yet! Yeh!
We handed out tracts & goodies to our neighbors and sang carols by candlelight, then had hot chocolate and sang happy birthday to Jesus after. It was a good time!

Our "Asian kids"

Hanny (our Korean student living with us) has moved out for month into a basement suite (with her mom and gramma from Korea while they're here visiting) so it's made it a little quieter around here than we had expected.
We had Benz (Thai student now at UBC) come visit for a few days before he went back to Thailand for Christmas. Salem (a Korean friend), Benz & I went snowboarding and had a lot of fun.
Charlie (Taiwanese student at U of Toronto) called us from Italy! He said even though he chose Europe over us for Christmas, he still loved us! And he had a neat answer to prayer. He couldn't get in to see the "Last Supper" painting because you had to reserve 2 weeks in advance, so he left and prayed and asked again if there was any way he could get in. They said to wait a few minutes and they'd see, and he got in to see it! Great answer to prayer!
I got to talk to Kelly, our Korean friend, over msn which was nice cause we hadn't connected since summer. Her dad has had some health concerns so we want to remember to pray for her family.

Christmas & New Year's

On Christmas Eve, we went to church in the morning (enjoyed seeing our pastors dress up as animals in the nativity scene - esp. Pastor Chris "heehaw" as a donkey!?) and had sushi with Hanny & her mom & gramma. Then we went out to Vancouver and brought Bill's dad to his friend's annual Christmas Eve party. He still made it! (we had him transported by wheelchair taxi & Dan & Bill's brother, Steve carried him up the stairs!) Bill & his sister had a DVD made (by our friend Jon) of their dad's life (pictures when he was young and of him & Bill's mom). That turned out really well and is a great keepsake of memories.
My dad showed up on Christmas morning (surprise!). I thought he wasn't coming down for Christmas so that was a nice surprise. We had "huevos rancheros" (mexican breakfast) on Christmas morning. Matt was also in town and Teresa (our "daughter from Whistler" that lives with us) & boyfriend, Daryl, were here to exchange Christmas presents. Then we went to Bill's sister's house for Christmas dinner with Bill's family. Bill's brother & girlfriend were there from the island and Bill's aunt & uncle too. I had fun playing pool with Dan & my Dad.

This picture of the 4 of us was taken on Christmas afternoon before we left for Bill's sister's place. On Boxing Day, I made a turkey and we had a few friends over (Lorne from church, Carla & baby from the island, etc.).
Bill and I went skiing/snowboarding with Dan & some friends (Dave & Erin) the next day and we had a lot of fun (and were very sore after). Then we had Glen, our friend from Mexico, come to visit for a few days (he left on New Year's Day). New Year's Eve was spent with our friends from Nanaimo at their parents house in Langley. We played a game where you had to ask questions and try to guess your identity. Our friend, Darwin's identity, was "killer bee" and he guessed "am I an animal?" (to which we said yes, part of the animal kingdom) and "do I wear clothes?". We had fun teasing him about if you're an animal, what animal wears clothes?! New Year's Day we were invited to our Korean friend's, Jon & Grace's for yummy Korean food & a visit. I feel like I've been very lazy and haven't done much but it's been nice to not have to do much too! Saw a couple good movies "The Nativity" and "Rocky Balboa" and read a couple good books "Blue like Jazz" & "Children of the Hills". All in all over the holidays, we had a good time spent, too, with family & friends and I'm thankful for that.

I love biographies

2006-12-05T20:46:00.001-08:00

I've been reading this book called "Pastor Hsi". It's about a Confucian scholar that was delivered from opium by giving his life to Christ. He was used of God to start opium refuges and many people came to Christ and were set free. It talks about how there was a great famine in China in the late 1800's. How people were stealing other people's children to cannibalize them (yikes). There were so many people that starved. Starving wolves would eat people, too, and there was a new Christian that had his 2 sons eaten alive by wolves (separate times within 6 months) but he just pressed into God all the more through it and saw it as an attack from the evil one. One of these new believers chose the name "demon overcomer". That's a good faith name! We are more than conquerors in Christ! It talks about how when the devil is openly worshipped both in his own name and under varying forms of idolatry, how there are manifestations of demon possession, revealing the true nature of the power behind the idols and revealing the difficulty of what the missionary has to deal with. Idolatry & demon-worship are closely connected. It says in the Bible, "What shall I say then?" "that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." 1 Cor. 10:19,20 (see also Ps 106: 36-38; Deut. 32:16:17). It gives many examples of the power of demons over the people and the power of God to set them free. It's again made me think of our experiences and those of missionaries in Asia and the need to pray for them.

Update by request!

2006-11-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well, it's good to know that someones reads this since they're complaining I don't update! I guess once you get into this, it's a real commitment! I kind of just intended it to be during our trip to China, but I'll try to humour you by adding something in now & then. I guess I need to ask for inspiration to keep it up!

Anyhow, not much to share except that we have a friend that's in jail right now so we're praying for her (it's a long story but she's really not the criminal type!).

And my dad is here visiting from Princeton (just got here today).

I have been thinking about the importance of faith and being thankful and trusting God when there's disappointment and struggles. And having perspective.

We had a great time out for lunch with a young asian friend from church. He's an inspiring guy, with how God has worked in his life.

It's hard being a parent! Even when it's a "spiritual" one, too. It's hard dealing with sorrow over other's choices, but it's a good reminder that it's God alone who can meet our needs. And it makes me think of how God's heart breaks for His lost children.

That's it for now!

Post Thanksgiving

2006-10-14T00:10:00.000-07:00

We had a good weekend. Lots of people. Even had 2 people on couches for the night ! The turkey was devoured. Not many leftovers this time! We had I think 13-14 people on Sat. for turkey dinner.

It was nice that Benz could visit from UBC. His friends (from high school) had a get together so that worked out really well for him too. He must really like it at UBC - he seemed to go through withdrawal when he was here and was busy checking his msn and emails to see what he was missing. I guess university dorm life is probably a lot of fun for a "sanguiney weenie". Must make it hard to buckle down and study though.

We had our friend Glen (from Campbell River) and Greg (a.k.a. the funny guy) visiting also. Greg lives in Salmon Arm now.

Friends from Victoria came over on Sat. night and we played this game called Apples and Apples...or something ? It was fun!

Here's some pics from the weekend before Thanksgiving while visiting friends in Nanaimo.

Life is unpredictable

2006-09-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

We saw the movie "World Trade Center" tonight. It was hard to watch but so thought provoking and well done. Really brought home the importance of faith and family in the face of tragedy and how it can bring out the best in people too (those that were willing to lay down their lives to save others). I kinda liked the part when the guy saw Jesus with a water bottle (the guy was semi-buried in rubble and really thirsty). Sounds weird, but I kinda liked it. And when the other guy thought it was the end and he started yelling out the Lord's Prayer. That's a great way to go. Reminds me of when I bungee jumped and some people would swear when they jumped, but I thought if this is it, I want to shout "hallejuah!" so that's what I did (more than once). But, yeh, it was a good movie. I recommend it. Not perfect (there's some profanity I could do without) and hard to watch at times (but then I shut my eyes - that helps) but definitely worth seeing. I had to laugh because I was just on msn with a friend from California. I told her that watching that movie made me proud to be American. A while later she said she just got the joke about being American - cause she forgot we're not American! Pretty funny. Just the 51st state I guess. Nice day, HUH (as opposed to "EH") ? How's my American accent? haha

Kind of makes me also think of what's happening in Thailand - how situations can change so quickly and turn upside down overnight. I'm so glad that God is in control! And I'm glad it's not violent. Always a good opportunity to pray!

This weekend's happenings

2006-09-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have nothing exciting to share now! How adventurous can life be in Canada? I guess I need to believe God for great things at home too! We had a good weekend. Friday, went to the MCC Festival. I had my yearly dose of "verenika" (perogies). Had to wait in a REALLY LONG line up - nobody would wait with me cause it was so long, but it was WORTH IT! I just can't go there and not have my yearly fix. There were tons of people there. It always feels like a big mennonite reunion or something. Like a yearly family event you can't miss.

Then, on Saturday was a golf tournament in my brother's (Jim) memory (they raise money & awareness about leukemia). For those that don't know, my brother went to be with Jesus at 28 years old. To go every year (it's the 9th year since my brother passed away) is always a bittersweet experience. I appreciate who was my brother's wife (Nicole) & best friend (Bruce) & her family that they keep my brother's memory alive and it's nice to see them every year. Nicole (who was my brother's wife) married Bruce (who was my brother's best friend) so it's interesting how things worked out. If she'd married anyone else (that didn't also love Jim), they may have not continued with the golf tournament ?? Anyhow, I had fun spending time with my dad (even though our golfing ability is nearly nil) and the weather was great. I'm really good at hitting golf balls and watching them richochet off trees.

Today, church was good. I love Pastor Chris' messages - they're always good and I love his humour. It always feels so good to come together & worship & focus on God. It really feels that that's where true "life" is. Then, we went to an Italian dinner to hear about what God is doing in Italy. I love tiramisu (Italian dessert)! I was surprised to hear that there's actually probably less Christians in Italy than in Thailand. I would have never guessed that.

I've been eating all weekend. So much for dieting when I got home .......... : (

Dan comes back from Florida tomorrow : )

Praise offerings

2006-09-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

Felt like I kind of wanted to sum up some of the highlights for me of our trip and thank God for all the great & memorable moments we had. We were so privileged to have this experience and to see God at work in it and to be able to make it back home safely. Yeh!

Bill has shared this story often since we came back home so I thought I'd write about it in our blog. We had something happen in Taiwan that was quite a shocking experience. It was with a demon/fallen angel that came into our room. It was definitely a good incentive to pray and intercede for the Buddhist family we were staying with! They had an idol to a female goddess/Buddha that they worshipped in the top floor of their home and they played chant music 24/7 (Bill said he felt like saying "change the station!). Bill woke up in the middle of the night and I was having a nightmare and speaking out in my sleep. In my nightmare, it sounds crazy, but there was an asian woman that was burning up my cooking utensils (cookie sheets, etc.) and I was getting really upset about it! and was saying in my nightmare "stop doing that! why are you doing that?". Bill sensed a demonic presence and could see a form of something near the door and he commanded it to flee and, at the name of Jesus Christ, "she" fled actually right through the door (I say she because she appeared to me to be an asian woman from in the house that was in our room, but our door was locked, and we could tell that it was not human but demonic). Bill read later about how this demon is actually an "anti-Christ" in that she's the Buddha they call on to save them when they're in trouble, and how it's an afront to God of how she takes worship away from Jesus Christ as a type of counterfeit "saviour". Bill felt that she was saying in my nightmare that any works of God done there would "be burnt up" and he felt led by God to pray that she not be allowed back into the home unless she pointed people in the house to the true saviour. Then, we left a tract in the room and prayed over it before we left the house. Bill shared this story in Korea with the leadership at a "poor peoples church" (it's an outreach on Saturdays that our Korean friend attends) and the scripture ...don't be glad that the demons flee, but that your name is written in the Book of Life (my paraphrase). What was neat about this is that the speaker said it concurred with the message he had given about spiritual warfare during the service but we had no idea - as it was in Korean (only God could know). Then, at the first service at Central Heights after we got home, our pastor shared this same verse in his message. So God has been really speaking to us about this passage lately which is cool!

I feel really thankful for some of the things God showed us on our trip and I want to give Him the glory for it and for bringing us back home safely!

In China, we had the opportunity to give away 2 Bibles to people we met. That was SO encouraging! It was neat how God lead us to people that were hungry and open. Both times, it was a battle and what the enemy meant for bad, God turned around for good. I want to remember to pray that God's Word will take root in their lives.

We had many other excellent moments God gave us to connect with people on the way and talk about spiritual things - like Nathaniel in Hong Kong who was a seeker, spending time with Charlie and Andy and their dad, Kenny, with good friends in Tianjin, meeting university students and talking about politics, immigration and God, being interviewed in Korea (for a documentary in the US) and being able to share about the God who helps you love your enemies and can cause Koreans to go to Japan to share Jesus with them (when according to their history, they should hate them), meeting so many different people everywhere we went - asian and european, etc., spending time in different churches and with asian believers. It was great!

I shared before in our blog about another really neat thing that happened at the "poor people's area" we visited in Korea. There was a man that Kelly (our Korean friend) and her friends had prayed for, for almost 2 years. He never wanted to talk to people or let anyone pray for him. Then Bill asked if he could pray for the man and he agreed. Bill prayed for him and we had our picture taken with him (it's in the "more fun in Korea" section of the blog). Kelly was really excited about this because it had never happened before. Recently, as an update to this, Kelly told me that finally, last Saturday, he came to church by himself. Kelly said it's a miracle as it's the first time that he's come to church. So that's pretty exciting!

Another praise report is how God has provided for us another international student. Her name is Hanny and she is Korean. I didn't know if we would get another student as I hadn't heard from the school district and there was a good chance we wouldn't get one. Then Pastor Park asked if his niece could come and look at the room (Benz' old room). We really see God's hand in how He has arranged so many details in us getting another student and it's really encouraging. She even wants to try snowboarding!

Back to work

2006-09-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Went back to work today. Hard to get back to reality. Feel the empty nest syndrome too in taking Benz to UBC and dropping him off with all his stuff. We sure miss that guy!

Back in Canada!

2006-09-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

The pic is sunrise from the plane. We survived China! It was a great experience. I really enjoyed the travelling, time with friends there and the new and different experiences. Now it's back to reality! Have to cook, clean and go back to work ... hope I can adjust without too much pain! Thanks to Teresa & Dan, the cat's still alive, most of the plants are and the house is still standing so that's a good thing! My dad has been such a blessing with the yard work too (and drop off and pick up at the airport). So we've been blessed to have things taken care of for us while we've been gone. Now if I can just get over this jet lag.......

back in Hong Kong

2006-08-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

We're back in Hong Kong now. We had only slept 3 hours the night before in Korea (went to sleep at 1:30 a.m. and woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight) so after arriving in Hong Kong, we had a 5 hour nap! Then we went out to eat. The food here is so good! We really need to diet when we get back home! We had sushi. I had never seen this kind of sushi restaurant before, but apparently they're popular in Japan. The different sushis, etc., keep moving around in front of you on this circular conveyer belt thing. It's really fun. You just pick off what you want as it passes around in front of you. We enjoyed the surf clam and salmon and deep fried prawn sushi. I had a tiramisu dessert after - that was really good too! After sushi, we hit the night market which is always a lot of fun. We've accumulated a lot of stuff! Thankfully we only have to pack it all 1 more time!
Today we had dim sum. I love shrimp dumplings - so yummy! We then went to the Hong Kong Museum of history (for 4 hours!). It was kind of interesting (for me) and Bill really loves his museums. I found it interesting on the parts about the folk culture in the Hong Kong area, the junk boats (where people lived solely on boats and they were a whole people group in and of themselves) and the more recent history of Hong Kong (with the British, Japanese occupation, typhoons, water shortages, etc.). There was this picture of this car pile up that was just crazy (I think it was from a typhoon or mudslide) - must have been 50 cars or something.
2 more sleeps til home! Yeh!

More fun in Korea

2006-08-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe our time in Korea is almost done. Tomorrow we're off to Hong Kong (God willing) for a few days before we head home!
I'm going to talk about this pictures in reverse order. This morning Kelly & I got up early and went to a prayer service at her church (this is a picture on the church wall - sorry still sideways). Every morning they have worship, the Word & prayer starting at about 6 a.m. It's a great way to start the day! On Sundays, they have about 5-6 services with 2,000 coming just to the young adult service. Makes our church at home seem really small!

Yesterday we had fun with Kelly & her parents. We went to a part of Korea that has the most green space. It was really pretty there. We went to a Korean movie set - where they film Korean history movies. Bill is throwing a fake log! Earlier in the day, we went to a village from 500-600 years ago and we went to a mask performance. This was pretty funny as I was picked to do a Korean dance. Bill actually said I danced good! (that's a first - dancing is not my strong point) I kept thinking of Greg Erickson cause they do these slow movements in the dance so I just tried to copy the guy with the mask. It was embarrassing but fun! There were also these guys dressed up as a cow and they kept "peeing"/spraying water on the crowd with this pretend bull's "you know what". They tried pretend selling it to Bill! He had a good laugh about that.

Bill & I dressed up like Koreans. Bill thought he looked like he had Mickey Mouse ears on - haha.

We had more great Korean food.

The day before (Saturday), we went to a Yodel performance. Yes, they do have Swiss yodelling in Korea of all things! This was most enjoyable. Kelly is an excellent yodeller and has been a part of this group in the past. I especially enjoyed the Yodel blues singer.

Earlier on Saturday we went to the "poor church". We had a great time there. This is in an illegal dwelling area where there are many people with mental problems, alcohol problems, etc. Kelly does prayer & worship ministry on Saturdays with some other young people from her church. Bill found the wiring somewhat interesting. The gentleman in the photo is a neat story. Usually he's not open to people from church talking to him and definitely not praying with him (usually he just walks away). Bill asked if he could pray for him and he agreed to prayer for the first time! That was pretty exciting - yeh God! There was a great service and prayer time, then Bill had the opportunity to share with the church volunteers after the service. It was neat to hear that it agreed with what the leader had shared in service even though Bill couldn't have known what it was about (but God did).

Mr. Lee

2006-08-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Guess what we had for breakfast today? Octopus pieces & Seaweed Soup! Not exactly your typical Canadian breakfast but we like it (sort of) !

Later this day, I went shopping with Kelly. I was feeling really out of it with how dressed up women are here in Korea so I felt I needed to buy some "asian" shoes and skirts, etc. Plus I was really tired of museums ! so Bill went to the museum with Mr. Lee. He's someone we met previously in Korea and has visited us in Canada.

Mr. Lee has a really interesting and difficult past. He was born in North Korea before the Korean war. He said he doesn't know how he survived it as he remembers being so hungry and eating dirt and animal dung (nasty) to survive. His family left in a truck with the Americans to South Korea. He's really thankful for the good life he has now.

One funny story about Mr. Lee's experience in Canada is that he saw the sign "Subway" and he naturally assumed, as a Korean, that meant there was a subway train like in Korea (there's a huge subway system here and we've ridden it for hours in the time we've been here). He asked where is the subway and a lady directed him to it. He went in and there was a restaurant but no subway! He went back and asked again where is the subway, as in train. The lady started laughing hysterically as he saw the sign for "Subway" the restaurant and he was in Kelowna (where there is definitely no subway train system only "Subway" the restaurant). I thought that was really cute.

Later that day, we went by subway to Mr. Lee's town which is right by the Yellow Sea where you can take a ferry over to China. We went to a monument dedicated to a Korean war hero. His name was Yi Sun Shen and he was a navy admiral that headed up the building of a kind of armoured ship (turtle boats). He was the leader of many victories over Japanese invasions in the late 1500's.

Worship, Dinosaur eggs & Parting of the Red Sea

2006-08-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day yesterday. Kelly & I sang some worship songs in the morning. Then her friend, Sara, took us to look at some dinosaur eggs. It was such an open space with so few people, it felt more like Canada than Korea! They drained the water out of this area and uncovered some dinosaur eggs. I teased Kelly because there was supposed to be some big snakes in the area and she was a little scared about that.

Green tea shakes are so good!

Later we went to Jebu Island. We had some dinner first (home made noodles & clams in a soup broth), then they have this neat phenomena happen where the water level drops and you can drive over to the island (when the water was high, you just saw the road sink into the water). So Kelly said it's like when Moses & the Israelites walked on dry land at the parting of the Red Sea! We walked by the water on this walkway for a while, then we went to have dinner #2. It was shrimp and sashimi. The shrimp were really fresh, actually alive & kicking when they stuck them in the pan, and we watched them slowly die (kind of different for us westerners but asians really like their food fresh!). The sashimi we ate dipped in soya sauce & wasabi with maybe a piece of garlic and in a sesame leaf instead of seaweed. We passed up on the live octopus. They were fun to watch though. We had a lot of laughs and a really fun time. It's good that Kelly hasn't spoken English for a while (although we're giving her headaches having to think hard) cause she says some of the cutest things still. She said she likes being in a car in Korea because she doesn't need a seatbelt in the back side (back seat). Cute!

In Korea

2006-08-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

It's nice to be back in Korea! Feels like a home away from home. It's so nice to see Kelly and her family again. The first night here we went walking (& bicycling) around a park at about 11 p.m. - 12 a.m. This is Kelly's parents on the bike. We commented on how there's not nearly as many people walking in a park at that time of the night in Canada! The difference here I think is how many people work very long hours. Kelly's parents usually get home at about 9 p.m. from work.

Today we had sweet potato pizza. I love this stuff! It's SO good! I want to try to duplicate it when we get home.

Bill is in my bad books today. He took my backpack onto the bus and left it there. Aaaargh! Thankfully there wasn't anything of much value in it but I was pretty frustrated about it regardless : (

We had a fun time walking around a flea market, then we went for pizza and, after that, we went to this really great little tea shop with little birds in cages just outside the door. I love plum tea. You can buy this hot or cold. I had it cold during the day, then had a hot one at the tea shop. I just love the taste of it.

Korea feels so comfortable. They seem to really care about the environment here. The streets & water are cleaner, they recycle, etc. I feel so safe here more so than when I'm in Canada - unfortunately! I don't notice "scary" people. You see crosses and steeples everywhere. The influence of Christ in the people here makes a huge difference and it's noticeable.

English Corner

2006-08-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

These are some of the young people we met at English Corner. This is a very interesting phenomena in China. It's an open invitation for Chinese who want to speak English with other Chinese or with foreign English speaking people to come to numerous meeting places in the cities of China to talk to one another in English. This is so that the Chinese people can hear the English language spoken and correct and practice their own oral language skills.

We had such an enjoyable time here with our friends. We went to church (an international fellowship) where we had to show our passport to attend - it's for foreigners only. Felt strange. It was really fun bicycling around. Our first experience bicycling in China! Definitely can be a rush at times! We went for this awesome food - a little hard to find but it was worth it! It was ribs and they were really tender and tasty. Then we went to this coffee shop that made us feel like we were in Canada and had a great time visiting with other people. It was a lot of fun to gab with our friends and meet their Chinese & foreign friends.

Tianjin

2006-08-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

We take no responsibility for the previous post (courtesy of Charlie) - at least not while we're still here !!!

We took the train from Beijing to Tianjin yesterday (about 1 1/2 hours). We are having fun visiting with our friends here. On Monday, we plan to fly to S. Korea.

2006-08-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

please give a round of applause to this brave Canadian, it sure is a suicidal act in China.

Great Wall

2006-08-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

We went to the Great Wall (at Mutianyu) today. It was great to see the Wall and walk it for real (instead of just hearing about it and seeing pictures). I enjoyed it and was excited to be there ! Was dripping hot from walking up and down a lot of stairs, but actually would've been hotter if it was sunny. I enjoyed the ride down, too, on a tobaggan/luge type thing.

Each day we meet so many interesting people. I met a guy from Ontario that was teaching English in Japan, a lady teaching English in another part of China who was originally from Colorado, a couple from Russia and Poland travelling here that we shared a taxi with to the Wall, a couple of Finnish guys we met on the Wall, a girl from Calgary here at our hostel, etc. Bill has such great conversations every day it seems like with multiple people about the history of China, evidences of a Creator that we see in China, etc. It's been awesome how many neat opportunities God has given and how many interesting people we've met. It's great to hear him having debates with seekers, throwing out things to encourage them to think, etc.

The vendors in China are so aggressive. Bill has this funny thing he does when they're harrassing him. He starts running and yelling and flayling his arms in the air like a crazy person. For some reason, they seem to leave him alone then (haha). As we're walking along where there are souvenir sellers, we always hear "hello, hello... cheaper price". Bill was telling some of them today, "don't touch me" as they tried to drag him into their store (I'm not kidding when I say aggressive). They also cornered me in one today and I had to jump over stuff to get out. We've been to Mexico, etc. where people try to sell you stuff, but by far the Chinese are the most aggressive at it! One funny thing happened today in regard to this. Bill was getting so fed up with people bugging him to sell him something, give him a ride somewhere, etc., he just kept telling them "bu yo" (don't need) and brushing them off that he didn't realize it was a worker at the bus stop actually trying to help him get his bus, that he'd brushed off (oops).

Bill commented today that he'll never get used to girls "horking" and spitting in public. One thing I also notice is how loud everyone is with talking and loudspeakers in front of stores and honking. Never a dull moment! I pray a lot when we cross the road too - there's so much traffic and bicycles.

For dinner today, it was the old point at what we want trick. We found most of it to be edible. Yesterday, Bill accidently ordered this dish that we just could not eat. It had a ton of hot peppers in it and looked like fried chicken skin or something. It made my tongue numb from 1 bite. For some reason 1/2 the Chinese people in the restaurant were laughing "with us" at our reaction to it. I love the street vendor foods. Today we had some different bun type things with meat & veggies in them. After dinner, I went to Dairy Queen. Not a big deal, except it's not every day I have a Green Tea blizzard at DQ in Beijing! It was really good.

Forgot to mention sooner that I can access our actual blog here, in Beijing, and comments people put on it, for the first time since Hong Kong. Yeh!

Tomorrow we're off to Tianjin (about 1 1/2 hours outside of Beijing). We plan to take the train for the first time in China!

me & Jackie Chan

2006-08-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

These ones are a wax look alike we saw at the museum today.

Doesn't this guy look like Jackie Chan?
He said he gets that a lot from people. This is a guy that was on our boat trip.

Temple of Heaven

2006-08-16T04:55:00.000-07:00

This photos are from the Temple of Heaven. It felt like we were in Jerusalem in the Old Testament. This is where the emperor would offer sacrifices to the God of heaven on behalf of himself & the people. It was really fascinating how much of it corresponded to what the Israelites would do. They mentioned that Henry Kissinger came here 12 times.

We had an awesome time at a bible study/care group on Tuesday night. Someone we met at church on Sunday invited us to come. It was SO wonderful to have fellowship with Chinese brothers and sisters! It had been a long time since we were at a bible study, etc., and have had so little opportunity for fellowship while in China. I loved the way they read scripture all together loudly and sang with so much enthusiasm (we're so timid often in Canada). They were so nice to interpret for us and sing songs that we knew in English (Amazing Grace, etc.). We had a great time reading the Bible together and sharing about what God has shown us in China and praying together. It was great!

Some Pictures from Charlie

2006-08-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

These are photos from the Yunnan Bus trip. This blog entry is courtesy of Charlie. It's a dangerous weapon to give someone your blog access!! I let him upload (from his home in Taiwan) pictures from our Yunnan trip together and he was a little naughty at his picture selections ! But that's to be expected from Charlie. Parents are to be mocked right ? even Canadian parents... oh well ..... Charlie loves it when I say that.... I really badly want to delete the nasty picture at the end, but I know he'll just put it back in so I'll have to just "grin & bear it". Thanks Charlie for the opportunity to be humbled, once again! Just remember.... cat food.... haha

That's right! That is his belly.

Bill just loves his umbrella

What a cute picture. They were both snoring.

Peking Duck

2006-08-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

This was a fun experience today. We had to try Peking duck while we were here. We were wandering around all these "hutongs" or alleys and eventually came across the restaurant we were looking for - it was in the middle of all these alleyways, tucked away in the middle of nowhere. We at first took a seat right beside some hanging ducks and thought maybe that wasn't the best spot for our appetite (to have a dead duck looking at you - poor quackers!). But the duck tasted so good! I really enjoyed it. We got to see them roasting over a fire. Then the cook cut the duck in front of us and they served it with some sauce, onions & cucumber and in a kind of light tortilla type thing. Really tasty - yum!

Forbidden City

2006-08-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the Forbidden City today. Too bad that the biggest building was really forbidden. They were renovating it and it was off limits. But it was still pretty impressive.

Church & Flea Market

2006-08-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

I guess these 2 things don't always go together but they did for us today. We went to church this morning for the first time in mainland China. We haven't gone to church since Hong Kong. In Xian, nobody seemed to know that a church existed. The church we went to today is the one that President Bush went to when he visited Beijing last fall. It was a really good service (and so nice to go to church, esp. in China!). They had english translation (with head phones). It was great to see it packed out and people were sitting outside too (and they have 5 services each Sunday), and there were many other first timers.

On the way to the flea market (we tried out the subway), we met 2 really nice girls (Steph & Julia) that rescued us. Seems we need rescuing on a daily basis. It's actually kind of funny how you end up meeting people because you're more needy. We just plain need help here to get around (can't read "chicken scratch" - no offense intended). It's interesting how, in a way, it's not such a bad thing cause we get to meet some really nice people. They were Chinese or Taiwanese background and had grown up in the states and were now working/doing school related stuff here in Beijing. We had fun looking around the flea market and picked up some more keepsakes.

The temperature was wonderfully cool today. Last week we were in 1 of the the "furnaces" of China (it was SO hot!) so it was wonderful to wake up today to it being rather cool. It rained last night and today during the day off & on.

Language is a wonderful thing

2006-08-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

We were stumbling around as usual tonight trying to figure out how to eat something by pointing, using sign language, etc. Bill wanted shish-ka-bobs but he didn't want the ones the guy was trying to sell him because they had too much fat on them.... so he picked these other ones that he thought looked like beef. I told him I thought they looked like chicken gizzards. He thought that's ok, I like chicken gizzards. Then, he bit into one and, in disbelief, he took another bite...it was liver. He absolutely hates liver! He shuddered at having the taste in his mouth til we came across a McDonald's (they & KFC have a good point and pick menu so we go there lately when we can't figure out somewhere else to go). The guy that cooked the skewers must have been shaking his head at Bill when he wanted 8 liver skewers and then after taking a couple bites, gave them all back.

We had another funny "lack of language skills" story in Yunnan. We were at this tea tasting place. They used this toy that "peed" on us to prove the tea was hot (you pour hot water/tea on this little guy and he pees). I thought that was pretty funny. We had to buy some tea to get one so if you come over for tea, we'll demonstrate for you our authentic tea experience in China. Anyway, Bill was first in line for the next demonstration in our "tea party". Charlie told him that the tea leader had said he was supposed to lick the cup. Bill sometimes does things first and then thinks after so he licked the cup right away, much to Charlie's amusement. We were all supposed to just SMELL the cup, not LICK it! The chinese people in the room must have been wondering why was this strange foreigner (lao wai) licking the cup that they were supposed to smell !?

Beijing

2006-08-12T03:45:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Beijing was kind of crazy. We'd been woken up at 4:30 a.m. on the boat (to let us know they'd wake us up at 5:00 a.m.??). After a long, but good day - we'd spent the day with a family from England (we met on the boat and we both had the day to kill before our evening flights) - we arrived at Yichang airport. The airport was brand new and surrounded by cows (I thought about that as we headed down the runway in the dark!). Our flight was delayed 1 hour, then we hit major traffic (construction, accident). Our driver got lost trying to get around it. Finally we arrived at our hotel/hostel (to the left is our room), the Red Lantern House after 2 a.m. This place has great atmosphere, really nice. This day was a do nothing day, but we're in Beijing!

3 Gorges boat trip

2006-08-12T02:36:00.000-07:00

We've had the dubious pleasure of going down what some are calling the largest toilet in the world! a.k.a. the 3 Gorges Yangzti River boat trip. We actually enjoyed it (although I can't say I'd want to repeat it!) in spite of the rat and giant cockroach in our room, the nasty smelling bathroom and showering in very questionable water, we met some great people on the boat. There were 3 Chinese girls that kind of adopted us as aunt & uncle on the boat. They were really kind to us and helped us along with things we didn't understand. There was another Canadian, an American and other Europeans that we got to know, as well as some other Chinese people, including Mao Mao who was a tour guide on the boat. Some other highlights were the lesser 3 Gorges boat trip (the water was green here, not brown, we saw some monkeys and nice views), a spectacular Chinese performance in Yishang, meeting Mao a taxi driver in Yishang that was really nice to us, going through a boat lock, seeing the largest dam in the world, hanging out with a family from England while in Yishang and going to the 3 caves together.

Xian's City Wall

2006-08-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Later today we rode a double bicycle around the city wall. We got in lots of exercise and sweat today (hiking & biking). This was lots of fun. At first we wondered if the rickety bike would hold us (we're probably about 100 lbs more than most Chinese that might ride it!) - but it survived! It was a really great experience. It was near dusk so it was nice and cool, and we could enjoy the sunset from up on the wall. The wall is from the 1300's and it's about 14 km. long. We did it in just over an hour - with stopping and talking to a Chinese family from Guangdong. There are so many Chinese people we meet that are really friendly and want to speak english with us and exchange emails, etc. Earlier today, too, some guys (they were just out of university and we met them on Li Shan) wanted a picture with us and chatted with us for a bit. That part is really nice. The majority of the Chinese people we meet are very friendly and helpful and want to communicate with us. I had one not-so-nice experience today though. I was walking behind Bill just after dark and thought I felt the zipper of my backpack being opened. I turned around to see a guy (Chinese, mid 30s?) facing me and he quickly turned around and walked the other way. I was a little shook up, even though nothing happened (thankfully!). I was really thanking God that I didn't leave our camera on top in the backpack (I had it there earlier and moved to my pants pocket).

Li Shan

2006-08-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today we hiked up a mountain (Li Shan) to see if we could find out anything about a Taoist temple at the top. This temple is dedicated to "Nuwa" the "mother" of mankind, who patched up the cracks in the sky after a catastrophe. "Nuwa" sounds surprising similar to Noah (seems they got the gender mixed up). We had a good hike, but didn't find out much more than we already knew. It was SO hot today! Bill is up a cave where Chiang Hai Chek hid (the leader of Taiwan who fled from the communists) - having trouble flipping around the pictures - sorry!

Shaanxi Museum

2006-08-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

Bill loves museums.

Terracotta Warriors

2006-08-05T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yeh - pictures!

Yesterday, we went on a 1 day tour in Xian. This is the tomb site of the emperor mentioned below. The tomb isn't open.

There's apparently high levels of mercury there.

This is at the Terracotta Warriors display. This is the mausoleum (tomb) of the first emperor that united China (Chin Shi Huang Di). He was China's first taste of a tyrant and although it's where they get the name "China" from, he was not what you'd call a really nice guy. He was kind of like Herod in the Bible. He killed off anyone he felt was a threat (his siblings, etc.). He wouldn't have an empress cause he didn't want her vying for power. He was really afraid of death and tormented by demons. He enslaved the people (with huge taxes and building this tomb for him for I think 39 years). Then when they designed the tomb, they were executed and put in it so the secret went with them. Not too nice! But it's pretty cool to see it from this end of things.

in Xian now

2006-08-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry haven't been able to put on more pictures and I've left all our pictures so far with Charlie (he's going to burn a DVD for us of all of our pictures). It's a lot more difficult to put on pictures than I'd hoped. Really time consuming and doesn't always work and my internet access has been limited. But if I can I will try to put some on in Xian.
Some interesting things in China:
* can't access blogs! I tried here in Xian and it's still blocked. I can post but can't see the actual blog or comments.
* bathrooms with no doors! (squatty potties are just a given)
* even women "hork" and spit!
* bikes & mopeds don't stop at red lights and mostly everyone doesn't follow rules when it comes to traffic. Bill got really indignant cause it was green for pedestrians to cross, but the taxis didn't stop and almost ran into him. They'll go the wrong direction, bikes will go the wrong way in the fast lane and cut right in front of cars, etc. I really don't know how people drive here!
* lack of sense of personal space. People will just bump into you (sometimes pretty hard too) and keep going. With Canadians, we apologize to a "pole" if we bump into it (and when it's not our fault we still apologize) so that's really different
* no waiting in lines. People just "budge" in all the time.
* lots of people smoke indoors (yuk!)
* often people talk really loud (it's sounds like they're angry but usually they're not)
* everyone eats from that same dishes. We all just plunk in our chopsticks together. I'm kind of used to this one already but it's still kind of weird when you don't really know the people.
* the pollution is pretty intense - smog like I haven't seen before
* when you shower, your smell is still not so good (due to the poor water quality) - and they have "black" rivers
But even with all these things, we've really liked it here! and we've met a lot of wonderful people too. People that have been really helpful and hospitable. Just yesterday we were at this shish-ka-bob place and this guy gave us some of his shish-ka-bobs to try, just to be nice (I don't think he dropped them on the floor first - haha). So we've been treated really well too and have been enjoying ourselves.

Yunnan update

2006-07-30T03:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were in Dali and rode a ferry. Today we went to an old part of the town in Lijiang (in northern Yunnan and relatively close to Tibet). We saw some people dressed kind of Tibetan I guess. I got dressed up in the clothes for a picture. We met some people from Israel today at the this mountain we went to. They just came here from Tibet. They said the altitude is crazy high in Tibet and you almost can't make it without medication for altitude sickness. There's still a chance we might try to make it there (to Tibet). We'll look into it when we get to Xian (that's where we're going in a couple days). Xian is the area that's Bill's really interested in (lots of history).

Yunnan

2006-07-27T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'm in Yunnan right now (a province nearer to Tibet) at an internet cafe. I've never been on the internet with spiders & webs hovering over the computers! (not to mention mosquitos)

We went to Macau yesterday. We had the worst food/service yet of the trip. But it makes Macau memorable! Lots of remnants of when the Portugese were there so looks like Europe.

Today we got a flight early in the morning and joined up with a tour in Yunnan. We're having fun with the kids and teens/young adults on the bus (they're the only ones that know some English!). We went to a big cave, waterfalls, etc. It's really fun to see horse & buggies here. And the bus has to swerve to miss waterbuffalos on the road. That's pretty fun.

I still can't actually get to see my blog to get comments. Must be a block in China. But I can still post. Weird.

Can't put any pictures on. Will have to wait til I'm in "civilization" for that.

It's nice to be in a country kind of setting. There's a lot of different ethnic tribes in this area. We can really see the Burma/Thai influence as those countries are really close (maybe 1 hour flight or less). Our tour guide is from near the Burmese border and she could probably pass for Thai. A lot of people here look quite different from the Chinese in Guangdong (where we came from).

Cute picture

2006-07-24T02:04:00.000-07:00

Totally at peace in the midst of chaos (traffic in China) !

I love some of these different signs and "Chinglish" that you see.

Going to Shen Zhen today

2006-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

eating long yuan at Irv's family's farm eating roast goose (and goose feet) and sea cucumber - this is apparently somewhere that the president of Thailand ate - we have been getting treated like royalty - it's really humbling

Yesterday we went to see a museum about China's Opium War with Britian. We're planning to go visit Irv's parents (a Chinese student that lived with us prior to Benz) today. Irv is actually in Ontario studying and won't be back in China til December. We're planning to take a trip to Yunnan in a few days. This is a province that's near Tibet and is supposed to be a really nice part of China to visit (you can see Tibetan peaks and there's more of the ethnic minorities, etc.).
Then we plan to go to Xian (this place has a lot of history), visit Grace (another Chinese student), go to Beijing, then go visit the Balzers, then take a ferry to S. Korea and visit Kelly, then maybe go to Thailand (if possible) before leaving Hong Kong on Sept. 1. The time is going by fast!
The traffic and amount of people walking, riding bikes/scooters (often in the wrong direction and middle of the road) is incredible. We're in awe of how they stay alive! It's also interesting how they have a rest in the median of the road and on the sides of the road.
It feels a little like we're royalty or associated with royalty which is kind of a weird feeling. We can't go anywhere without a driver and can't take any backpack or wear any jewellery, etc. I keep getting warned of how I could be robbed, killed, kidnapped. Nice! But God is control. We feel really spoiled (& kind of useless) but I guess I should enjoy this while I can?! We have people bring us drinks, make us food, etc. I feel a little like a child of the king that has privileges I really don't deserve (could be a spiritual analogy here!).
I can't access our blog which is a bummer so if you're leaving comments, I wouldn't know (I think it either has to do with a firewall? in China or the factory). I had lost my USB connection (but it's found now) and haven't had much internet access so haven't been able to put on any more pictures, but I'm hoping to soon!

Mainland China

2006-07-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

at the factory
one of Kenny's friends has a dinosaur collection

We are now in mainland China (Guandong area). We took the ferry from Hong Kong to Shenzhen yesterday. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to put on more pics. I tried before we left Hong Kong, but have had problems with internet access. In Hong Kong before we left, Andy & I went to Ocean Park. It has the largest aquarium in the world. It was fun! We went on a roller coaster ride (first in the very front and then in the very back), the "Abyss" (a ride where you go up, then drop like a bungee jump idea). We saw Giant Pandas, etc. We've been touring around Kenny's factory and meeting some of his business friends. I'm now borrowing a computer at his factory to put in this blog.

Hello Hong Kong

2006-07-15T05:40:00.000-07:00

view from the peak view from the apartment
view looking down from the bathroom

We're staying in an amazing apartment in Hong Kong. We're on the 58th floor and the bed is right beside the window (hope I don't freak out when I wake up in the morning! Bill has "vertigo", meaning he's vertically challenged, so he said I can sleep by the window which is great with me!). The view is incredible, with all the high rises everywhere and the boats on the water. We can see where you take the ferry to mainland China, the under water tunnel to Hong Kong Island and the tallest building in Hong Kong. I've never seen anything like it. Bill also has it made now with a big screen TV and 2 massage chairs! We might have to stay here a little longer than planned! We feel really privileged to be able to stay here. It's through a friend of Charlie's dad. Will try to get in some pictures later. We met this really nice Chinese couple, too, that have been really helpful in giving us tips for finding a church tomorrow, etc. Charlie says it's time to go now...

Longest tunnel ever!

2006-07-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Kenny's home town that's more towards the east coast and got to meet more of Charlie's extended family.

A new tunnel just opened last month that's 12.9 kilometers long! It seemed to go on ... and on .... Charlie thinks it's the 3rd largest tunnel in the world. This picture is just before going into it.

For lunch today, we had duck soup (without the heads thankfully).

Tomorrow we say "bye" to Taiwan and "hello" to Hong Kong (God willing and no more typhoons)!

The typhoon didn't hit very hard where we were. It apparently hit southern Taiwan more this time.

I climbed the highest mountain in Taiwan!

2006-07-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

This was the endurance test of a lifetime! But we made it to the top of the highest mountain in Taiwan ! It's called Mt. Jade (in English) and reaches to 3952 m. or about 13,000 feet. The sunrise was AMAZING! It was incredibly awe-inspiring to see the sun come out with the mist rising off the mountain. I just kept thinking "Hallejuah! It's a miracle!". We left at about 2 - 2:30 a.m., hiked up the mountain in the dark (the full moon made it pretty light out though), then Charlie and I were the first ones to make it to the peak just as the sun was starting to come out (at about 5 a.m.). I didn't think I'd be able to do it as I had altitude sickness (bad headache, feel like you're going to pass out, nauseous), but this really nice Taiwanese lady gave me some medicine so I felt better by the next day. Unfortunately, Bill and Kenny (Charlie's dad) felt too sick (bad, throbbing headache) to attempt it to the top (they stayed at the lodge, at about 500-600 m. or 2.5 k. lower).

Charlie took this amazing photo of the sun behind the mist. He's also very modest about his photography skills (not! haha).

Charlie & I on the peak.

Museum & Night Market

2006-07-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Bill can spend hours and hours and hours in a museum!

We saw some nice old Chinese artwork/pottery, etc. I think Bill wants to take this chair home with us. It gives a really good massage! He's fallen asleep in it a few times already.
I know Charlie is sideways but I'm working on a computer that's all in Chinese so.....

Charlie took me to the night market on the back of his scooter. That was fun!

I've never seen cooked duck heads before. No I didn't try them.

It's actually not too hot here right now (I mean it's still hot for us but it could be worse). The typhoon is nearby (it's apparently headed for Japan) and has brought some wind and clouds and a bit of rain. Bill's disappointed the typhoon isn't coming here. He's always wanted to experience one. We're supposed to climbing up the tallest mountain peak in Taiwan tomorrow. I hope Bill and I survive! Help!

Visiting Charlie's family's farm

2006-07-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at Charlie's family's farm. We saw lots of fruit & bugs and met some country people. We saw a little car that Charlie used to ride around and a pool him and Andy would play in when they were little.

Rhinoceros Beetle
Cute kid.
These are some neighbors out in the country. This is a neat fruit that we last saw in Jamaica (kind of like an cone shaped appleish thing)

We're in Taiwan!

2006-07-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Picture in the living room and first "congee" breakfast in Taiwan at Charlie, Andy, and their mom & dad's (Grace & Kenny) home.

Benz leaves on the 11th!

2006-07-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that Benz would see us off first as we leave for Taiwan tomorrow!

Benz & Prim (on Mother's Day at Larrabee State Park)

Benz & Prim went to the same high school in Thailand.
Prim graduated from Lynden Christian School and will now study at a university in Thailand.
She's a very special girl and I will miss her. God has taken her on an amazing journey.

Benz & his parents at his grad ceremony

It's been such a joy to have Benz live with us for the past 2 1/2 years.

He's such a fun and likeable guy and we will miss him so much!

Please pray for God's blessing on our dear Thai friends. Thanks!

Countdown to China

2006-06-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, God willing, we'll be heading to Seattle on July 5 in the evening and flying to Taiwan early July 6, then to Hong Kong on July 15 and travelling around China until Sept. 1 (maybe squeezing in Korea & Thailand too). Took our first vaccination against travellers diarreah today. I got my new passport and applied for my visa for China too. We got Bill's done a long time ago - it's a long story : ( . Will try to update this blog once we're in Taiwan!

blogging beginnings

2006-06-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog!