The Last Days in China

Our China adventure finally wound its way down to an end. The Scholastics left on Thursday in order to be stateside for St. Ignatius' feast day on July 31st. John also left for Arizona that day. Thus, I was left to my own devices for three days!  The boys and I had a foot massage on Thursday. A Chinese foot massage consists of shoulders, neck, head, feet, and legs - all but the torso. I have included photos of this!

I spent these days wandering through Xiamen - taking in the city and its people. As much as I wanted to return home, I felt somewhat melancholy leaving this beautiful city. I had lunch at my favorite "Green and Yellow" restaurant. The young people at the restaurant, who were my servers, were absolutely darling. We became old friends!



The Ignatian teachers meet for fun and discussion




All enjoyed time together!




Our "good bye" dinner!




The walk on Hubein Xi Lu - adjacent to a lovely lake




Foot massage, anyone?




I am smiling - but not sure why.... foot massage? "Open to growth, open to growth"




The young people who worked the coffee shop around the corner from our apartment




The Ignatian group teaching in China ( minus John)

 Christina returned from Cambodia so we met for dinner. She visited the sites of Pol Pot's horrific holocaust of the Cambodian people. In addition, she was able to connect with some of the young women whom she has taught at Regis. These young women were sold into slavery as children by their families. Since they were engaged in illicit activity - their families would not take them back. There is a program at Regis ( sponsored by a donor) that brings these young women stateside and trains them to operate businesses in Cambodia when they return.

As I reflect on my time in China - there is almost a dream like quality to my memories. It truly stretched my life and in doing so, enhanced it immeasurably. Would I return? Absolutely. Sharing this journey with teachers from Jesuit schools was incredible. In addition, the presence of the Scholastics - Alex and Curtis - made my adventure challenging and comfortable. As I told these two young men, "The Jesuits are blessed to have you in the 'company' ".  If nothing else, as I'm sure you have discovered on your journeys, human beings share a quality that knows no political, idealogical, or geographical borders: we are human and humane.
Gan bei! Zai jian!

Xiamen: The Final Weeks

We spent our final weeks exploring Xiamen after we completed teaching each day. Actually, we felt like natives! We shopped for groceries at Rainbow - grocery stores are built on levels - so the food was on floors 3 and 4! In addition, we could puchase shoes, clothing, housewares on other levels. We brought our clothes to a dry cleaner two blocks from the apartment. There were excellent restaurants within a four block area of the apartment. Of course we could walk through the old city on Zhenhai Lu which is a pedestrian street where cars are not allowed. The streets in this area are sinuous filled with DVD shops, noodle restaurants, and stores. I even spotted a Sephora store - who knew? However, most of the small shops are locally owned and are most interesting.

The sidewalk in front of our building



The guys at our favorite restaurant




Old and New China!





A display in the "Old Quarter"




The pedestrian street in the Old Quarter




Refreshments at the Marco Polo hotel




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The staff at the souvenier shop!



Need I say more? Curtis, me Christine (Regis Jesuit H.S.), Alex 

 We did manage to visit a five story Starbucks across from the ferry to Gulang Yu. I don't see the Chinese giving up tea for coffee but the shop was always crowded with Chinese people and their computers!

Wuyi Shan

The following weekend ( July 15th - 17th), we visited Wuyi Shan. We flew there on Xiamen Airlines. It was about an hour flight from Xiamen - about 230 miles.

The mountains of Wuyi Shan are gorgeous and the area is wonderful for exploring, hiking and - yes - climbing! In that it was "high" tourist season, it was quite crowded with Chinese vacationers. I think we were the only westerners present - which meant we had our photos taken!!

We spent our first morning there exploring a cave with bats - it was ok - but a bit claustrophobic for my taste. Bats are considered quite special by the Chinese. We then hiked to the Water Curtain Cave - which was fairly steep but the path did have stone type steps that were uneven - but made the climb a bit less imposing. It is on this path that we saw thousands of tea trees - actually they are bushes!  The main tea that is grown here is Oolong - and the tea trees are called the "red tea trees" because the earth is more red than black. It is gorgeous scenery - quite amazing.

Of course, the town of Wuyi Shan is filled with tea shops. We visited one on Saturday evening and tasted eight diffferent types of tea. The tea is prepared with a ritual and served in tiny cups. It is considered ok to slurp the tea!



Tea trees



Tea trees amid the Wuyi Shan mountains



Farmers working on their tea trees





The "path" we took as we climbed the hills





The bamboo rafts: loading dock





That would be me - note how relaxed my hands are!




Oh - so those are called rapids for a reason!




Pretty amazing!

 The following morning we prepared ourselves to hop on a bamboo raft ( yep made of bamboo!) to go down the Nine Bend River. The scenery is beyond belief - as you will see from these photos. We sat on bamboo chairs - that one of the people who shared the boat - let us know that they were perched on the boat - "not attached" -- REALLY???? I managed to stifle my scream and went with the program.

Quanzhou

The following weekend we took a day trip to Quanzhou. This city is about one and a half hours north of Xiamen in Fujian Province. The city is located on the mainland - therefore we drove through a long tunnel and on superhighways to reach Quanzhou.

The "old" city is indeed quite old. While there we visited a "working" Buddhist monastery, a Tao temple, the remains of the oldest Muslim temple in China, and a puppet museum!

The Buddhist monastery was amazing - with two huge pagoda type towers flanking its north and south sides. I did acquire prayer sticks and prayed for all of my friends and family. The intense smell of the prayer sticks was gorgeous and filled the air with a sense of spirituality.

From there, we walked to the remains of the Muslim temple. I was a bit surprised by the presence of Islam throughout China. People come to this temple and pray in the newer structure that is being constructed next to it.

We then walked to the Taoist temple - which was lively with many people offering prayers and gifts of food. One ritual I observed is the dropping of two wooden curved pieces. The way the pieces fall and their shape on the ground indicates if the prayer request is going to be positive, negative, or "not yet".



The south tower




After obtaining a prayer stick, they are placed in this... reminded me of lighting candles in Church.



These are the prayer sticks



You can see one of the monks to the left




This tree is ancient and holds special meaning for those in the monastary




This is a prayer tablet




These trees are all over Fujian province - the hangings actually grow to the gound and take root



We ate lunch at a restaurant called "Blue Nun" of all things! We then walked the streets - had our photos taken ( of course) and then visited the Puppet Museum. The Chinese apparently love puppet shows. These marionettes are absolutely gorgeous with intricate costumes and detailed faces and hands. Some of them have up to 30 strings and can be manipulated in incredible ways.

Xiamen Culture!

One of our hosts, William, brought us to the Xiamen Museum... a gorgeous building which gives the history of Xiamen. The City was called "Amoy" by the British though it was first "discovered" by the Dutch who came there to trade since Xiamen is on the sea. The tea trade was quite lucrative.  Of course, the Europeans looked down on the native Chinese. Eventually, the Chinese were able to get rid of their occupation - with "civil" war.



One of the early Chinese leaders in Xiamen





Alex: outside of the museum in the sculpture garden




Various deities from Chinese mythology

 Here are some photos from the museum.

Xiamen: Living the Life!

We continued to teach - Father Greg, S.J. joined us as our "go to guy" for spirituality. Truly, he is a delight. We all attended Mass on our first Sunday in Xiamen on a tiny island called Gulang Yu - which is a short distance from Xiamen. We took a ferry boat - which was really crowded! The Catholic Church in China is somewhat complicated. There is sanctioning from the government but the connection with the papacy is questionable.

Gulong Yu was a British colony - therefore much of the architecture is "western".



Catholic church on Gulang Yu




Me in front of the Church




Fr. Greg, S.J.




Dinner at Buena - a Chinese Italian restaurant on "Coffee Street"




The three of us: me, Alex, and Curtis

 After our time there, we walked to "Coffee Street" to and Italian restaurant ( yep that is correct). The food was pretty good - certainly not Taylor Street quality - but decent! Having eaten so much Chinese food, we wanted another type of food. I ordered a "chicken leg pizza"!