MERRY CHRISTMAS

Here is your gift.

The funniest thing I've seen in a long long time.

wef

FUNNY AS

important stuff

islam and europe and immigration 

from Prof. Jacoby who is a good friend.

creative

cornel west

This is a good wakeup call. 

Off to school today.  Seems like loads of work. 

Too much sometimes but its good to let yourself stretch.

The Big Reach is going well.

Go to www.thebigreach.org.  Its getting huger.  And the fun is just starting right now.

Keep going to the website and check your inbox. 

That is a Rothko painting up top. Check him out if you dont know him.

new leafs

I'm going to get going on this blog now. And write about what's going on in me life. 

I'm studying political science.

I'm working with China still.

I'm starting to get cold here in Utah.

I'm reading a great compilation of Ernest Hemingway short stories right now.

I'm starting to like Guitar Hero.

Listening to alot of Fleet Foxes, a great band if you haven't heard about it.

I'm growing a mustache. 

I'm eating either burritos or pasta everyday for dinner.

I'm studying the Communist Manifesto right now in class, and find it very right but wrong.

I got a Macbook and am amazingly poor now.

I'm going to bed now.

wow

what a historic morning. 

now we get to see what obama is made of and if he can pull a come from behind victory.  He's been given a mess and now we all have to find out how to clean it up.

But at least he plays ball with UNC. that's impressive.

i like this

obama as a Muslim

Sometimes the obvious needs to be said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/campbell.brown.obama/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

hilarious

http://www.photobooth.net/mt/archives/2005/09/05/ArrestedPhotostrip5.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2713430/Gordon-Brown-triggers-row-with-John-McCain-by-backing-Barack-Obama.html

awesome. creating fusion across the ocean. 

my case for obama.

from paulo coelho's book, "by the river Peidra i sat down and wept"

Man runs into an old friend who had somehow never been able to make it in life. "I should give him some money," he thinks. But instead he learns that his old friend has grown rich and is actually seeking him out to repay the debts run up over the years.

They go to a bar they used to frequent together, and the friend buys drinks for everyone there. When they ask him how he became so successful, he answers that until only a few days ago, he had been living the role of the "Other".

"What is the Other?" they ask.

"The Other is the one who taught me what I should be like, but not what I am. The Other believes that it is our obligation to spend our entire life thinking about how to get our hands on as much money as possible so that we will not die of hunger when we are old. So we think so much about money and our plans for acquiring it that we discover we are alive only when our days on earth are practically done. And then it's too late."

"And you? Who are you?"

"I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart: a person who is enchanted by the mystery of life. Who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It's just that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action."

"But there is suffering in life," one of the listeners said.

"And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you're fighting for."

"That's it?" another listener asked.
"Yes that's it. When I learned this, I resolved to become the person I had always wanted to be. The Other stood there in the corner of my room, watching me, but I will never let the Other into myself again-- even though it has already tried to frighten me, warning me that it's risky not to think about the future.

"From the moment that I ousted the Other from my life, the Divine Energy began to perform its miracles."

in taiwan

this is part of a modern art exhibit in taichung at the museum next to mr. zhangs house. its a bunch of water jugs with orange lights inside. looks amazing at night.

the weather here is nice now. as opposed to the hot and humid summer, the few days i've been in taiwan have been rainy, which is nice and cool. but the sun is peaking out through the curtains here, so i'm guessing it may warm up today. amoung the first things i did here was to eat some of my favorite taiwanese foods. had a mango shave ice, fried chicken with msg seasoning, beef noodles, seaweed rolls, melon tea with milk and papaya milk. Not all at the same time, of course, but over a day. i'm hoping to get to my old stomping ground, the hot dog place today. its good and i'm friends with the owner. i bought my friend bekah some blueberry gum, rachel a pen case, and myself some prayer flags. found a store yesterday during and after dinner stroll that sells all tibetan stuff. i'm going to go back today to check it out. work has been going ok. i've been assigned the project of helping to sell some exotic cars from brunei. pretty stoked on that. we'll see if it works out as well as i hope it does. if anyone wants a bently, let me know. flight home tonight leaves around 8. should be back in the us around 4 in the afternoon. I get 4 hours of my life back. that's always a good feeling. hope to see you at home soon.

taiwaning

I'm in Taiwan now. Got here last night and it was a blast. Luckily, i flew on the flight that my friends wife was stewardessing on. SOOO i got to sit in first class on the top level of a 747. That's always been my dream. And it was so cool because i actually slept on an airplane. That's something that hasn't happend to me in about 23 years and it made me happy. I don't know if i'd ever pay for that seat myself, but for what it cost me, it was worth it. I also was given a VIP gift basket from the airline. That includes 2 bottles of wine. If you'd like one, let meknow. Maybe i can use them to cook.

I also read about half way through my newest Paulo Coelho book, the Pilramage. Like all his other books, its just blowing my mind away. I can't say enough about him or his ability to say profound things that leave me amazed witht the virtual simplicity of everything.

read his books if you haven't.

Taiwan is hot and sticky. Wearing business attire doesn't help that much. I'm heading to HK right now. There we've got some really good meetings set up. All these chinese guys want there money invested elsewhere. Hope i can help them.

I feel like i'm on the cusp of the rest of my life. Fearing that would be a terribly dibilitating thing to do. So I just think about what I want to happen and work to make that happen. My optimism has turned out well so far. I hope that streak continues!!

softball.

So listening to Bob Marley as I woke up this morning I couldn't believe the apostlic nature of some of his lyrics. Here you go.

You running and running and youre running away, but you can't run away from yourself. You must have done something wrong. Why can't you find the place you belong.

Pretty much describes what i have felt like for the last 1.5 years of my life. Got scared of growing up and a huge word that starts with M, so i went to Maui last summer. Then i did the same thing from pressures of school to China for a few months. I think i have nothing to run away from anymore. I've feel like i know what's important and not important now. And I've learned to distinguish the two, and seen people running away from both things.

In China I met a guy that was about 28 from Wales. He passed while we were hiking on the mountain. He was a photographer and had been traveling for 5 years by himself taking pictures all over the world. He was running away from what life had told him he needed. He said that he had few social contacts and mostly met people around in his travels. He had his life on his back and he was running away from his fear of becoming something that he thought everyone else was, normal. His run had left him with stories and a full passport, but running on emotional fumes at 28.

Doing that, isn't in my game plan. So now, back to school to study what interests me. Headed to Asia soon to work on work. Life is a balance, and each persons scale is different, but when we find that medium, we're where we need to be.

great and scary question.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-t-5PLQgcSA

malaria anyone?

still working with lots of smart and amazing people to piece together this malaria thing. look forward to it.

child labor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV1hQSt2hSE

watch this. i've seen this stuff with my own eyes. in the town i lived in there were children who were trafficked in to work at restaruants. They works 27 days a month, 12 hours a day for about $40 a month. Their parents couldn't take care of them and they were forced to work a couple thousand miles from home. Some hadn't seen their families in over 5 years.

I became friends with them because it was a good restaraunt. We'd go out and play computer games at night, they loved beating me at CS. There were about 25 of them at the place, all under the age of 18 as far as i knew.

I knew the scene was repeated elsewhere. I saw it in furniture factories with kids working in there who couldn't be more than 13 or 14.

Just be aware of what this stuff is. I don't know what we can do to stop it. The world has loads of problems right now and i don't think this is going to be at the forefront for a long time.

kudos to radiohead for doing such a cool video.

back now

i'm back from china. have been for a week or so now. its been an interesting time being back. loads of time to reflect on the things i've seen and the experiences that i've had. the last month i spent traveling about with two close friends. we really enjoyed each others company and it was fun to have people to experience those things with. i think that i'll keep the name of this blog, even though i'm not in china.

i'm not really sure what i'm doing next. there is opportunity for me to have a pretty cool experience doing some international business. at first i was worried about the next few years of life, but i got over that in a few days. life will work out, has for 23 years for me, don't know why it would stop tomorrow.

today's inspiration

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourselfany direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And you are the guywho'll decide where to go.

-Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

lately

been super busy.
this weekend went to zhongshan to visit the girls there. They are always super fun to hang out with. After that, jeff and i took off to HK early in the morning. 4 hours of buses and subs later, we arrived at the HK temple and rushed into the meeting. We after went to a mall and walked around looking for mexican food. That was false. No mexican food was nowhere to be found. We hit the regular fallback in unfamiliar and expensive territories, Mcdonalds. A spicy chicken sandwhich later, we walked around and looked at cool stores. We went to a crowded street market full of fake rolexs and gucci glases. Most people i've ever seen. Super uncomfortable. Lots of nasty travelers there. Funny to see cultures mix and the way that the chinese interact with foreigners. They know exactly what to say. Then we came back and got a hotel by church in GZ. I lost my wallet in a taxi along the way. Little bummed about that but its pretty much spilt milk. Only had 150rmb in it, like 20usd. canceling all my cards soon. so it will be ok. life is too good to worry about little things like that. but it did point out something that i've always been terrible at, losing things. i've got enough money to hold me over for a few months here, so no worries about that.

Project sprouts is getting bigger and bigger. I guess if you wanted to say, you could say that it has sprouted. Some high rollers at church are going to lay out alot of money. woop. Everyone wants to help these kiddies but doesn't know how. Sprouts is going to be good way to funnel that desire. I don't know how many, and i really don't care about numbers, desks will be collected, but that we do something when we can and should do something is more important to me. It's not going to start here, so why start counting at all. We know where we need to be eventually, and whether that is now or later is the only question.

Its been funny to see my blind and sometime naive optimism pitted against the pecimism of many of sprouts' supporters. They try to get me to see all the negative and i try to tell them to forget it and be excited. So far i think its a tied game.

viva

happy easter. not much happen except an awesome time with awesome new friends. I spent 250rmb this weekend. thats about 30 bucks. pretty disappointed in myself. i live too gluttonously on the weekends. but thats the only time that i can, so why not. This weeks food intake is as follows (as best as I can remember).

2 ikea hotdogs.
2 large pizza hut pep pizzas
2 mango milks
1 coke
1 cheese and ham sandwhich
1 beef and brock
1 fried rice
1 grapefruit juice
1 mcds icecream sundae
1 ikea ice cream

wow. i feel sick looking at that. its gross. all of the sudden, chinese food sounds super good. Tonight I ate with the Xie family. They own a corner store next to my house. THey are awesome. they teach me to cook the veggies and then we eat together. if you seen pictures as of late, they are Sprout's parents. Good people. Tonight we had chicken parts, beef and cabbage. it was awesome to just sit down with a random person and talk for a few hours. he's got some really cool things going on in life. life is so simple for him. family, the store, and friends. that's all he worries about. its great.

cell phone

i left my cellphone in a taxi today. drats.

wow

I just spent a week of my life with a very negative person, but his heart is good. He keeps those he loves close to him by saying negative things. His job is to find faults in the products of this company and get rid of them absolutly. He does this very very well, but its ruining him inside. He said only a few thing that had a positive spin for entire week I have been with him. I've noticed alot of negative people around me right now, and it just drains them. The fact that I've realized it has made me react to it better. I've been able to look at my own thoughts, words and actions alot more than I normally would. I came across this quote. Its helped me to put into words what I've felt.

“If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world...”-deepak chopra

Sorry for the philosophy, but I wanted to write this down somewhere useful.

poverty

hello.
been a while since i have written and so i thought i'd catch everyone up. I'm sitting in a room right now in a factory. This is the place where we can get online and do our work when we have some downtime. I've been asked to come to this factory and check our shipment that is going to be getting sent out soon. It's a pretty boring thing to do so far. We've mostly just sat around. We're staying in a hotel that's pretty standard. I don't know the name of this town that I'm in. I've heard it, but forgot it. I know that its on the border of the province, 400km from Shenzhen. THis is probably some of the greatest bits of poverty I've seen. Its amazing how the people here live is such low ways of life. If you were here, i'm pretty sure you'd be sickened by it. I've been here quite a while, but still am. There really is no hope for most these kids, and that's sad to me. If they don't work in a factory, the don't eat, and they die. That's the reality of it. There is zero government aid. Any buses that would get them out to a bigger city would cost half a months salary. The system has them stuck.

It's made me realize how well off I am. I go where I want to go. If I think I could or should do something, I do it. I really think America gave me that. I'm critical of the US government because I love it. When what it should do and what it does split ways, that's where the citizens step in. We have to speak up, if we don't, we lose. Here, they are dogmatic. The government is divine to them and they dare not question it. The few that do, have to do so in the shadows or a lowered voice. Its a terrible thing not to have free speech and speak your mind to a government that listens. As the economy opens, so does the governemnt. I hope in the years to come, the government here can open up more and more. I'd like to see a chinese kid travel to America, just because they want to.

chinese mullet

I've got my first chinese mullet. i was trying to go a long time without cutting my hair but i figured i'd just cut my hair. Only cost $.75 USD. nuts eh! well it's only worth about double that. But i've never really cared about hair. The kid that cut it was tripping out the entire time and said my hair was really soft. He said that chinese people hair is really thick.

Went and taught engrish at a little elementary school yesterday. It was good. The kids were really stoked for me to be there. Their teachers english isn't good. I feel bad for the education system in the country. Its basically helpless. 8 teachers for 400 kiddies.

I'm laying on my bed right now. I see 8 mosquitos.

adventures in food poisoning

i'm sick as a dog. didn't get much sleep due to the headaches and what not. i just sat in bed this morning from 3 to 7 wishing i was at home in my parents bed. funny thought for a 23 year old. so i took the day off. i did work from home. i got some stuff done that i needed to do. i still don't feel real well. for dinner i had a gatorade, lettuce and rice. Whatever I saw food wise just looked gross to me.

I'm still just amazed by how people stare at me. It's really weird. They just sit there and get all quiet and look at me and don't say much. Sometimes somebody might ask me a question like where I'm from or how tall I am. Some of these people have gone their entire life without seeing a foreigner. Amazing.

snakes

terrible idea. last night, a teacher from the local school wanted to take me out to dinner. i said ok. the idea was good right up til the point where they brought out the snake. Take my advise, if you need to survive, eat snake. If you are at some fancy diplomatic dinner and they have snake, try snake. But if your at some mom and pop place out in the middle of the nowhere, don't try the snake. Its been a harsh day today. Coke has been my best friend and i'm trying to relax as best I can. I think I've cleared my system pretty well, so let's see how well we can get through the night.

found out the most terrible place to get a mosquito bit. right on your big toe just next to the nail. i woke up with a painful foot last night at 4. somehow my right foot had ventured out of the mosquito net and was attacked.

heavy day

today was a heavy day. started out well. I got alot of work done. After lunch I had planned to go see Gus. I went over there about 2 pm. The road was damp and mudy. I had a really wierd feeling heading over there. When I got to the gate, the lady came out and just started thanking me. I had no idea for what she was talking about. I just did my usual smile and formatlities. I pressed her and asked her if I could go see Gus. She told me then that Gus had passed away last friday. I saw him on the Thursday. At the time I saw him he was very peaceful and aware of everything. He had, however, lost alot of body weight. I asked the lady what happen and she said that Gus didn't eat for a few days, cried for a day, then passed away that night.

I really don't know what to think still. The fact is I'm still trying to not think about it too much. I'm afraid that if I do, I'll get upset at somebody. He's in a better place. Of that I'm 100% sure. Nobody deserves to live the life that he had. I try to tell myself what I heard before, that there are no mistakes in death. When it's somebody's time, they'll pass. I trust this. I don't know what to think about this more than this. The simple fact is that everyone dropped the ball in Gus' life. We did. We were way to slow in getting everything done. I should have been on the phone with everyone the first day that I saw him. The government dropped the ball in not putting him in proper care. That shows how much they care about the poor and needy in their country.

While I was walking back from the retirement home, I was in shock. I was pretty upset with myself. The thing I have learned from the situation is that there is no tomorrow when it comes to this stuff. I put off what we should have done early until now. If we had only had a few more weeks, the BYU fundraiser would have given us the money to get him to the hospital in Guangzhou. But why didn't I pay for this myself. That's something I keep thinking about. I know its still very emotional and I'm going to wait a few days until I really figure all this out.

Thanks to all of you who showed care for Gus. I'll never know anything about him except that he was a boy that changed my life alot. His name, hometown, family members, all this stuff I'll never ever know. But I know what he gave me, and that's the most important thing.

yellow

hello.
it's been a while since i have written on here. The last few weeks have been pretty nuts, with lots of ups and downs, planes,cars,trains,taxi's and walking. I'm back here now and everything is starting to settle back down. I got to see alot of China and go to Taiwan. Didn't get to see Zack while I was there though. The mission rules have changed a bit.

Something funny happen while I was in Taiwan. My friend Mr. Zhang was setting up his office. Because he does trade, he wanted his office to look American. I went to my friends house while he got all the decor with his staff. When I met up with them later at the office, I walk in and just start laughing. They had fully perfect replic airsoft guns everywhere. Huge M-16s and shotguns, and uzis and sniperrifles. They just went to the army store and took one of everything i think. They got "retired marine" license plates for the doors and navy/army flags and stuff and hung them everywhere. I had no idea what it was all about, then I asked what was up. THey said that they wanted it to look like an American Office.

I think our government has done good things with our foreign image lately. Don't you?

hong kongy

from the looks of it, i'm in Hong Kong. What an adventure today has been. I've taken trains/buses/taxis and motorcycles today to get where I am. And all for under $15. I got a call 2 days ago from Mr. Zhang in Taiwan. He's a rich dude who is a good friend from my mission. He asked me to come out and spend a few days with his family. So here i am. $498 later, i'm waiting for my flight. Life just seems to come together. Hong Kong is amazing. The bay is like nothing I've ever seen. There are huge boats, amazing bridges, and some of the best looking buildings in the world. I've found out stuff is expensive here. I just paid $2 for a pear. But it was good. They really like horseracing in Hong Kong too. Everyone was watching the TV in the place I ate lunch. They have all these papers with the days races and what not. It was absolutley amazing. I'm loving this job that I've got and look forward to going to Taiwan. Getting back is going to be fun too. Work is going to get nuts and alot of cool stuff will happen. But until then, I'm just looking forward to Taiwan, friends, food, fireworks, and melon tea.

minutes from 2/5/08

yesterday was one of the most self-indulgent days i've ever spent of my life. i just did whatever i wanted to. played video games. traveled 45 minutes just to eat mcdonalds. listened to music. read. and ate a butterfinger candy bar for breakfast. don't recommend that. i found a really good restaraut. The food is so amazing and super cheap. Which is a very good combo. Its what i've come to term as a coke joint. IE you better drink a coke with your food or you run the risk of getting sick. i think if they did letter grades for sanitation here, mccdonalds would be the only place about a C. But i don't mind. it just adds character.

I've made some muslim friends out here. There is a part of China that has muslim people. They don't look Chinese at all. They sell some peanuty food and grilled lamb sticks in the city. When i see them I say "salaam aleikum" and the flip. We talk alot, as they speak chinese about as well as I do. They're happy guys and are really funny. they think i'm muslim because i said that, and don't know the chinese word for Christian so it's hard to get the point across.

life is good. i'm going on a 10 hours bus ride in a few hours to go to this place called xiamen to see a friend. it will be an adventure.

Retired at 23

So this is what feeling old is going to be like. But I'm 23. Today I've got a pretty cool thing going on. I've got 14 days to do whatever I'd like to. I can't work. I don't have any responsibilities. Seriously none. Its amazing. I'm loving it. Let see how long it takes me to get bored eh.

Well the reality of it all is I've got Chinese New Year to do whatever I want to. Everybody is gone and there's not really anything to do in our little community. I've been asked to dinner by a few of my neighbors and I hope that I can join them for some good foods. I'm planning on doing day or 2 day trips to see the interesting things in my part of the Chingchang around here. I'm going to head up into the mountain villages and see what there is to see. I'm hoping to find somebody that will loan me or rent me their motorcycle for me to drive way up there. I've got to wait for the rains to calm down just in case. I want to find somewhere that needs help. There are lots of little hotels and stuff way up there, it kinda reminds me to Hana up there. Minus the ocean and the hawaiians. But wild chickens and mountains are the same. Anyway, I've got alot of good books to read during this vacation too. I'm in the middle of Lost Horizon right now, and want to go to Tibet even more than ever. We'll see what lifes got planned out.

As you've probably heard, everybody and their uncle are at the trainstation. I'm hoping that I can go see some of these shinanagans tomorrow after church. Church is about 7 minutes from all the excitment. If its still gnarley, i'll take good pictures. I'm stoked about going to Ikea for hotdogs and cinnibuns tommorow. Today i ate at mccdonalds. 2chickens and 2cheeseys. and now i feel sick. But its a gratifying sickness.

feeling better.

I feel good today. I've finally got that cold on the run. Whatever was in those tubes that contained ginkogalobia something that tasted like peanut butter, well they worked. I guess a 4,000 year old culture can teach us a good many thing. Its still bitter cold. I bet some of you have heard about the big fuss over at the train station in Guangzhou.

Thats about 2 hours away from me. The problem isn't here in our city, its all around us. We have a huge hub of migrant workers here and they all want to go home, its just everything is frozen. There is nowhere to go. The weather has been rainy and terribly cold here for the last few days, all I can think about is the prospect of it getting warmer. The people at the trainstation, however, have one thing not to complain about. I'll tell you a secret that they won't tell you on CNN. The trainstation is 100 yards from IKEA and McD's. So you can bet that they are eating $.50 hotdogs, $1 Cinnybuns, $.99 mcchickens and all the meat balls you can desire. So if I was there, which I am glad I'm not, I'd have at least a happy stomach.

But I really feel for the people there. Its pretty much Christmas and they really want to go home for the 2 weeks a year they don't have to work. Its a pretty bleak existance here for the most part and for most people. They find happiness is slight ways that we don't even think about. The old people that live outside our office just sit around and wait for something semi interesting to happen. When we unload a box from a truck that has a furniture sample or something they all gather around like its Christmas morning. They watch us unwrap it, sometimes one of them will sneak off with a big piece of styrofoam or a box. They then really sheepishly will touch the finish and talk about it amongst each other. Sometimes I can coax the leader of the pack to sit down on the seat, he'll approve with a big "EYEOOOO" and the crowd will chatter away. They really are just a tight community here.

Today I was walking back from somewhere and they were next door playing cards. All these old men just sitting around smoking. We're talking real old here. I stepped in, to their delight, and watched. One of them kinda scanned one eye over in my direction while keeping the other on his hand and whispered, "brother..."he paused and swang the other eye over to look at me in the face"...its pretty cold outside". With a smirk, he winked and gave me a little nod. I gave the nod back, and slipped back into work. It's that type of sharing nothing more than a smile and saying a few words that makes this place so different.

It was a good day today.

yup

i learned a valuable lesson today. when in china, don't try to fart. its not rude or anything but just very dangerous. I almost had an accident today just because i thought i had to fart. my stomach didn't hurt or anything, the hot snakes just tried to creep up on me. but i got them. a coke later, and i'm feeling fine.

there is a bit of a problem right now in china. 160,000 people are stuck at the trainstation here because of some snow. tomorrow, they are adding 600,000 more people on top of that. Good luck keeping that from becoming a riot. so watch the news the next few days, might see something cool, but i'll never hear about it here. Its kinda hard to pull the wool over your eyes if you don't have any eyes in the first place.

I found this real good lecture by Bill Gates that he gave at the World Economic Forum. Its amazing. If you have 36 minutes, watch it. It changed my opionion on capitalism and its ability to do greater good for more people than those who don't need more good.
here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql-Mtlx31e8

my heads going to explode.

i've got some weird chinese form of the cold. everytime i cough i feel like my head might explode. lots of pressure. I've got medicine though and i'm taking them often. i should be fine soon.

taking the bus is kinda hit or miss here sometimes with which driver you get. i've made real good friends with a good few of them. they let me ride for free sometimes and one is bringing his guitar to work today and will call me when he gets to our little neighborhood and we'll play for a bit. but there is one guy who is a pretty big kook. he has something against me. by the portriat of mao zedong in his bus, it could capitalism. but i beat the system. he drives faster than the bus should be driven, and hence lots of shaking and bumping and slamming. but i had on of the greatest times in my life and sat in the back row of the bus getting launched up into the air on every pot hole. i was getting thrown out of my seat as he nuked down our little road. it was fun. as i got of the bus he got confused when i told him he was a good driver.

Gus-the boy with the sickness- is doing as well as possible. I went to see him the yesterday. I think he's starting to knwo me. When i walked in the room i was alone and just walk in. I smiled and we just looked at each other for a few seconds, then he turned around and put he head down again. With some help from Dr. Carter and a few other doctors we know, we've sent videos of him to a few people, we're trying to get him diagnosed. So far the verdicts are a cerbrial palsy or angelmans diesese. Without his parent's around to ask questions to, its super hard to get some background understanding of the condition. Things will work out, they always do.

pitched.

i just got back from my first time at a ktv. thats where people go to drink and sing karoke. it was hilarious. we were suppose to be going to a government run singing contest. what ended up happening? we got driven to a ktv where a bunch of the prominent officials were waiting for us. we all sang our songs, then the drinking began. i just had to tell them i don't drink once and then they were pretty cool. they just let me drink my coke without a fight. i did a pretty good rendition of american pie, hey jude, and i got you under my skin. karoke is alot more fun than i thought it would be. well all the officials got pretty pitched. at the end of the night i watched the dage hand over about 700rmb to the lady and i just got pitched. they spend 700 on a night. thats about how some people get for a whole month of work. why would you spend that much when the retirement home i'm working with thats right down the road needs money alot more. hurray for corruption. the guy that drove us home was swerving everywhere, but we got home safe. learned a few good lessons today. #1-no more ktv #2-no more driving with drunks #3-chiense people like the beatles.

I've got a family that i basically think of as my family in china. there name is the zhangs. i think they are amazing. they own a little restaurant thats pretty much a veggie feast. i love it. you get all the veggies you want and they boil it into a type of stew. its amazing and only costs $.90. It fills you up nice and the company is great. the dad is awesome. he works in the front and makes some great fried noodles. he makes me a little bowl of his famous snail-pepper dish everyday. its ok, but sometime the snails are goopy. especially the big ones. the mom is the most smiley little chinese lady i've seen. she's so cute and always concerned about making my food just right. she knows exactly the amount of spicinesss i want and asks me everyday if it is too much or too little. she helps me watch for the bus and when it comes she calls out really loud "NIIII KUUU" and sometimes even flags it down for me. The family has two boys. Liang and Han Li. Or, as i call them now, Liam and Harry. They are great friends and sit down with them and just talk and they love it. Liam and Harry always try to get me to go talk to the girls and just can't understand why i'm not interested. being with these guys is amazing. makes me super happy.

electric friends

i've got an electric blanket. never used one of these before, but i'll never go without one again. they are amazing. they make you feel like your sitting in a blanket that just came out of the dryer.

it rained today. the first time since i've been here. i slept in too long today. i had a dream i was kicking for teh chicago bears. i haven't thought about football or the bears in weeks, so i don't know where it came from.

The gooses are starting to get real loud. I think they know that the end is near for them. I'm pretty stoked to see the mass killing that's about to go down. There are probably a big goose for every person in this city, literally.

funny thing happend in china these last few days. blogger got killed for taking pictures of a beating of some farmers. funny thing? no. but it was on the bbc website frontpage, and not even on the news here. amazing. i can't feel the gov't control here, besides only being able to type this blog. i'm not scared. the people here are terribly nice and polite. china is a good place with a few bad apples left in the government. i think that they will get the corrupt ones out soon. The people that beat the man to death are being tried as i write this. they're getting better.

cold swim

this morning i got up right in the brisk and went for a swim in the lake. it was 44 degs outside. bad idea. it was good to get my exercise, but my head froze under the water. it was a cold swim.

i went to see the boy again. he's sick as hell. its really sad. today he had a bit of a seizure and smashed his head on the wall. he was bleeding. when i got there to deliver a desk they asked me to go see him. he was in pretty poor shape. he's usually responsive to people being in his room, but he was pretty out of it today. the nasty mat he sleeps on doesn't do much for healing wounds, so a girl with me went to get some med supplies. i patched him up as best i could with the hydrogen peroxide and ointment. i'm went to town tonight and got some bandaides. i'm hoping to patch him up. if you,whoever is reading this, are willing to help out with some money to help us fix up his room, email me. nick55@byu.net. if you dont know what i'm talking about with this boy, check out the pictures on the link to the left of this.

i'm thankful for what i'm seeing here, its really disturbing sometimes, but it's real life outside the US.

photos

hey i know that pictures haven't been working on here. some sort of filtering or something. but! i found a way to get some up. So here are some pictures.

http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2159030&l=c1293&id=17831436

they should be viewable to everyone.

life is good.

snappidy snap snap

hello all.
its been a few days. things that have happend in the last few days:

kicked a drunk out of a bread store.
found a huge 10,000 acre lake behind my house, with clean water.
ate 3 chicken heads, and a score of chicken feet.


its warming up now. i only sleep with 2 blankets now. because the walls here are pure concrete, the don't keep in any heat, so when its cold outside, you sleep in a icebox.
we went over to deliever some unwanted furniture to a retirement home run by the government. they asked if i wanted to go see a kid that lived there. they said some stuff that i didn't understand other than that he was sick. so i went back. in the back there was a kid, 10 years old, who has some serious deformation. Whomever was looking after him left him one night at the local police station, and they gave him to this home. They are good to him, and provide him with the best things they can. But he is very sick and very feeble. He just sits there, very aware of anything go on around him, but unable to do anything. they've kinda corraled him into a corner with a table. they have to do this because he will hit his head on the walls. its probably the saddest thing i have ever seen. he lives in pure filth, in the back room, which smells like pee, but he has a very sweet woman watching out for him. i'm in the process of trying to sort out the best plan to take care of him. i'll take a few days and then get the word out.

the gov't, which has kinda been like the word Voldemort for me to use, seems to not like the practice of blogging. thats why i can only get the text to you guys. i'll put the picture on facebook, and have a link on here. you can check them out there, and don't have to have a facebook account. also, i can't see any comments, because i can't visit my own blog, just type into it. weird? yes. but if you'd like to email me any questions/comments, just get to me at nick55@byu.net. i'm on there all day everyday at work, so i'll get back to you real quick.

work is going good. i'm swamped, but wouldnt have it any other way.

i heard mika and jessica are parents. i can't wait to see some pictures.

take care.

whomp

hello.
first day in church. awesome. lots of africans. they are all real cool. the ward is really diverse which i think is awesome. one of the guys in the bishopric is from NC, which is really cool. life is good.
i got a lesson in how to use my toilet. here are the steps. squat, go, then get a bucket of water to pour into the squatter to flush everything down. simple.
i took a trip into the town of zhaoqing with some girls from work who helped me get my cell phone set up. it was only $10 for 2 months. the city was huge. it had 8.000,000 people in it. the biggest city i've ever been to. i told somebody that last night and they said that zhaoqing isn't big at all. church is in guangzhou which has 20 mill or something.
the picture is from behind my house. which is cool. that i tall mountain is ding mountain.

yum yum yum

so i'm writing this from the confines of my newly mounted mosquito net. Best $10 i ever spent. I walk into my damp room today to find it is covered in mosquitos. I freaking hate mosquitos. Its like lightsabers in your ears all night if you don't have a net.

But on to the important things. Hello from China. After a 19 hour flight i arrived to a tiny little sunrise coming up over the horizon. I sat next to a pissed off 47 year old RC boat maker. The man had more curse words than i had ever heard before. But China was at first glance amazing, the pollution made the sun become more red than anything i've ever seen. It was amazing. But, fighting my urge to look like the rest of the dumb tourists, i avoided the picture. I avoided eye contact with the serious looking security guards and made my way down to the luggage place where i was pushed aside by a bunch of pissed chinese women. they have zero patience.

The drive back to Dinghu was like a dream. I saw this awesome little 3 wheeler car to show you guys. I swear we almost hit 50 people on bikes. People ride their bikes on the side of the interstate. I saw a huge freaking truck trailer full of oranges just flipped over. I was pretty stoked to see that. Seems like he got going to fast. Around the sea of citrus, about 30-35 men had gathered to look at the wreck and discuss what had happen.

I got to work and sat down with the President, Anita. We went over a bunch of stuff which I don't intend to tell you about in this here blog, mainly business things. What I would be doing and what not.

My city is not tiny. Its big. Not too big but bigger than i thought. I really don't have my bearings at all, but i think i'm in some sort of housing development. There is a grid of houses. Everyone is so nice. There are tons of people feeding geese that they herd on the street, getting ready for Chinese new year. Lunch was gnarly. I don't know what it was but i swear i ate a testicle. I didn't want to ask and just swallowed it down. Dinner, as you can see in the picture, chicken feet. Funny thing is though, its all really good. And by all I mean the skin around the chicken feet. Just rip that off.

We had quite the fiasco at the local school yard to play ball. I had about 40 kids staring at me. I don't htink they've ever seen somebody so tall. Thats the weird thing in this land, you just get starred at.

My roomates are cool. Alot cooler than i thought chinese people could be. This is going to be fun. I'm going to take a walk now and try to see some stuff that i've never seen before.

1/1

hey everyone. if you've found your way here i'm guessing that you've heard i'm going to china for a few months. here's the run down. i'll be in a placed called Dinghu. Its a little city. kinda by zhaoqing, which is kinda by guangzhou, which is kinda by hong kong. googleearth dinghu china. it should be pretty easy to find. as far as i've heard, i'm the only foreigner in the city, except when the president of the company is town, then there is 2 of us.
i'm going over for 5 months. 4 of which will be spent as an intern with a company called mondoro. you can check out www.mondoro.com if you want to see what they do. i'll be dabbling in quality control, accounting, marketing, charity work and some stuff i've never heard of.
the last month, i'll spend traveling around china with some close friends. we've been loosely planning this since the summer. we're planning on traveling the trains and staying in hostels. we're going to mainly see the outdoors and ruins, staying away from shopping centers and western foods.
i'm going to try to write a bit everyday about what i'm learning, the people i meet, and the food i eat. i'll put pictures up too.
i hope you guys will all stay in touch. if you'd like to email, you can get me at nick55@byu.net. i've also set an msn account up so i can use the internet phone stuff. i have skype too. if you want that info, shoot me an email as i don't remember it. so stay in touch. i hope everyone is well. happy new year.

nick