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.