Awesome weekend in Zaozhuang （枣庄）

Sorry that this blog post came so late, I was really busy on Sunday and then I got pretty sick on Monday.  I almost just waited until next week to write, but then I would have too much to write about :)

Sunday was a pretty normal Sunday.  I took a nap, which as those that know me understand is quite strange.  I have actually been really tired recently, I wonder if it means my body has been fighting off some kind of disease.

 

Monday was a very interesting day.  For the first class we had only 4 of the 16 students there when I arrived.  This was made especially bad since this is the day that the Flagship administrators from America came to listen in on one of our classes.  When class started there was still only 7 of us there.  It was one of the worst days that anyone could have missed and it just so happened that that day was they day with most students missing.

My next class was also interesting.  When I get into the class I realize that only about 20 of the 100+ students are there.  I am wondering if I somehow didn’t get notified that the class wouldn’t be held.  Right as I was about to leave the teacher runs in and tells us all he thinks we should go to a lecture the department is holding instead of going to class.  Apparently that is where the other students where anyways.

The lecture was rather interesting, it was given by a winner of the Turing Award, the highest award given to people in the field of computer science.  The lecture was in English and discussed current challenges of multi-core computing.  It was amazing to me just how easy everything was to understand :)  Sometimes I just forget how much easier English is to understand then Chinese, but it really is.

 

Tuesday saw me getting my first really good swimming workout in the country.  It really is good to swim laps, I just love it.  I did have one of the worst cramps in my life while I was in the pool.  I wasn’t able to get out of the pool for about 5 minutes, it really wasn’t fun =/

Tuesday and Wednesday also saw me watching some strange Chinese movies.  I am actually really happy that my teachers have recommended so many movies to us.  There are so many shows and movies in China that I fear without there recommendations I would be lost in the see of choices.

 

Thursday turned into a boys night since the wives of the program were all at Enrichment night.  Two other students and I went to a nice little restaurant.  We were able to get six dishes and still only spent 51 yuan, or about 7 dollars, 7 dollars for three people, not bad I would say.

After dinner we headed out to get some drinks (kind of like Slurpees but more liquidy).  While there we looked at a local movie store.  It is fun to see how much effort they put into making things look real, but none the less it is still pretty clear that it is all illegal copies of the original movies.  I guess it does mean I get cheap movies in this county.  After that we headed back and played some Street Fighter together.

 

On Friday the real adventure started.  The entire flagship program had a trip scheduled to Zaozhuang which is a city in the southern portion of Shandong province.  I would say about half way between Nanjing and Beijing.  I had to get about at 6:00 AM because before I got to head out I first had to take my OPI test.  That actually went really smoothly.  As I was headed to the train I picked up something for lunch, I was actually really happy with how smoothly everything went in the morning.

I should have taken that as a sign that something bad would have to happen to balance out how good the morning was going.  Right as we are about to board the train I realize that I had forgotten to bring my passport which is absolutely required to travel within China.  I spent about a half an hour worrying about what to do, but luckily Zhang Laoshi the head of the China Flagship offices was able to fix the problem for me.  I am very grateful to have them there.

While I was on the train I was able to see some really cool buildings.  Being in Nanjing I sometimes forget just how rural other parts of China are.  It was awesome.  All in all I was on the train for about 4 hours which was some good time just to talk to friends and rest.

When we got to Zaozhuang I realized I was in for a real treat.  Zaozhuang is a city that is in the middle of transferring from being a coal mining town to a modern day town, as such is just so Chinese.  For those that haven’t been to China I don’t really know how to explain what that fully means, but for those that have you can just imagine.

After we unpacked at the hotel we went to go see a war museum from WW2.  Because Zaozhuang was a coal mining city the Japanese took it over very early in the war and the museum recounts both the taking and the eventual recovering of the city.  It was cool to see a lot of WW2 era objects, we really don’t have very much of that in the US.

After that we went to the “original” Zaozhuang.  The original city was actually completely destroyed by the Japanese during the war but they are now rebuilding the original buildings in an effort to promote tourism in the area.  The buildings look the same on the outside, but on the inside they are all places that would interest tourists.

To end the day we had a really amazing dinner.  The local newspaper and city government, who are sponsoring this activity, provided the dinner so they picked some of the best dishes.  I really loved it all, my favorite dish was probably a dish that was called fish dumplings.  They are like dumplings instead of a grain based outer shell they use fish as the outer shell.  The inside meat was lamb.  It was really amazing.  They also had a really good fish dish where the meat was easy to get off the bone.  In fact pretty much every dish was amazing.  This was some of the best food I have had in China ever.  I really enjoyed it.

Saturday morning breakfast at the hotel was actually surprisingly good. I had some really good spicy scrambled eggs and real cows milk. It was even more real then most of the cows milk we drink in America. It tasted fresh and pre-treated, on top of that it was also warm, a little bit of heaven.

After breakfast we split up into smaller groups to do research on different areas of the city, I was with the group doing research on the businesses in the city. The first place we visited was a museum dedicated to the history of the coal company. It was actually really interesting. It was the first company in China to have stocks. It was also interesting to see the international contributions to the original coal mining process.

After that we went to see a site where they used to mine coal. We were able too see some of the buildings and machines used to dig coal. They no longer dig coal as it is all gone. You can actually see two different mountains that were created from the refuse created by the mining process. While there we asked what they do now. They told us that they now produce materials for mining in other parts of the country and that the wives of the workers are working to make clothes.

One of the teachers asked if we could see that part so we headed over to where they were doing clothes. I have to admit it looks a little like what an American would call a sweatshop, but it really wasn't bad. It was cool to see them all working there. It was hard to get them really talking about what they though of working there but it was still fun.

After that we went to a giant second hand car lot. It was really cool, everything needed to buy a car and get it registered and insured was all at the place. It really was a one stop shop for buying a car. I also enjoyed how happy the owners were with just how big it was. They were all really cute.

After that we went to lunch with the owners of the car lot and the reporters that were taking us around. Once again the food was amazing. I think lunch was actually better then dinner of the previous night. All the food was more authentic and it fit my tastes. It is probably one of the best meals I have had in my entire life, it really was that good. I also ate some stuff Americans could never accept, but I will let everyone guess what that was :)

After that Drew and I headed to the train station where we took a train back to Nanjing so that we could be back to Nanjing for Sunday. On the train ride home I was able to take some pictures as I was next to a window. I couldn't take to many because it started getting to dark really quick. At home I just rested and did some stuff that I wasn't able to finish during the weekend because of the trip.

 

Overall this week really was amazing.  As for my spiritual study this week I focused on two parts gratitude and long lasting faith.

The first came as I was leaving a party for Cassi Barber’s birthday on Sunday, as I was leaving I looked up and saw a building and realized just how beautiful it was.  At the same time I realized how blessed I was that I could see it clearly, I was blessed that someone had invented contacts.  I am blessed that people are able to build beautiful buildings.  I am blessed that Nanjing has clean air so that I could see clearly.  I am blessed that the Chinese love nature so the building was surrounded by beautiful trees and foliage. 

Finding so many things that I could be grateful in a single moment made me realize just how beautiful the world I live in is.  I also realized just how ungrateful I normally am.  I think that when we are unhappy it is largely because we have started to focus on ourselves and forgotten just how much there is around us that is trying to make us happy.  I think President Monson nailed it on the head when he stressed the importance of being grateful in our lives.  I think the very nature of grateful people is to be turned outside of themselves, and in such a situation it is hard not to become the kind of person the Lord would have us become.

As for long term faith, I was thinking how easy it is to have short term faith.  I find that it is much easier for me to believe that I will receive something I have prayed for that needs to be fulfilled in the near future.  Things such as help on a test, getting better from an illness, receiving necessary revelation are all things that I feel it is relatively easy to have faith in.  The results are seen quite quickly and everything is good.

When it becomes harder to have faith is when the things that we are asking for are not to be fulfilled immediately.  This can be for blessings that we have wanted, that we know the Lord is willing to give us, but know that it may take years yet before we fully receive them.  I am sure most of you know what blessing I am referring to in my situation, but I think that it also as easily applies to other situations, finding work when needed, a child returning to the gospel, or any other number of situations where we have to wait.  It is during this time of waiting that Satan has time to erode at out faith in God.  He will use every trick to convince us that we will not receive, and because he has so long to tempt us it is easier to stop doubting.

I personally am not sure how to have greater faith that blessings will occur in the long term.  I guess that it comes from first having faith in God in the little things.  After that we must come to know that God is a God of truth and cannot lie, therefor if he has promised us that we will receive a blessing that we will.  Much easier said than done.  In fact that is true of everything related to faith.  I am amazed at how much time some people, myself included, spend trying to understand the “mysteries” of God, when even the simplest principles like faith we are still struggling with.  If we had faith like unto the Brother of Jared we could see the Lord.  If we haven’t reached this level wouldn’t it all be well for us to strive ever to have more faith.  At the least it is something that I need to work on.

 

I have to thank all of you for hearing my spiritual rants.  One of the things I miss most about being home and around all of you is the chance to have spiritual conversations.  I have been blessed that I have been able to have several here with Drew, but I still miss discussing these things with all of you.  I have found that as we share what we have learned about the gospel, in that same moment we are taught even more.  Even just sharing on my blog I have come to more fully understand principles I have been learning.  I guess it is just another paradox of the gospel, you can’t truly learn something until you teach it.  Thanks again to all of you for listening.  I love you all and hope that you are going wonderful days.