Can’t believe it’s been a week since I arrived, then again, Arkansas seems like a distant dream. I was lucky enough to spend three beautiful days in China with out students. The adjustment time wasn’t too terrible and it was really lovely getting to spend time with the other leaders in country site seeing. We started off the trip with a BANG.
After an eleven hour flight, a dizzying hours drive into the Dong Cheng district to our hostel, we took our first cruise through the streets of the city. The Dong Cheng district is a very quaint area with lots of touristy shoppes and fun alley ways to wonder down. We walked to the river then quested for a place to eat. At this point I was sinking pretty deep. I agreed to some food though and what an agreement I made. For our first meal in China we happened to pick a restaurant that specialized in donkey meat. Correct, donkey. I’ve gone from vegetarian to donkey eating very quickly. I ordered a donkey type wrap thingy… I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between donkey and pastrami. It wasn’t bad
As much as being with the other leaders was amazing, per usual, I did get a bit overwhelmed with the amount of energy and information and stories about trips of your that where flying around. I finally got some quiet space with Kim one morning as three other groups started there trip. Kim and I drank coffee, talked and planned for about three straight hours. It was the quiet space I needed to organize my thoughts and get my homework done.
Another challenge that I had been facing, up until today actually, was my presence here in country.
I have been restless settling in here. Mainly due to the fact that I finally decided that I want to have a bit more stability in my life and be a bit more rooted in California so as to be with friends and family, and I uproot and leave for China! My girlfriends are all together at a music festival and it seems everyone I love has fun summer events that they are traveling to and from. I have felt pulled in two directions. One direction is with friends and comforts and home life and the other is an opportunity to make an impact with the youth of California.
The first two days with the students has been exhausting! Literally JAM PACKED days of site seeing and air travel, quite seriously both in on day. Today they changed my mind. Today I made friends with my students. The Chaperones are unbelievably interesting and real which is great but the students are so key. We spent the day bamboo rafting the Jungshuo river.
None of us knew what the rafts where going to look like, the lack of expectation made the actual raft that much more funny. Twelve posts of bamboo strapped together with a light weight park bench like double rcliner seat, also made of bamboo, an umbrella if you where lucky and a personal paddler on each vessel. We got bombarded by women selling water guns immediately and I was not about to pass those up on a river trip. So, all ten bamboo ships where equipped with one water gun each, including the Chaperones. What followed was about an hour and a half of laughing and water explosions. I paired up with the girl LOD for the day and we went to work. A full on war erupted between the final four boats to set off. We had one girl who we called the “Power Pump” as she could blast about 20 blows a minute continuously. I discovered that my newly purchased rice hat was an efficient shield. Though my friend and I had to work at our efficiency as in our excitement of the discovery her first blast shot straight into the hat, deflected and splashed me! I felt like I was also 15 again. I got to continue to encourage fun and serious water splashing way beyond the point any normal adult would consider fun or funny. I don’t think I have EVER had so much fun in a water fight before today!!! We had so much fun between the last four rafts that we broke two of the guns!
On the intermittent moment that water stopped flying at my face I got to sit back and admire the enormous cliffs shooting out of our river valley, covered in greenery and fading shades of tan, orange and yellow rock. The look is all very Thailand-esc except there are taro and rice fields that sprawl the bottom valley.
I am fully present now and am so excited to spend the next nine days exploring, laughing and discovering. I am excited to aid these youngsters on their own path to self discovery and have already started meditations and conversations. I titled my discussion series ” A divulgence into the depths of differentiations on a path to self discovery.” It’s going well.
If anyone would like to follow along:
1. Mindfulness
What does mindfulness mean to you?
What does it mean to have a closed mind?
What does it mean to have an open mind?
What are things you notice that you are close minded to?
What are you more drawn to be open minded towards?
How can you bring further awareness and acceptance to the things you are closed off to?
How can you share those things you are passionate and open minded to?
2. Culture in respect to food
How would you define culture?
What cultural things do you and your family practice?
What are some cultural norms in the US? In China?
How do you feel about these differences?
What do you normally eat at home?
What is distinctly different about the food in China and the food from home?
How does the food in China make you feel? Make you smell?
Can you put yourself in the shoes of a 15 year old from China visiting the US? Can you feel their hesitancy about the change in diet, in environment?
The Limber Lotus 