We know how our grandmas feel! You know how they're suspicious and leary of Western doctors and hospitals? Well, I feel the same way about Chinese doctors and hospitals!
#1 Take for example Josh. He hasn't been feeling well, so he finally went to see a doctor at our campus clinic. His tonsils feel a little swollen, and he's had a runny nose and fever. What does he bring home? Penicillin. Penicillin???!!! Nobody eats penicillin for a cold, not-yet-the-flu sickness! He ate it, and it made him worse. I told him, of course! Cause the medicine's alive!!! (right?)
#2 Also, a phenomenon I still don't quite get is the IV drips. When you're sick, Chinese people often get IV drips at the hospital. My students get them. Our friends that have been sick have to get them. I know Chinese teachers that have had to get them. What a terrible go-to treatment everytime you have to visit the doctor!
OK, of course I'm being very general here. Don't get weird ideas about Chinese medicine. Bottom line all I'm saying is, I hope my immune system stays as it has been for the past few years and that I never get sick here.
My favorite meds that just can't seem to be found in China: Vicks vapo rub, Nyquil, and soft Kleenex.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Post Thanksgiving
As I write this, you all must be sleeping cozy in your beds from post-Thanksgiving food comas. If not, you are probably gearing up for the eating or shopping this weekend.
Our thoughts are all with you... Right now, I think about my family, Josh's family, and our church family. I also think about our friends... Messenger, Heidi, Josh's college guys, the Wycliffe family, and the list goes on and on!
Our Thanksgiving consisted of: quite sweet tasting sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce that was more grape jelly-ish than cranberry, spicy salads, and gravy-less turkey. Well, Josh also got a piece of meat that was really, seriously raw.
But it was Chinese style Thanksgiving none the less!
With lots of love, MK (and Josh!)
::EDIT:: By Josh
In hindsight, they should have made Peking turkey instead.
Our thoughts are all with you... Right now, I think about my family, Josh's family, and our church family. I also think about our friends... Messenger, Heidi, Josh's college guys, the Wycliffe family, and the list goes on and on!
Our Thanksgiving consisted of: quite sweet tasting sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce that was more grape jelly-ish than cranberry, spicy salads, and gravy-less turkey. Well, Josh also got a piece of meat that was really, seriously raw.
But it was Chinese style Thanksgiving none the less!
With lots of love, MK (and Josh!)
::EDIT:: By Josh
In hindsight, they should have made Peking turkey instead.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Josh's Magic
1/2 through the Shards draft, standings are as follows:
Players and decks are: Vipat (Elspeth), Geu (Predator Dragon), Isiah (Broodmate), Dlaab Peter (NAYA), Ntxoo Xes(Carrion Thrasher), Vern (Esper), Josh (Stoic Rafiq), Xay (Exalted)
Fun stuff update
Go karts: We took Sarah to go try the go-karts. Let us tell you... THEY ARE MEGA FAST. It's an indoor track, but you go so fast, you get cold. Josh claims at least, 30 mph. MK is doubtul of that. Each ride is 8 very long minutes. You can check out the print out at the end to see your fastest lap and the winner. But anyways, the only thing missing: The people who would love this the most- Isiah, Peter, and Xay.
Dunkin' Donuts: Here, DD's is a fancy place. Like, like an upscale, sit down cafe. It's really nice, and the service is super friendly, and the drinks look pretty. So this begs the question... how come it's in China, and not yet in Minnesota?
Arashi: We went with Sarah to the Arashi concert. (Japanese pop band.) It was fully, throughly enjoyable. Exhausting as well. Before the concert, some girls in front of us turned around and asked Josh, "Are you a fanboy?" It was very funny. He didn't even know what a fanboy was. Turns out, these girls are from Malaysia, and came here just to attend the 2 concerts (one on Sat, one on Sun). Also turned out, they are online subbers (you know, the ones that translate the dramas and shows for you!) and Sarah semi-knows them from the blogrings!
Anyways, my point about the concert is this: I have a suggestion for all you future architects out there: When building a stadium, you need to do 1 of 2 things: 1) Make twice as many bathrooms for the women as there are for men or 2) Make extra bathrooms for women and charge 1 dollar to use these nicer, pay by the use bathrooms. Why? Because at the concert, the bathroom lines were a mile long. 99% of the people there were women. The line was so long, Sarah and I did what made sense: We went to the men's bathroom. Lo and behold, it was full of women already. Funny thing is, Josh had to go to the bathroom, so even though there were women in there, he found a corner of the trough and did his business shamelessly. Funny.
P.S. GIRLS: Did you know guys' bathrooms have a trough that they pee in? And then there's a waterfall to clean it. It's the strangest thing ever! You gotta see it to understand. Although, Sarah did take a video of it.
Dunkin' Donuts: Here, DD's is a fancy place. Like, like an upscale, sit down cafe. It's really nice, and the service is super friendly, and the drinks look pretty. So this begs the question... how come it's in China, and not yet in Minnesota?
Arashi: We went with Sarah to the Arashi concert. (Japanese pop band.) It was fully, throughly enjoyable. Exhausting as well. Before the concert, some girls in front of us turned around and asked Josh, "Are you a fanboy?" It was very funny. He didn't even know what a fanboy was. Turns out, these girls are from Malaysia, and came here just to attend the 2 concerts (one on Sat, one on Sun). Also turned out, they are online subbers (you know, the ones that translate the dramas and shows for you!) and Sarah semi-knows them from the blogrings!
Anyways, my point about the concert is this: I have a suggestion for all you future architects out there: When building a stadium, you need to do 1 of 2 things: 1) Make twice as many bathrooms for the women as there are for men or 2) Make extra bathrooms for women and charge 1 dollar to use these nicer, pay by the use bathrooms. Why? Because at the concert, the bathroom lines were a mile long. 99% of the people there were women. The line was so long, Sarah and I did what made sense: We went to the men's bathroom. Lo and behold, it was full of women already. Funny thing is, Josh had to go to the bathroom, so even though there were women in there, he found a corner of the trough and did his business shamelessly. Funny.
P.S. GIRLS: Did you know guys' bathrooms have a trough that they pee in? And then there's a waterfall to clean it. It's the strangest thing ever! You gotta see it to understand. Although, Sarah did take a video of it.
Reflections on life, love, and the pursuit on happiness!
Life: We've been here exactly 3 months.
Love: Can't live without it.
The Pursuit of Happiness: I can't help but ask myself, Is anyone happy these days? And the answer seems to be... Nope. Not even me! So, what's the pursuit of happiness, really?
anyways.
Here's my real post!
Sarah's on a plane on her way to Tokyo. She visisted us for 10 days, and we walked, talked, and ate for 10 full days! She really will be missed. Somebody, please come visit us in the Spring!
Reflections: Next week will be Josh's first time leading prayer. In these past few months, not really having the body of Christ so close to us as it was at home... it's like being in a boat in the ocean and not knowing where you are going. You just go with the flow. And look what happens. 3 months go by. And nothing.
So this is like our wilderness. Life really does seem like an ocean. Some days we paddle really hard, and go the direction we want. And other days we just float and go wherever the water takes us.
There are days when we wake up loving this place. Confident that a year will go by, and that another year here is possible. And then there are days when the end of our time here can't come soon enough.
Until next time...! Enjoy our new pictures.
Love: Can't live without it.
The Pursuit of Happiness: I can't help but ask myself, Is anyone happy these days? And the answer seems to be... Nope. Not even me! So, what's the pursuit of happiness, really?
anyways.
Here's my real post!
Sarah's on a plane on her way to Tokyo. She visisted us for 10 days, and we walked, talked, and ate for 10 full days! She really will be missed. Somebody, please come visit us in the Spring!
Reflections: Next week will be Josh's first time leading prayer. In these past few months, not really having the body of Christ so close to us as it was at home... it's like being in a boat in the ocean and not knowing where you are going. You just go with the flow. And look what happens. 3 months go by. And nothing.
So this is like our wilderness. Life really does seem like an ocean. Some days we paddle really hard, and go the direction we want. And other days we just float and go wherever the water takes us.
There are days when we wake up loving this place. Confident that a year will go by, and that another year here is possible. And then there are days when the end of our time here can't come soon enough.
Until next time...! Enjoy our new pictures.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sorry its been so long!
Since we last posted many things have happened...here they are as follows:
- Sarah is here visiting us. we are having a blast just having her around. this vacation mai kao and i tried to make it as low stress as possible. i think we've been acheiving that, hopefully. right now as we speak, sarah is at the all day spa, like in those movies getting all manicured, massaged, hot tubbed up.
- eating well. Shanghai has some really great international food. since moving here, i've found some new loves in the cuisine world. one of my new top 5 favorites is Indian. Turkish, Japanese, any curry dish, french pastries round out my new additions. oh and i totally forgot, dirty Chinese street food...if you visit us, you will definitely fall head over heels for the dirty street food. many of us feel it is WAAAYYY better than chinese restaurant food.
- I made it on the worship team. now i just wait for when they need me.
- mai kao and i have been working tons lately, b/c of midterms and getting ready for sarah's arrival. we wanted to have no extra work around when sarah got here so that we could just hang out and enjoy the company.
yeah, thats it. oh except one thing...MTG. i've been booster drafting with my box that arrived with Sarah. so far the Jund deck is destroying all the other decks. its just got so much removal, nothing can last very long on the board. also, my River Kelpie, Cruel Ultimatum deck is under way. i've been thinking of changing it to either an Esper build of just standard U/B instead of a Grixis build. that would knock out the cruel ultimatums, but i think it may make the deck better. I casted one against one of my decks here and found it to be absolutely as devastating as people say it was...but, without the expensive dual lands, i found myself always checking my mana to see if i've reached 7 mana of the right colors yet. i guess that can be a good thing too, the card has so much presence that it makes your opponent aware of mana status as well, kind of distracting them. i may run one, just for this purpose in future events, but more than two is way too much.
i have a small wish list for all you Magic people out there. i can fully reimburse you. here it goes:
1 river kelpie, 2 turn to mist, 1 cancel, 3 murderous redcaps, 2 torrent of souls, 4 Glen Elendra Archmage.
if you could scrounge these up for me it'd be great. hope the ryder cup hmong tournament shapes up well. the urge to play magic for all of you is back so that only means you are hard at work making your game and decks better. cools mans.
josh out.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
trying out!
on saturday morning i am trying out for our church's worship team. i hope i'm a good fit for what God wants to do in Shanghai. i'm pretty excited. you all know me well, worship is what i love doing.
our house is 75% done furnished. i used to hate watching all those home furnishing tv shows but now i have to admit...i'm one of those house furnishing psychos! its true...i care tons about how my abode looks. its one of those things that i've found out about myself in shanghai.
Mai kao and i are doing great! we've been together for over 3 years now, but we have never been alone and by ourselves with only ourselves. this experience overseas has really glued our relationship together tight. we have always loved each other unconditionally and been wholly devoted to each other, but in this phase in our life, God has really taught us how to like each other and depend on each other fully. i love being her husband and taking care of her. i love it that there is no one else here who will watch out for her, and i am all that she's got. i would say it is the say on her side too. its pretty cool man.
about the presidency. from what i've heard it has been very grueling for our friends back at home and for the US. i am glad that its over, regardless of who won. mostly, i am glad that we all know that regardless of who is the PREZ, they need our prayers and that at the center of who we are is Christ, not our political views. God is sovereign, and this is who he has chosen for our nation in these times. HE is in control, so no worries man.
Johan, congrats on doing well at TNM. if i was IL i would be worried. MN is tearing it up and all i've heard is nothing from the IL front as far as mtg goes. right now i'm working on a RIver Kelpie deck. it will be arriving with Sarah next week so i'm pumped. i want to see how it interacts with Cruel Ultimatum. i'll let you know how it works out. right now i'm pretty bored of my decks here. my RDW shaman build is still tearing my other decks apart. i'm a still convinced that somehow the Enchanted Evening/Patrician's Scorn combo can be Tier One. it is missing one or two cards that makes it gel. maybe its already out there, but i havent found it. i spent the whole day at work thinking about how i can make it stronger...
okay, enough talk. drop a phone call in sometime, or just a small reply to our messages gets us totally pumped. its a far ways from home and whenever we get news from home, it genuinely excites us.
Congrats to Pheng and Nou. you guys will love marriage, its super awesome.
josh out.
our house is 75% done furnished. i used to hate watching all those home furnishing tv shows but now i have to admit...i'm one of those house furnishing psychos! its true...i care tons about how my abode looks. its one of those things that i've found out about myself in shanghai.
Mai kao and i are doing great! we've been together for over 3 years now, but we have never been alone and by ourselves with only ourselves. this experience overseas has really glued our relationship together tight. we have always loved each other unconditionally and been wholly devoted to each other, but in this phase in our life, God has really taught us how to like each other and depend on each other fully. i love being her husband and taking care of her. i love it that there is no one else here who will watch out for her, and i am all that she's got. i would say it is the say on her side too. its pretty cool man.
about the presidency. from what i've heard it has been very grueling for our friends back at home and for the US. i am glad that its over, regardless of who won. mostly, i am glad that we all know that regardless of who is the PREZ, they need our prayers and that at the center of who we are is Christ, not our political views. God is sovereign, and this is who he has chosen for our nation in these times. HE is in control, so no worries man.
Johan, congrats on doing well at TNM. if i was IL i would be worried. MN is tearing it up and all i've heard is nothing from the IL front as far as mtg goes. right now i'm working on a RIver Kelpie deck. it will be arriving with Sarah next week so i'm pumped. i want to see how it interacts with Cruel Ultimatum. i'll let you know how it works out. right now i'm pretty bored of my decks here. my RDW shaman build is still tearing my other decks apart. i'm a still convinced that somehow the Enchanted Evening/Patrician's Scorn combo can be Tier One. it is missing one or two cards that makes it gel. maybe its already out there, but i havent found it. i spent the whole day at work thinking about how i can make it stronger...
okay, enough talk. drop a phone call in sometime, or just a small reply to our messages gets us totally pumped. its a far ways from home and whenever we get news from home, it genuinely excites us.
Congrats to Pheng and Nou. you guys will love marriage, its super awesome.
josh out.
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