Niujie Mosque

Today my friend Sam took us to a mosque in the heart of the city. Turns out that Islam has been in China for a very long time, so long that there are some ethnicities that are known for being Muslim. This particular mosque was built in 996 AD, and has had various renovations and additions since then. What many of us were surprised at was that the architecture and motifs were all Chinese. Except for the Arabic
writings in parts of the buildings, and especially in the prayer hall, you would have thought is was just an ancient Chinese community.

I appreciated Sam sharing this part of his culture and religion with us. The exchange has been
very mutual; he has been asking so many questions about Latter-day Saint (LDS, or Mormon) beliefs and has come to believe that we about 90% in common, from a principle standpoint. He told me that in the Koran there is a prophecy from the Prophet Muhammad that speaks of Christian religions in the last days that will have much in common with Islam. Frankly, Sam has been searching for such a religion and such a people, but in the past four years he has been at this international school, meeting people from all around the world and of a plethora of sects, none ever came close to what he believed, until he met the Mormons.

Sam has expressed on several occasions the joy he has felt at finding people in Christendom that he can relate to, and though he is one of the more popular guys on the campus, he has lately chosen to spend most if not all of his time with the BYU-I students. He seems like the kind of person that will go far in life, and I'm glad that in this point of his searching he has found a positive representation of Christianity and Americanism in us.

As an afterthought, he is an avid fan of Lord of the Rings and Avatar, which means that aside from the all that I have already said, there is sufficient grounds for an automatic and zealous positive bias towards him in my book.

Pocari Sweat

In the week prior to us leaving from the States, Lacey had gotten quite dehydrated, a situation that was remedied by Powerade and Pedialyte (concentrated unflavored electrolyte solution). I actually packed a bottle of Pedialyte to make sure that we were prepared for any situation that could arise while here. Unsurprisingly, they have plenty of Gatorade here, so we are not at a lack there, however, it is not the preferred liquid-restoring beverage for athletes and students in Asia. It was in one of my classes that I saw a Korean classmate drinking out of a blue pop can, and the name of the drink was "Pocari Sweat". I couldn't help but laugh out loud, and with a quizzical look from my classmate I translated the word 'sweat' for him so that he could perhaps understand the humor. He justified the title by explaining that it was so named because it was an electrolyte drink that replaced the sweat one lost. I can objectively see the point, but it was a point in which I stood unconvinced that a literal marketing attempt would have sway amongst a Western audience.

Tender Mercies

The decision to come to China in the midst of a pregnancy was not an easy one, and sustaining that decision once we got here has been difficult. As of today, Lacey has literally not left our dorm room for a week and not for lack of want. Many pregnant women might understand the feeling of getting of the bed and moving to the next room as evoking feelings equivalent to being hit by a train, an experience that makes leaving the dorm and going on any extensive walk nothing short of fantasy.

Through the physical ordeals Lacey has been emotionally temperate, as always, but after now almost a month of miserable morning sickness she was sick of being sick. I was getting frustrated of being unable to find some sort of vegetable that had not been smothered in oil before being fried. Saturday evening, we were both at our outer limits and just didn't know what more we could do besides continue enduring it. I was approached by a girl from our BYU-Idaho group that evening who said that many of the students were going to fast (to understand more about fasting, see Fasting @ LDS.org) for her, an act which made us very grateful. But that was only the beginning.

On Sunday, Lacey wasn't even feeling up to going to church, which is saying something considering it is Lacey I'm talking about. Later during church I had several pregnant women coming up to me asking what food Lacey liked, because they were going to the American grocery stores in the city to get her whatever she wanted.  They also were passing around a sheet in Relief Society (See Relief Society @ LDS.org) for the sisters in the branch to volunteer for which days this week they would make and bring meals to Lacey, again, whatever she wanted.

Later that evening, Aaron and Leslie Lindeman paid us a visit. They had moved to Beijing when they were four months pregnant with their first child, and have lived here since. Leslie is again pregnant, now six months along with their second, so they have gone through everything we are going through. They brought us a whole crock pot of chicken noodle soup, which as simple as that sounds it something hard to get a hold of when you don't have a kitchen to cook things. They also brought homemade bread, silverware, plates, cups, and Tupperware.

The fact that they drove across the whole city to come visit us and provide some understanding for what we are experiencing along with the food, as simple as it was, was enough to leave both of us in tears of gratitude after they left. As if these angels hadn't already touched us enough, they have an extra bedroom with a king-sized pillow top bed and a private bathroom that they are letting us stay in for this coming three-day weekend. That thought alone has been enough to keep Lacey in tears for as often as she thinks about it.

May it be understood that having a family is a glorious thing and that blessings are never more manifest than when in pursuit of the family. But the 'glory' of it is certainly not prevalent, if even present, in this part of the journey. The question has been asked whether this is worth it and if this is really part of a plan of happiness. In firm contestation it is worth it and the looming brink of uncertainly will always be railed and abated for those who humbly trust in the plan that has been designed for our happiness and salvation. Ultimately, there can be no doubt that God is Father of all and He answers prayers… no matter
where in the world we are.

Mulan’s Luck

In the same-titled Disney movie, Mulan traverses ancient
China with the company of her cricket, a gift of good luck from her grandmother
prior to her matchmaking session. Now I seriously would have thought that
something like that would be an old tradition long lost. Not true.
 
I was returning from Zizhuyuan Park one day when I found a
really large underground mall. It goes three stories down, and has a lot of
little cubicle like shops that have niche specific items that you can't
normally find in the supermarket. There were dozens of plant shops, fishing
shops, etc. In one intersection of a couple of aisles there were several pet
stores, and one was specifically dedicated to birds. I was walking near said
store and there was this high-pitched sound like a fire alarm sound going off, and
I noticed the noise was certainly louder the closer to the bird store I was.
 
It wasn't until I practically had my ears pressed upon them
that I noticed these little wicker cages and lo and behold, crickets. They were
really large, about the size of my whole thumb, and unlike Mulan's these were a
brilliant green. They cost 30 RMB each (about 5 USD) which may not be a whole
lot, but much more than I would be willing to pay for a cricket, and I
certainly know that the amount of sleep lost with that incessant chirping
cannot possibly be lucky.

Iraqi Intelligence

One thing that I have always enjoyed about being abroad is
that so often, you meet people from cultures all over the world. This reality
is enhanced here at our school since the near 1000 students are all from other
countries. I have been making friends from the U.K., Italy, Korea, Russia, and
even Iraq. It is actually concerning the last that I want to address today.
 
My friend Sam Allamy is Iraqi through and through, but he
and his fellow Iraqis here at CNU are essentially part of an innovative effort
to bring China to Iraq and visa versa. He was attending a university in Iraq
studying Turkish, but then applied for and received a full package scholarship
(tuition, room, and stipend) to CNU, so he and his companions accepted and have
been in China since. They all received their bachelor degrees and then in a
stroke of genius, or perhaps just common sense, they approached a China
petroleum company and basically pitched, "We're Iraqi, our country has oil, we
speak Chinese, you interested?" Needless to say, they were.
 
After just a summer's work, the company encouraged them to
return to school and get master's degrees, meanwhile holding their jobs until
they finished. So Sam is in his first semesters of a master's program here and
still lived in the dorms on campus, which is how I met him. He actually thought
that he already knew may, insisting that if not me, someone that looks exactly
like me was here two years ago. In any case that was a good segue to introduce
myself.
 
During our first discourses, I avoided overtly talking about
the war because since Sam is pretty popular around here I imagined that the
subject had been repeated to the point of monotony. However, that didn't keep
my American colleagues from broaching the subject. It was through their
questions that I actually learned that Sam, and many Iraqis, appreciated the
presence of the US Military in Iraq. He acknowledge that there are plenty of
factions and subterfuges that the Iraqi government left alone would not have
the capability of containing, and so US presence has been and is still
something of a necessity. Furthermore, he said that in order to institute long
lasting change (no easy feat since the people we are talking about inculcating
change into have been culturally established for thousands of years) he thinks
that it could potentially be another decade or two before their feet would be
firmly enough underneath them.
 
I do not intend my platform to be political in nature,
however, part of my commitment as Explorer Michael is to share then smaller
more discrete facets of culture that I encounter and without out doubt Sam has
provided the most refreshing out-of-media-context perspective I have had.