PRAY FOR THEM
It is easy to forget, looking at pictures of smiling babies, that what is happening here is hard. Moms and dads have left children behind for two weeks. Little girls have had everything they have known for their whole life changed (in the long term for the great, in the short term hard). The food is different. The communication is hard.
Not that any of this is supper bad, and someday will just be more great family stories. Until then, it can be hard.
Please keep the 14 families (and their newest members) in your prayers.
STAY THERE
In the comment section of Brad and Joia’s blog, people are saying over and over again, “We can’t want for you to come home.”
Yesterday that sentiment changed a little with the comment,”But Gene will need to stay there…I really enjoy reading about his daily journeys into the unknown.”
I think that is a complement???
MORNING QIGONG
Out side are hotel is a park with a large square. Every morning a number of groups gather in the part to do their morning qigong. Qigong literally translate to energy (qi) practice (gong).
Qigong has been part of Chinese culture for over 2500 years. The belief is that we have a lifefore or energy flowing through us call qi (often spelled Chi). If the qi gets stagnate in out body (not flowing properly through out) we get sick, much like stagnate water.
By doing different breathing exercises or movements, we can insure that our qi moves properly keeping us healthy. Qigong was passed down from master to student in thousands of different ways over the last 2500 years.
Each morning people gather to do their particular type of pactice. Some with swards. Some with fans. Some just move their bodies. It is beautiful to watch.
If you click the picture below you will see a short video of the largest group that meets each morning. It is all women (minus on man) and they move for about 90 minutes to music. They move for 5 minutes then stop for a minute or two. They all do the same order of moments together.
The video is more than 12MB. I have set the link up to open in a new window, so you can keep reading here while the video loads.
ZOO
We spent the morning at the zoo. It is a very nice zoo. The highlight was obviously the Pandas. Pandas are native to this region. As a species they are over a million years old. There is only about 1000 left in the world.
Lots of Panda pictures
We were also very lucky to see the very rare Red Panda. I know, it looks nothing like the panda bear. Very cool animal from the Himalayas none the less.
Lots of Red Panda pictures
But the most popular animal in the park had to be the horse that was Uncle Gene. I spent most of the day with one older sibling or anther up on my shoulders.
Which was a lot of fun
SQUID ON A STICK
I was told there is one thing I need to do in China, by one of my roommates. Eat squid on a stick. Jason (one of our new friends) and myself headed off after the zoo to do just that. It was so good, we went back for seconds!
“FOOT MASSAGE”
We were told that we needed to go to this day spa to get a traditional foot massage. For about $7 it was 1 1/2 hours long.
How could you spend 1 1/2 on a foot massage? By also getting your legs, arms and back done.
I was done in three acts. Like nothing I have ever had before. Joia, Kendra (a new friend) and myself went.
There was no communication between us and the staff. We had no idea what was going on.
We tried to leave twice thinking we were done, only to be rushed back to get more work.
If felt awesome, but unusual.
I think it is better if I don’t go into a lot of detail.
Here is a picture of my feet in some herb bath, being rubbed.
As a side note, people in my life have always felt that I should give masseuses an extra tip because my feet are so big and it requires more work. The young woman who was working on me had to get a talker stool to get high enough to reach the top of my feet. (That is not a joke. It really happened).