The Blogger Ninja

Today I was introduced to the world of web proxy ninja freedom fighters....
Yesterday my friend Scott and I took the back way up a mountain towards a lucky monastery hoping to find some dirt to put underneath our tires. Our wish was granted as pavement gave way to a muddy trail that had been cut to pieces by horses as the slipped their way up the trail. Keeping our eyes out for horses we charged up the trail only to find ourselves surrounded by farmers fields half way up the mountain with the real trail to the top no where in sight. Thinking we saw the trail threw our bikes over our shoulders and tip toed across a farmers field. On the other side we ran into a thicket of thorns and an almost vertical slope of mud and grass. Then a nice Chinese farmer came out and told us that he had been trying to get our attention for the last 30 minutes since we passed his house to tell us that we were going the wrong way. Eventually we followed his directions and found the path, it was covered in stairs so we again shouldered our bikes and hiked to the top passing Chinese tourists as they admired our bodies.(thats actually what they said, (wa they have nice bodies) but not exactly what it means)

Congenital Heart Failure An Earthquake and snow covered mountains.

Right now I am sitting in a room full of smoke and computers. They call it an internet bar the bar part must be why it is full of smoke and the internet part is why I am here. Here is a quik list of my recent adventures. Came to China, got to the airport with three phone numbers and a partial address. Made friends borrowed phones got another phone number for the friends that I am going to stay with after calling their grandma and uncle who, it turns out, only speak Sichuan Chinese wich over the phone doesn't sound very much like mandarin. Decode Sichuanese get phone number and address, take taxi to their house. Start to build my cross bike realize peices are missing, eat hot and spicy food realize that it is spicy at both ends. ( if you have to think about that, then you probably shouldn't). Watch Nanjing Nanjing, it makes me sick in a way that a war movie should, violence is bad. Get a phone call invitation from Nana to go to the mountains the next morning, pack wake up three hours later, meet new friends, enjoy green mountians covered in snow and the first quiet that I have heard in weeks. Thank God for nature, get excited to be in China. Start working at the hospital, learn about diagnosing patients in Sichuanese, see doctors use catheters to implant devices to fix holes created by congenital heart disease. Feel really excited, learn about congenital heart disease, watch a temporary pacemaker inserted by catheter to stabalize an 11 year old with a sickness that has blocked the transmission of nervous signals from her to her right ventricule. Transelate for a meeting with heartlink to discuss support for the training of a new surgical team. Buy a cheap bike with a friend Luo Lili who has helped me get a gym membership, a bike, bike parts and taught me tons about medicine. See Nana off on her long worldwide trip. Ride my new bike home from where I bought it in the city center. This takes an hour and a half and navigation of streets whose names constantly change and the help of many really nice traffic officers. Make a makeshit shim out of coconut milk and soda cans mount my handlebars, ride my bike into the city looking for real parts to replace the cans with. Success, ride home really fast, run into rope, land on my feet, scar a guy getting out of a car, tell him everything is okay, ride fast again. Go to church, leave church get in a car go to the place where the earthquake was, feel sad, like the people, pray for them, come home get excited to go to work, realize this is the first time I have looked forward to going to work. Wonder why I like it so much, think it is because of the team work and the constant learning, don't care why, get up eat bread while I ride to work, don't get lost.

And that is my life in China.

Until Next Week,

Zaijian.

Rain drops falling on my head

First backcountry adventure today. (With a beacon and with out a class) Two solid days of rain melted the snow that we were planning on skiing and drenched us as we hiked. Practiced with beacons and dodged rocks and dirt on the way down with grins on our faces.

Wraping Up Peanut Butter and Honey and Eating Plants

Since I haven't blogged in a while I will throw in some pictures. Lately I have been working on the final papers so I can get back for the ski season starting on the 30th. These pictures show my everyday life in China. The first series is how I get my peanut butter and honey fix and the last two are me eating plants with my Roommate Chengxi 程曦. It was the stem of something that looked like sugar cane on the outside but wasn't on the inside. It tastes like syrup, and is pretty good the last picture is what is left after you get the juice out... not much. It makes me feel like a beaver!

Pictures for Huangshan Day 3 and 4

Guanxi

Saturday the rain kept coming down and although many of my friends were sad that we were walking in a cloud all day and couldn't see very far, it was beautiful, and a perfect contrast from the day before. We were walking in a cloud...you don't get to do that everyday. We got up early to make it to the door of the Grand Canyon which they apparently close early if you are walking in a cloud.

We hiked down into the canyon along walkways that were sticking strait out of the wall and the cloud cleared periodically sometimes cloaking us in mystery and silence, sometimes breaking to show the shear walls along which we were walking. At one point we saw a cloud running like a river up a valley cut in the shear rock across us. Fall leaves of read and yellow poked brilliant colors out of the mist.

At noon we went back to the hotel picked up our stuff and they left for home while I waited for Susanah and Javier to meet me. We were planning on hiking around then camping under the stars in a secret grove of trees that we were sure we could find, but it was still raining and they showed up just as wet and tired as I was. So plan B, find somewhere else to sleep... The only dry place on top of the mountain was inside one of the hotels so we hiked up to the second floor hallway of a hotel and decided to dry off rest and figure out how to stay in the hotel. Rooms on top of the mountain cost around a thousand Chinese dollars which is way more than you should pay for anything that isn't imported... so ethically that was out of the question.

After a little while of sitting on nice soft chairs in the hallway we decided that the best place to stay would be right there, in the hallway. Yep that is right, we wanted to sleep in the hallway of a 5 star hotel on top of a mountain. But how to do it. The answer is Guanxi. A couple hours later we were best friends with the Guard who checked us in and told his coworkers that we would be sleeping there for the night. We slept soundly and left early the next morning.

It made me realize one that even the most outrageous idea can work out if you are respectful and give go forward with it. It also made me realize the importance of treating people well and not becoming a free loader.

The next morning we hiked down the mountain as the clouds blew away and the sun came out revealing gorgeous vistas, freshly touched with rain.

We got to the bottom of the mountain hungry, cold and incredibly happy.

At the bottom we found Javier's company car parked where it had been left and drove into the small town of 汤口 where we found steamy soup filled dumplings, hundun, and youtiao which we ate in an open walled shop while we looked out at the still misty morning, happy and content.

Three hours later I made it back in time for the last 30 minutes of church, and felt incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go to a church lead by the Savior through his priesthood.

Pictures for Yellow Mountain Chinese Baptism