texas.

my body is in texas, but my heart is in china.

i long to be back in my beloved china. 

i went to walmart today to buy school supplies and was shocked by the coldness of the people there. i miss all the smiling faces and the endless noise.

i miss chinese opera music well into the night.

i miss my hard bed and the stinky tofu being sold on the street.

i miss the pearl lady and her crazy english.

i miss my home.

hong kong.

im in hong kong again.

this city is preeeeetty.

ill be home soon.

four twenty.

good morning.

its four twenty in the morning and my journey home begins now.

i will see texas in thirty eight hours or so.

much love.

some r&r.

today was a lovely day of fun. we spent the day at one of the prettiest places on earth, went to the beach and ate more jousa than anyone ever has. :-)

picture number one is of me and peter with our chinese hats! we are ready to do kung fu, eat jousa and work in the rice patties. these hats are so so so fun! i am so glad we found them for sale.

picture number two is me on the dock at the beach today, it was such a beautiful beach with totally clear water.

picture number three is me at the beach again. just to answer the question i know you have mom, i am wearing clothes because we were told this morning it was only going to be about 60 degrees today so we all wore jeans and brought hoodies. so we all had to roll up our pant legs and play in the water like that.

picture number four is on the bus ride today. it was such a funny bus, it would stop randomly along the road to pick up people who wanted rides and drop them off at any place down the road. one bus we took today was probably the craziest thing i have ever ridden in. all the cousins and aunt sue remember the crazy bus from camp abaco, well this one make that one look niiiiiiice. this bus was one rmb cheaper to ride so we thought sure why not save 15 cents and ride this bus. well first off, the driver is smoking while he drives down the road, and because of that a couple of guys join him. then, the little lady that takes your money when you walk on the bus will not sit down, no matter how many empty seats are around her, she instead holds onto a piece of either rope or part of an old seat belt she has tied onto the door to keep it shut as the bus bounces down the road. for some reason this bus had a little night light sized bulb just hanging from the ceiling, it was just randomly hanging there. on top of everything, the fumes came in from the 2 small windows that would open and put most of us in a poison induced coma/nap. but, the good news is we arrived safe and sound and had a great day!

picture number five is of a little boy on the street today, his mother sells chickens and ducks while he stands next to her. i thought he was totally adorable.

picture number six are of peter and my beautiful feet. we spent over 8 hours next to each other on a bus, what else would be be doing with our time other than taking pictures of our feet? haha!

anyway, i have been thinking about tomorrow being my last full day here and instead of saying im going back "home" i am going back to the states to get things ready to come home. i have always been told that home is where the heart is, and my heart is in a small village amongst the high rise buildings of this city. i have wanted to live and die in china since i was a small child and now i know where in china i am going to be. 

i will see yall soon.

much love.

so little time left.

i have been getting requests for more pictures....so i hope you enjoyed these.

picture number one was our welcome table at this restaurant we went to. they are live crabs, tied up with leaves and set around a huge pile of ginger root with christmas lights on it. leave it to the chinese to be creative huh?

picture number two and three are what we call "bib" (bone in every bite) chicken. it is a whole chicken, insides and everything fully cooked, covered in sauce, then its chopped up and served. the honored guest gets the plate in front of them with the head facing him. i think the head ended up on everyones plate during the course of dinner. it actually is my favorite meat dish here. the chicken is so moist and just so so good, it is a lot of work picking out the bones though.

picture number four is of some kids in a paddle boat. peter and i rented a paddle boat and went sailing around the big pond in the beautiful park. these kids were so funny, they were yelling "hello!!!" at me from across the pond and wanted me to get closer to them so they could say hi. notice that none of them have life vests on and there is no adult supervising. so very different from my childhood days of paddle boat fun!

picture number five is me in the paddle boat, it was so nice, the sun was setting behind the buildings and casting a glow over the pond.

picture number six is a rose made from molding clay. there was a homeless guy who was making these flowers and peter bought me one. it was soft and would not harden, so i gave it to a girl because i will not be able to take it back to the states with me, because it is soft and it would get messed up. the red clay even smelled like a rose, it was such a beautiful gift. i wish i could have kept it.

i have been having a very hard time coming to terms that i am leaving in two days. i do not want to leave. peter and i even formed a plan that ends with me getting "lost" in hong kong and then he comes and finds me. haha!

it is funny, at night time the city comes to life, it is 11pm right now and for some reason there is chinese opera playing in the street. we can hear it from our room and it is funny. opera music in general is not something i want to listen to on a regular basis, but chinese opera is about 75 million times more annoying. yet, for some reason, i love listening to it, it lulls me to sleep at night. 

tomorrow we are going on a journey, we have to wake up at 5am to catch a bus by 645 and go on an adventure. its going to be so cool! i am really excited! i will tell you all about it on monday night.

this trip could not have gone any better, it has been very evident that each and every one of us came here for a reason. there was never any "dead weight" or fruitless efforts. not only has strength been multiplied, but sickness has not gotten any of us. i only barfed once and one other girl did too, but that has been it. in comparison to other times in china this is unheard of. last night i could not sleep, i would wake up and feel like i needed to spend time with my Father and i would, then i would cry and fall back to sleep, i did that over and over all throughout the night. never in my life have i known exactly what i want to do, where i want to be and where my feet were to go, until now. i cannot wait to learn chinese and then learn the dialect from this area. i know that these people are going to soon become not only my friends, my neighbors, and classmates, but also my family. greater things are yet to come, the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. these tired feet have founding their resting place.

feeling the movement.

there is a movement going through this city and it is powerful, greater things are yet to come. today we went to the oldest part of town and took pictures. we went through some very poor villages and played with a bunch of kids. i love the children here, i would love nothing more than to move into their village, live with these kids and play with them everyday. one little girl went and got her barbie doll when she saw us, she wanted to show her to us. it was precious. the little baby in the picture kept following me, smiling at me and wanted me to hold him, it was adorable. 

the first picture was from dinner tonight. we went to a place on the street and had hot pot! it was so yummy! most of the smaller places put toilet paper on the table for napkins and the nicer places charge you 1-3 yuan for a package of napkins. so, i thought the toilet paper amongst the many sauces was a nice picture. 

after dinner we went out with a new friend of ours to get coffee and we got to share the story with her. the coffee from this area is strong, yet really really good. 

today i had my first feeling of sickness, and get this, after eating at pizza hut. go figure huh? i have been eating dinner off the streets every night and brushing my teeth with tap water and the "western" food makes me sick. haha i guess i can just say its a sign that i should stay here and only eat chinese food. :-)

man, i do not want to leave here. i have come to love the noise, the traffic, the smells, the random "hellos" with a very strong accent when i walk by. i just love this place. china has a very distinct smell and i know i will miss the smell once i get back home. 

well, i need to go to bed now because our wake up call will probably earlier than we expect tomorrow.

check your feet and make sure they are being beautiful!

 

hairy red fruit.

this is my new favorite fruit, the name translates to "hairy red fruit".

it is kinda sweet and sour and is soooo yummy! if there was a way for me to bring some home i would for sure, but international customs says no. oh well, i will go on a hunt when i get back home to hopefully find some. 

yesterday we went through some back ally villages in the outer parts of the city and met a lot of people, i met an adorable old man who is 72 years old and when he and i started talking he offered me his chair. that may not seem like very much, but in chinese culture for an elder to offer his chair to a younger person and a woman at that speaks volumes. i told him thank you, but he could sit on it and i would be happy to sit next to him on the floor. he even invited me to dinner at his house later that evening, but i was not able to go because of logistical reasons. i felt so very honored to even be invited. i will try to go back this week to see him. 

we went walking through the neighborhood and met tons of people, and one time we had about 30 men, women and children following us. we were the first americans to go through their area and they brought everyone out to see us. i bought some cookies earlier in the day and i shared them with the children. mothers were coming out to show off their babies and let me touch them and everyone wanted their picture taken with me. as i walked to streets i made the most of my time, i love these people, i would love to spend every day among them. they showed me their neighborhood god/protector and i got to see his little temple. these people have my heart and i will not be settled until i am here. i am planning on coming back to study chinese over the summer. i found a nice apartment building and i know that being in the culture for so long would really help me learn. peter taught me how to write eight chinese characters today and he said that i did a very good job, but i have a feeling he is just trying to make me feel good. 

every night setting up our morning wake up call takes about 30-45 mins. first we call down to the front desk, then they call us back and say a time back to us, normally it is the wrong time and then finally they send someone to our door for us to write the time down for them. well last night i called the front desk and talked to someone who only speaks chinese and then hung up, and expected a call back within the next 10 mins or so. well about 5 mins later a guy calls and here is the conversation: 

chinese man: "Hi"

crystal: "Hi"

chinese man: "giggle....nigga"

crystal: "giggle..."

chinese man: "morning call six sirty?" (thirty)

crystal: "yo"(yes)

chinese man: "giggle...click"

well, "nigga" is the chinese version of "umm" or "uh" so he was just nervous talking to me, it was so funny though. i have started to notice it a lot now and it really makes me laugh, it would not go over well in the states that for sure. oh and of course, they called us with our morning call at six am instead of six thirty....oh well, we are on china time, it can differ an hour or so in either direction and its totally acceptable.

today we found a very old village in the middle of the city and we explored it. we met some kiddos who quickly latched on to us. we went and enjoyed tea at a little place on the side of the road and sat there drinking our pot of tea for an hour or so and it only cost 2 yuan total, which is about 24 cents american. after tea, we followed the kids through their village and got to meet some immigrant worker families. they come from all over china to help build the huge buildings that are going up all over the city. their live in what would be small storage buildings in the states with the rolling metal garage door and everything. we got to sit and talk with a family for awhile and sow some seeds.

while we were walking the streets of this village, we saw a small store that sold all sorts of snacks and candy for children, so we told the kids with us they could all pick something out and we would buy it for them. their eyes lit up and they were so very excited! most of them picked these big lollypops and one little boy picked a package of cookies. i taught them how to say "lollypop" and "cookie" in english. they were so adorable. i think there was about 7-10 little boys following us around. 

at one point we had to use the restroom and so we asked the boys where the closest one was, and they took us about 3 blocks away to some strange place where we had to pay an old lady 30 cents (chinese, only about 4 cents american) to use the squatty potty. 

one thing i have seen here that i have never ever seen before is the pants the babies wear. the chinese children are potty trained by the time they are one to one and a half years old, and to help them learn is they wear these strange pants that are totally split open from the top of the butt to the front side along the seam of the pants. the babies bottoms and family "jewels" are there for all to see. it is not uncommon to see babies going potty in the stores on the floor, on the streets in the market or going "number two" in the park. also the little boys seem to just prance around with their little "thingys" showing to everyone...it is so funny.

i have been making a dvd of all the pictures i have been taking here and i am so excited to show it off to yall. i made the thing and it makes me cry! haha!

anyway, it is getting late and im pretty tired from all the walking on beautiful feet.

remember, as you go sow....there is no excuse not to make the most of every opportunity.

a bit early today.

hungry anyone?

i had to share this culture treat with yall, out of all the westerners only cameron and i were brave enough to try these lovely little feet. we called it "taking one for the team".

i know i look a little "special" in my picture, but i accredit that to being sleepy, having unruly hair and walking around 3-4 miles a day in flip flops. :-)

the realization hit me today that i have to go home, i do not get to stay here forever like i want to. last time i left china i left a piece of my heart behind and i have been living with a hole in my heart for the three years. this time i will be leaving my whole heart behind. i walk down the street and i have such a love and admiration for these beautiful people. i want to be with them, i want to learn from them, i want to walk with them, i want to ride in their crazy taxis. it is more than the food, the crazy shopping, the smells, the sounds, the culture, it is so much more. i love the people of china. they have captured my heart and i have a sense of urgency and i am excited where i will be walking on my beautiful feet.

i challenge you today to take a walk on your beautiful feet and as you go, sow.

more along the journey.

the journey continues.....

i hope you enjoyed some pictures i took today....the last one is a lil sad...poor lil piggy. the middle picture is of dried snake skin, and no joke it is food here...mmm...anyone hungry? haha!

so today i went through a meat market and got to see so many strange things for sell...pretty much if it is alive or crawls it is eatable. i saw cages of cats, bunnies, chickens, birds, turtles and my favorite one, the large mesh bag of live snakes. we went through the seafood market as well, again if it lives in the sea they sell it, everything from sea cucumber to blood worms and sea horses by the ten gallon bag. it was memorable for sure.

once we worked up our appetite walking through the market we had a nice lunch of jousa or in english "dumplings" and noodles. it was so good....i love the food here, i have only wanted to gag once and it was not because of the taste, but because of the texture and that was today at the tea shop with some new friends i met today. they ordered a plate of chicken feet, i have seen them many times and i knew i would try them....and today was the day! they came out looking just like chicken feet, with the nails/claws and all, it was covered in this sauce that is a mixture between soy and sweet and sour sauce. they taste was not bad at all, but the texture was terrible, there is no meat on the feet at all, only the skin, so the object is to rip the skin off the bone and enjoy! the part that got to me the most was the bottom of the feet, it was just too strange. 

tonight i went to the market with a couple of people and we met a nice lady who served us lots and lots of tea while she chatted with us. i have been learning as many words in chinese as i can, i would love to one day be fluent. "Ho ha" means "its good to drink" "Ho" means "good" "jigga jigga" means "this" "booya" means "i don't want" and of course "ni how" means "hello". so there is your chinese lesson for today. :-)

i have found my favorite street vendor and i am planning on eating street food the rest of the dinners here, this guy makes these fold up things with peppers, egg, chives and lettuce in them. peter and i got them for dinner and ate them in the market while we drank tea with our new friend. i also found these yummy fruits that are soooo cheap! 5 of them for only 5 rmb which is less than a dollar american. yum yum yum!

haha so this has been a very long post about the food of china, what can i say...i love cultural food! haha 

the seeds are being planted and we have already seen some harvest, so my time here has been good. tomorrow we are thinking about going to the sea and we will see how things go out there. i will be coming home in a week! i miss you all and think of you daily. 

much love.

a fire ignited.

looking back over the days i have been in china today has been the most monumental for me, even though it was our "tour day".

we have been studying buddhism and taoism and today we were able to go to a taoist temple. the design and structure of the buildings was amazingly beautiful, the gods were so ornate and very well taken care of and the incense was stronger than in any 1970s hippie van. as soon as we walked through the "middle gate" of the temple the whole mood/aura of the group changed. we started walking with purpose and knew we had business to do while we were there. 

our tour guide was a very friendly college student who is a taoist and is very passionate about what he believes, he was very eager to tell us about what each and every god did and how important ying and yang are. i was brought to tears many many times on the tour. i found the god that is supposed to be my "protector" according to the chinese zodiac and peter and i did some business with him. the air was very heavy in the temples and it was not because of the incense, everyone could feel it and our views of the taoist religion will never be the same.

after our tour, we climbed to the highest spot in the whole area above the temple and did business up there. it was a very hard climb, i would say it was the great wall for this area. we got to the top of the mountain and we read from a Book, talked and planted seeds. on our way down from the temple we got to meet the oldest monk there, he is 98 years old and we were able to talk to him and give him a few seeds. 

i know i have promised to put some pictures up, and i am sorry i have not been able to yet, but here are a couple from yesterday for your viewing pleasure. i love yall and i would love to talk to yall, so give me a call sometime....tomorrow is a free day....hint hint!

much love, enjoy the pictures....

very yummy fresh coconut milk...mmm....

everyones favorite squatty potties! and i took a picture of the cleanest one (in KFC).

peter and me eating food from his hometown.

my favorite soup, 5 or 6 different types of mushrooms or as they say in china "fungus"

goodnight and stay tuned for more updates.

over and beyond.

as i sit in front of my computer i feel tears on the brink of spilling over my eye lashes. 

today was intense....i will start from the beginning...

my two closest friends here and i (we call ourselves team boston) felt like going to the beach today to see if maybe their was some fertile land there to plant a few seeds in. when we finally got down there we saw an amazing site, a 3 person bike! so being the great tourist we are we rented one and headed out for a nice bike ride...well not only do i attract a lot of attention for being white, just put me on a 3 person bike and all of asia is sure to show up to watch me make a fool out of myself! as we three climbed on the bike and attempted to ride, we kept falling, laughing, screaming and just looking like total goof balls.

we finally realized why we could not ride the huge bike, it was the bikes fault...so we got a new bike and off we went to see the wonderful beach.

we found the water and i got to touch the sea. it was pretty chilly!

we met up with a nice girl we met yesterday and we went to get dinner at a place that specializes in serving all the best dishes from Chairman Mao's hometown. it was very very tasty and spicy! we got cucumbers chilled with chilies and ginger, glass noodles with ginger and cabbage, beef ribs with chives and ginger and warm corn milk to drink. our dinner was lovely and we got to talk with our friend. i told her about my many travels and we talked about life, love, peace and happiness. i wore my shirt that has "peace" written all over it in many different languages, the Chinese one written across my chest for a reason.

while we were talking i felt sick and my heart started beating very quickly. my team member felt it as well, we felt a strong force coming on and we had to counter it quickly. all in all we know Who wins in the end and until then we keep on doin what we are doin.

i love each of you very much and know that when i get home you will get to hear (as paul harvey says) the rest of the story.

black friday or red thursday?

when i was in new york city, shopping on times square in december i thought i had seen the most crowded place in the world...until i saw new years day in china. today is chinas version of "black friday" today at 7am people were waiting in line to buy the latest flat screen tv or the highest quality steamer for their clothes. it was amazing. people had tables set up and were standing on make shift stages with microphones so they could show off their products. 

stores have huge balloons flying, music playing and even face paint on to celebrate this crazy shopping day.

we went walking with a purpose and did some fishing and even caught a fish! not only am i practicing my agriculture skills, but also my fisherman skills, i guess one could say i am exploring all different skills, trades and paths of life. i am learning so many things and at times i feel like my head in spinning, but it the end result will be so very worth it.

i met a nice girl today and we went to dinner and then she took me shopping. it was so very fun, she held my hand the whole time and said it was amazing how we met and i told her it was divine.

i am sorry todays posts is not very long, but i am very sleepy and drained in every way, and in the best way. there has been a lot going on that the eyes cannot see.

much love to each of you.