After having not heard from Katie for several days, she finally called Saturday morning, Sunday morning and again this morning.
On their second day in Beijing, they had gone to see the Great Wall (stay tuned for the video of Katie "galloping" along the Great Wall of China!) and then on a tour of the 13 Tombs of the Ming Dynasty. On the first day, they had seen Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City Palace and Museum, the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple and had seen a Kung Fu performance that evening.
Katie said she was so tired after the trip to the Great Wall, that she decided she'd wait till the next day to call and she had also needed to purchase another Calling Card, which she did before leaving Beijing the next day. After lunch on Friday, the group of exchange students, flew to one of China's ancient capital cities, Xi'an and that evening saw a dinner theater performance of Tang Dynasty Song & Dance. Back at the hotel room, Katie discovered that the Calling Card she had purchased was only good in Beijing, so could not call home.
Saturday morning, she toured the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Museum of Terri Cotta Soldiers and the HuaQing Hot Springs and then caught an afternoon flight to Chengdu, the home of their Chinese exchange students.
The picture above is of Iris (our exchange student) and the rest of the Gao family. From the left are Mom, Grandmother, Iris and Dad.
Katie was telling me how beautiful their home was. I thought that I remembered Iris telling us that they lived in an apartment, but Katie told me that it was a very spacious (by China standards, at least) townhouse and that she even had her own room. She would find out later that they had rented the townhouse just for Katie's visit, so that she would have her own room! What gracious hosts!
We had purchased gifts for Katie to take to Iris and her family. We went mostly with a Cowboy theme, since, after all, this is Oklahoma. We sent Iris's mother a beautifully detailed tan suede jacket in a western cut with western designs. It fit her perfectly and she loved it! We sent Iris's dad very fancy, retro western shirt - black and red with black diamond shaped pearl snaps. And, we sent Iris a black cowhide messenger bag that still had the cow hair on one side and a pink "Genuine American" Levi tee shirt. We sent a crystal cowboy hat to decorate their home, as well as a cross to go on the wall. Next time you go shopping notice how difficult it is to buy anything that is not "Made in China."
Katie has, of course, eaten from interesting food! So far, she eaten a pig's ear, beef lung, frog (not legs, but a skinned body), whole shrimp (eyes and all), a whole fried fish (head, eyes and teeth) on a stick, hot soup made of wine and tofu, a cold drink of wine with watermelon and other fruit and opium balls.
Yes - Opium Balls! I don't know the details, but they had something called opium balls and when you eat them, it makes your mouth tingle and then go numb. The Chinese call them "Sustenance from the gods." Katie says she ate 5 at once - a feat matched only by one other person.
Chengdu, a city of 11.5 million people, is in Sichuan Province which is known for spicy food. It is a different kind of spicy than we think about and Katie is finding most of it to her liking. She said they had Bamboo stuffed with meat and rice and another dish which was rice and corn wrapped in leaves and that both were spicy, but not "hot" in the way we think of spicy, and they were very good. Some of the other kids were served fish eyes and I'm betting those were not so good.
In Chengdu, Katie and the other exchange students will be spending some time at the school with Iris and the other host teens attend. It is Chengdu's top high school and a great honor to be able to attend there. Katie and the others were presented with official school uniforms upon their arrival and also picture ID badges. Katie says the school grounds are beautiful. They had "American Hamburgers" prepared for their lunch. Apparently these were prepackaged and heated and Katie says they were the worst thing she has every eaten! Remember, that includes frog back and fried fish heads! When she met Iris for lunch, Iris told her that they are allowed to go off campus to eat lunch and that is what all the kids do. Apparently school cafeteria food is the same throughout the world!
Katie was one of five American students selected to judge an English Competition at the school on Friday - a great honor! (They must not have seen her current grade in English!)
Yesterday, they toured the Panda Research Center and were able to have their picture taken with a baby panda. They couldn't touch it for fear of making it sick, but, hopefully, we will have a picture of Katie with the panda to post sometime soon.
Wednesday night, they go to the Chinese Opera.
Do keep Katie in your prayers. Yesterday, she was walking across the street in a crosswalk - turned around talking - and would have been hit by a speeding cab, except one of the boys pulled her back out of the way and it missed her by inches. After experiencing traffic and driving in China, Katie has decided that her dad is not such a bad driver after all, so I'm thinking about sending Sheila on a trip to China!
The group has visited many temples, shines and other places of worship while in China and Katie says she has almost cried several times at the thought of so many millions of people who do not know the one true God and His son and our Savior and Lord, Jesus, but instead worship these gods who are not really gods at all. She was also deeply touched when their bus was detoured off the highway by a wreck and had to go through a very poverty stricken area. In fact, Katie said she had a dream that night that she was out in the country side in China delivering food and medicine to the people and preaching the Gospel. I told her it might be God beginning to reveal to her that He will someday call her back to China.
That is a thought that, on one hand, makes me very proud, but, on the other hand, makes me pretty sad, because I really do believe deep in my heart that one day way too soon God will call Katie to a far off country to use in an incredible way for His magnificent purpose! That will be so cool! But, I can't imagine how much I'll miss her!
I love you, Katie! And, am more proud of you than you could ever know!
Love in Christ Jesus,
Jim
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