Quanzhou

This past week we spent 3 days in Quanzhou. It was a lot of fun to get a way and have a change of pace. We stayed in a nice hotel, did some sight seeing, shopped, and relaxed. Oh yea.. me and my friends had a dance party too. That was way fun :) Not everyone can say that they have had a dance party in China!

We visited the oldest Islamic Mosque in China, A Buddhist temple, a Daoist temple, the 2nd largest Protestant Church in China, and a temple/shrine to Confucius. It was interesting to see all of these things. I really enjoyed it.

Thursday night me and my friends Tiffani, Cindy, and Julia rode Motorcycle taxis. It was awesome! Here are some pics of the trip...

Me and my friend Cindy

Islamic Mosque

Cool tree at the Buddhist temple.

My motorcycle ride.

Sweet little baby that I got to hold.

ROACH!!!

One night I was ready to go to bed and I walked out of my bathroom and what do you know there was a giant Cochcroach right in from of me. I of course freaked out and then put on my shoes to squawsh it but before I could get my shoes on the roach had escaped. I had to go to bed that night knowing that I had a roach in my room but having no idea where it was! It was really nerve racking. Anyways I made it through the night with out being attacked and throughout the whole next day my roommate and I didnt see it anywhere but that night Michelle was getting ready to go to bed and she looked up and the roach was crawling up the wall! She got our her shoe to kill but couldn't get up the nerve to the end the little guy's life so she went and got our friend Tiffani who happily sqwashed it! It was quit an ordeal :) Im just glad that he's dead and that I can sleep at night not worry that he is going to crawl into my bed with me!

Orphanage Visit

On saturday I had the awesome opportunity to visit an orphanage. The orphanage that we served at houses about 200 children but we only worked with 25 or 30. We played with them and taught them some songs in English like Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes and The Wheels on the Bus. It was fun. This litle boy in the pictures is probably 4 years old. He had the best smile and the best laugh! I was bouncing him on my knee and then he would start talking so that his voice would vibrate an then he would bust up laughing. It was hilarious.

There was one little girl that I had a chance to play with and hold that really touched my heart. She is maybe 3 years old but she is so tiny. She can't weigh more than 15 lbs. I got to sing the songs to her and help her do some of the motions and then I put her up on my lap and held her for a long time. She was so small I was afraid I would break her when I picked her up. I was overwhelmed by the fact that she has no family. No one that loves her and cares about her future. Its just her in this great big world.We are going back in 2 weeks I hope I get to see her again and maybe build a relationship with here during my short time here in China. I want her to know that even though she doesnt have anyone here on this earth to love her or take care of her she has Jesus who loves her more than any earthly person could possible begin to . I pray that somehow I have the opportunity to tell her this.

Meet with Me

God showed me this song the other day and it really just sums up my whole reason for being here in China. It reminds me how everything in the end is about Him I can try to make it about me and about the things that are important to me but in the end its all about Him. He is my Strength, my Protector, my Savior. He has brought me to China and I am here to meet with Him. I'm here to find Him. To find Him in the work He is doing here, to find Him in the faces of these beautiful people, to find Him in the History of this place, in the language that they speak and in the customs that they practice. Its the cry of my heart that He reveals Himself to me so as I wait, as I long, as I stand to sing His praise I pray that He meets with me...

I'm here to meet with you
come and meet with me
I'm here to find you
reveal yourself to me

As I wait, you make me strong
As I long, draw me to your arms
As I stand and sing your praise
You come, you come and you fill this place
Won't you come, Won't you come and fill this place

I'm here to meet with you
Come and meet with me
I'm here to find you,
reveal yourself to me

As I wait, you make me strong
As I long, draw me to your arms
As I stand and sing your praise
You come, you come and you fill this place
Won't you come, Won't you come and fill this place

I'm here to meet with you
Come and meet with me

Ten Shekel Shirt

A lot has happened since I last updated. Here are some of the highlights:

On Sunday we had the amazing opportunity to go to a Chinese Church. It was such an awesome experience. I will never forget it! The passion was outstanding. I bought a really neat side by side Bible that has Chinese in one column and English in the next.

On Monday we were walking to lunch and I saw this beautiful little girl. Her eyes are just captivating. They were jet black. Gorgeous!

Yesterday after class me, Meg and Yee went to the beach here for the first time. It was so nice down there. The breeze was amazing. The water is really dirty though so we couldn't swim in it.

There are definetly things here that are hard and that really challenge my patience but overall I love it! Its beyond description! I cant believe that I has been 15 days. The time has really flown. I am almost done with my second full week of classes. I think I am starting to adjust to those a little better. We have a Chinese quiz tomorrow. Those are always hard but the motivator to learning the language is that the more I learn the more I can communicate with the people here! I will write more soon but until then... Zaijian! (goodbye :)

Asian Haircut!

So I was brave and got my haircut today! I was so scared but it was such a fun experience. I went with 5 other people from my group and we such a blast!

McDonalds!

Well I gave in and ate McDonals today! It was so amazing!!! It hasnt tasted so good since I was in Romania 7 years ago! I had a double cheeseburger, french fries and a Coke. Then I had ice cream for dessert. It was GREAT!!!!

Accupuncture!

Well today was very intersting! We had an acupuncutist come and give our class a lecture and then when she was finished she did a clinic for anyone that wanted to try it. I didnt go for the acupunctuure but I tried something called cupping it is where she puts fire inside of a glass cup and then removes the fire and quickly places the cup on the place where you are experiencing pain. She did it on my back. The skin under the cup raises up and the more severe your pain the darker colored the skin gets. Mine was a deep purple. I knew that my back was hurting but I had no idea that it was that severe. Then after about 10 minutes she removed the cups. I still have the round purple circles on my back. I think they will go away in a couple of days. It was quit an experience!

For lunch me and Michelle, Myra and Cindy all went downtown. We ate at a food court type of place. I was very adventurous and tried octopus! I tasted a lot like crab only tougher! It was fun to try something new and different like that!

The picture at the top of this blog is of this adorable little chinese baby that was sitting in front of us at lunch. We tried to talking to her family but they didnt knew english and we didnt know much chinese. It was still fun though. She was precious! After lunch we shopped for a little while and then caught a taxi and came back to campus

Well, I gotta go we have a study session for our chinese language quiz soon.

1 Week in!

Well it has officially been one week since I arrived in Xiamen, China. It is still as beautiful as the first day. But it is still as hot too! Today I was brave and wore jeans for the first time. It wasnt too bad this morning but by the afternoon it was like having plastic wrap wrapped around my legs! Yesterday we went to a stained glass factory. It was amazing! The work was beautiful and it was very intersting to hear about this mans life and the vision that he has and the way that HE is using him for HIS work. It was very encouraging!

Today, I found out that my computer is not compatible with the network on campus so I will not be able to get internet in my room. I was a little dissapointed about that but I know that GOD is in control and that there is a reason for it. There is a really nice coffe place similar to a starbucks next to campus so I can come here for free wifi.

Classes are going well. So far I have had Chinese 1, Eastern Philosophies and Religion, and Intercutuaral Communications. I think that I am really going to like Intercultural Communications. I love learning about other cultures and I love learning about how to fit into other cultures.

Tomorrow we are going to go an acupuncture clinic. The acupuncturist (if thats what they are even called) is going to give us a lecture and then do acupuncture to who ever want to have it done. I think I am going to go for it but I havent decided for sure yet.

Well, I gotta go its aout 9:15 here and I should think about heading to bed. I hope that you all are doing well!

Ill write more soon and post pictures!

Love, Alyssa

Well I have a few minutes of unoccupied time so I thought I would post an update. Thing are going great here. We had our first quiz in our Chinese class yesterday. It went pretty well. The language is just really hard to learn. It is a tonal language so that means that you could be saying the correct word but if you change the tone of it you are saying something completely different. That has been a big struggle for me. I know it will take time and eventually I will get it but right now its kind of frustrating.

We have learned how to order our own food so thats kinda fun. I have tried a lot of different things including frog. I know it sounds horrible but it really tasted pretty good. Kinda like chicken! haha! My new thing is I just dont ask what anything is till after I eat it. This way I can decide if I really like stuff or if I just say I dont like because it sounds gross.

We officially start classes tomorrow. It will be hard adjusting to a new campus, new profs and new classes but hopefully it will go smoothely.

Everyone in my group is great. I have loved getting to know everyone and spending time with them.

Yesterday me and 5 other girls went out to a chinese restaurant for lunch and out of the 6 of us that ordered only 2 of us got our food. They were trying to tell us that they didnt have what we ordered but we didnt understand that thats what they were saying till after the food never came. It was pretty funny!

It weather is very hot here. I dont really know what the temperature is but I would guess in the high 90s to low100s. Its also very humid! The Beach is beautiful though. As soon as I get internet in my room I will post some pictures. It truely is gorgeous here.

So far the hardest things to get used to are the beds and the showers. I'll start with the beds. There really is no mattress! Its pretty much like sleeping on just a box spring. So far it hasnt been horrible just because I am so exhausted at night time but I wonder as time goes on if it will become more uncomfertable. Maybe I will just get used to it and it wont even be a big deal :)
Now the showers. Its a little wierd becuase actually there is no shower its just a shower head! The bath room has a toilet, a sink and a showerhead. So whenever you take a shower you just have to make sure that everything is out of the bathroom other wise it will get wet. Also, you have to turn a switch next to the shower head in order to get hot water. For 5 days now me and my roommate thought that our hot water wasnt working but last night we discovered that all we had to do was flip the switch! We felt a little stupid haha!

Another thing thats crazy is how cheap everything is. Most of the time when you go out to eat its only about 7-10 yuan which is the equivalent of about $1.00- $1.25

This morning we had a great church service. We read through the sermon on the mount and then we sang some praise songs and prayed together. It was incredible to be praying and praising God here in this beloved country of China! Its has been amazing to be here but being here and being in the presence of God like that was just a beautiful thing.It was a church service that I will not soon forget!

Well I need to get going. I will write more later in the week once classes are going!
Thank you everyone for your prayer and support! I really apprecat it!