I think that I can safely say that there are only a few things that have gone according to plan. But that is okay. After spending a week in Beijing we have headed out to our destination… XiaHe. The City has roughly 180,000 people. It is an amazing mixture of cultures. I am excited for new understanding of these cultures. Value—it is truly a mystery to me the value we place on things, people, and ideas. The cultures I am involved in now have placed value in very different areas than those in the states. So, I am forced once again to consider what is valuable. Love, care, and understanding is where it comes down. What to people need? Love, care, and understanding. I see many obstacles in the way, but I am not blinded by them. May we see with clear eyes, full of love, care, and understanding.

 

On a less heavy note…. Last night we got to see a musical performance of one of our friends. It was so ingrained in culture. I was a great experience including every sense, smell, visual, sound, taste, and even touch. But I think that really the story couldn’t be told without mentioning the journey to the performance hall. It was about 4 hours away from where we are staying. We took a small bus. We just tagged along on the performer’s bus. We were the groupies. The journey started out with someone mentioning the bus may be broken. Which is always good to hear. But later we found out that it was just the horn that was broken. One might think that wouldn’t be that important until you come across a herd of yak or sheep crossing the road. And that did happen on multiple occasions. Also, for those never been toChina… the horn is an essential part of driving. It replaces turn signals, and is a way of letting everyone know that you are not happy to be caught in a traffic jam. It also is used when passing another vehicle. But we did make it without the horn. We took a small mountain road. We went up to about 12,500 ft. elevation. The scenery was amazing, like out of movie, or national geographic. It is also, worth mentioning that the bus driver was nuts. I bounced around the back of that bus like a rag doll. It is an experience that will not be easily forgotten.

So this is an entry to try to wrap up my experience. I have so many thoughts and ideas and breaking concepts that are floating around in my brain. I have had some frustration on really grasping these things, which is some of the reason I have not written this entry yet. I guess I would like to thank everyone for thinking of me and supporting me through this adventure in my life. And it has not turned void. The efforts of those that have supported has brought lasting impact on lives.

Can you play Soccer in monk’s robes???

The answer is YES. I want to tell about my trip out to the Tibetan plateau. Myself and several other Americans made our way from the big city of Beijing to a little Tibetan town called Kotsey. My friend Danba whom I have talked about before invited us to his home. His family welcomed us with open arms. We left by train and rode for roughly 23 hours. Then got on a bus for another several hours and then exited the bus to wait for another bus that only took about an hour. This was a breeze compared to the trip back in which I will talk about later. Now we find ourselves in a city called XiaHe. This is were my friend Danba received in school and continued in his quest for enlightenment as a Buddhist monk. At this monastery (Labrang) we witnessed Monks chanting prayers and carrying on daily monk business. The young ones were memorizing the scriptures and prayers. We visited a monk in his quarters were he studies and sleeps. He doesn’t speak Chinese, so we communicated to him from English to Chinese to Tibetan and back again. (it is kinda like that game “Rumor“, where you really don’t know if the original message is what you got). I think that it was close to accurate and the time with him was just a look into his life and how different it is from ours. In this town we climbed a mountain and rode bikes, all starting at about 12,000 ft. elevation and moving upward. The way of life and central themes of Tibetan Buddhism was amazing to witness. So then we got on another bus and traveled up in elevation to the grasslands where my friend Danba is from. When we arrived his family ran out to meet us and it was a bit of a run. They had a tent set for us and our things. Now I must mention that Danba earlier had mentioned to me that in the past he had trouble past finding his family. They are nomadic; part of a culture of yak and sheep herders. He told me that once it had taken him 10 hours to find them once he got close to where he had last heard from them. And the tent that was set up, was quite literally home. They had a spread of food for us that I almost cringed when I thought of how much trouble and expense they must have gone through to get those items. They didn’t even know us and had so much care and welcoming, it was amazing. The food of course was interesting. Most of it having to do with yak something. (btw, yak is a Tibetan word). Yak milk tea, yak butter tea, yak meat on the bone, yak in steamed bread, yak in soup with noodles, yak butter and yak butter tea mixed with barley flour to make a happy lump of a concoction called Tsamba. Types of breads and fruits along with random other snacks rounded out the meals. So we were just chillin in the afternoon one day and a truck (not sure if truck is the right word, but it is close enough) pulled up and it had roughly 8 monks in the back. These guys were ready to go. They had their soccer cleats and a ball and some of them had some jerseys to change into. The game was on and there was nothing I could do about it. I was a blast of a game even though I am the best soccer player in the world (that is an exaggeration, I am actually not very good).  These monks promised to come back the next day for another match, but the were reminded by their higher monk teachers that playing soccer is not the calling for a monk and therefore they were unable to come back the next day. That night we had another great meal prepared by Danba’s mother and sisters. The next day was more of the same thing you would normally do on the Tibetan plateau. We were in a Tibetan  music video. Danba has a band and they brought some video equipment that their friends at the Beijing communications university allowed them to use and they shot a video that evening and night. It was unbelievable. The culture and life that was lived those few days is forever burned in my memory. We shared and lived and loved and communicated in ways other than talking.

So now we start our journey back. The first bus ride; there were multiple sick people, some violently sick. It rained really hard and our bags were on top of the bus. Because of the rain, the windows were closed and everyone decided it would be a good idea to smoke. The guy next to me had three cigarettes in one hour. I also sat on a small wooden stool in the isle way of the bus. Needless to say I had a very memorable bus ride. It was fun! (that was sarcasm) but now I have something to talk about as if I didn’t have enough to talk about before. So there was another bus ride. Equally as eventful, but longer. Then we were unable to purchase train tickets back to the city, so we bused out to the nearest airport and bought tickets. Our plane was delayed several ours and we arrived in Beijing a little after 4 a.m. That was quite seriously the longest day I have experienced.

When I arrived back in Beijing I had a couple days to get things together and then got on a plane back to the states.

This trip out to Danba’s is the part of the connection we have with the Tibetan people. This trip and others like are what we believe to be an important part in making contacts with people in order to reach people that have never heard. When I left that tent and drove away, emotion filled my soul and burden raced over me. I know I that I am apart of something that He is doing. And it is great! It I think is beyond me and my imagination. And those people; Danba is also apart of it. I know. I want to continue in being apart of those great things He is doing. I know that I don’t have to be there to be apart of something great, but it seems so much more real there and I think that changes the depth of who I am here. I will constantly look and be attentive to His calling and His love for who I am here. “It is not the end, it is only the beginning!” this is quote from one of my Tibetan friends as we were going separate ways, it is profound in more ways than they know.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another wrap up entry coming soon.

Blake

p.s. I posted pictures as well.

“Where ever in the world you find yourself, that’s where you are.”-- a friend of mine

So I have approximately 5 and a half weeks before I am back in the States. My life has kicked into a higher gear. So much to get done, and take care of, but also some new responsibilities. There is a team of university students from the States here and I am their leader. I really just hang out with them and assist in any way I can. They are a very cool group and I am really glad to be around them. Also I have been playing lots of basketball. There is always someone who wants to play. In my last update I mentioned that I was going to attend my Tibetan friends’ basketball tournament, well through random and unexpected events I ended up playing in the tournament. This was a lot of fun for me and really crazy. I played through most of the tournament with my friend’s team and we got to the championship game. The stage was set for us and we won the game. There was a lot of celebration, Tibetan style, dancing and singing. I arrived to play the game at 1:30 in the afternoon and arrived home from the celebration at around 1:00am the next morning. I found out that day that I was the only westerner to ever play in their tournament in the twenty years they have been playing it. There were 20 some Tibetan teams, I think and I really enjoyed playing. I am nearing the end of the semester at CMC and am a little sad that I have to stop going. The students are responding to me and the other teachers more and more every week. That is all the time I have at the moment, but I plan to write at least 2 more times before I leave. Thank you all, I very much appreciate all the support I have received.

Blake