Travels in China

In the past month or so, this has been a familiar sight for us as we have been doing some good old fashioned Chinese train travel. We left Nanning and arrived in Beijing just in time to join in with my sister's family (the Shoots) celebration of Holy Week. Living with the Shoots was a total blast, and we will be back with them on Thursday. I enjoyed seeing family that I hadn't seen in quite a long time. We went to the area's University district and helped some students with their English, and played frisbee in the area park. We are currently in a smaller city named QingHuanDao, where we have been show and tell for one of my college roomates: Taylor Hankins. We set up a disc golf course on the campus which has been something we have really missed. It has been a total blast with Taylor and many of the English teachers that live here, even making it out to a German themed (yes that does mean Chinese waitresses dressed in German clothes) all you can eat meatfest restaurant. Thursday we will travel back to the Shoots and party it up with them until we get some new arrivals; one Brandon from Canada, and one "Keakers" Larrabee from the Larrabee clan out of Austin, Texas(aka Oliver's lil bubba) . C"mon holla atcha boy! Enjoy what we look like, cuz we do, everydays!



Here are some of the enduring images of the last three weeks:

This is Judah Shoot. He has very expressive eyebrows.

The patriarch of the Shoot family, holding a made from scratch red velvet cake made in the shape of the Passover Lamb.

Easter Dinner with family and friends.

We decorated eggs with the youngsters. We look really normal don't we!

Some of our creations: Anime Oliver, Depressed Josh, Envious Taylor, and Enraged Nadia in Easter egg form.

Helping in Taylors classes in QingHuanDao. Teaching Texas History and the Bibeau family tree. The students loved both of the topics! (But were amazingly enthralled by the passion with which the Texas presenter spoke with, not! We took a vote, the family tree rocked their entire universe!)
One of Taylor's students is a total rocker and had a concert. We went and rocked out to Lenny Kravitz, and Green Day covers. It is wild to think we saw a rock show in China. While dancing Oliver almost punched a girl in the face. But in his words... "Its a metal concert, she should know what she is getting into."

We participated in the "QingHuanDao Internation Fitness Walk". We made the walk "internation", and were rewarded with many pictures taken of us. We walked to the sea and frizzed it up with some students.

We love and miss you all. Thanks for reading!

- Josh

We are in utter need to update our blog! Hanging out with the crew in Nanning China has been such a blast that the internet is boring. And that is quite a statement for a couple of avid facebookers like Oliver and I. Our almost three weeks in this city have totally flew by as we have encountered a community of like-minded and incredibly fun people. The dudes we stay with are all studying Chinese to the max and loving their lives in China. Meeting young westerners that are totally loving every minute of their lives overseas is a new sight for us, but one that really is shaking things up in my mind. Two of the three guys we live are younger then me, but are settled into their lives here in China and have plans to stay long term. We have learned so much from them and are incredibly grateful for their hospitality.

I recently have been nursed back to help thanks to all who were thinking of me! It was a rough couple of weeks but I am totally healthy. Bham! We came to Nanning knowing one guy named JP and knowing only that he skated a lot, and had some crazy stories of living in the jungles of Lao and streets of Toyko. Neither of us have picked up skating or become Rambo, but we have learned to make clothes, navagate Nanning, play Guitar Hero World Tour, enjoy Chinese Barbeque, and live in a balls-to-the-wall community overseas. All very important skills to have, especially the latter.

There are many things that I wish I could write about, but I am afraid that I can't. Many of the lessons I am learning on this trip have been culminating and are going to take a while to process. I am very grateful for my journal these days. Tomorrow morning we will be boarding a train to Beijing. We have made some awesome friends in Nanning and I would love to come back soon!

Olive got his TOM's fixed by a street cobbler! (not as good as blueberry cobbler)

Typical Chinese toddler. Those Chinese are hard workers!

Our best Chinese photo poses.
This is our friend Jade, she is a terrible card player.
A common sight from our time in Nanning: bottomless coffee, cards, and lots of friends.
Oliver got attacked by a electrical metal Chinese fan. Not to worry, his disc skills are nearly unaffected.

-Josh

WHAT WE UPTO!!!

Well America, and host of nations that read our blog...I'm back, its been Joshy boy for a while, but now Olliwood is back in the blogger game!

We have been in Kunming China the past two weeks, visiting some of my old friends from a previous trip to China that I made in 2006. It has been a great time of pickup football and morning dumplings that are honestly more addictive than most drugs. It has been awesome spending time with Chuck and his family, and for me, these two weeks have been like a semester at school.

We have been honored with the stories of countless years of Chucks life experiences, and the information that we have gleaned is worth so much. Preparation is key when you are in it for the long haul. I now am armed with many legit life stories of failure and success,. Not saying that I have anything close to figured out, but its nice to have the knowledge that someone else has been through a similar situation, and has come out alive! I kind of know what to expect, in a much realer way. The struggles of the modern worker are nothing glorified, its the same thing that everyone everywhere deals with.

So we leave tonight for the city of Nan Ning with a skater we met the other night. He is an awesome guy. I know this because he is currently in the middle of serving a month long pact to wear a full blown suit! Everyday, Everywhere! This week should be a blast, and as soon as we step off of the train in Nan Ning, I expect that craziness should ensue!

If ya could Josh is feeling pretty bad right now, if you could remember him in your thoughts and p, that would be awesome.

OLIVER

So we have been busy growing beards in China. Oliver has been much busier then I:

Our Contact loves heavy metal music. On a typical evening we eat dinner with his family, then crowd around his computer to watch epic live metal concerts from days of old. He then will pick up his guitar and melt our faces with his shredding abilities!! It has been a great experience hanging with the Lenharts. We helped him clean out his garage the other day and threw away boxes and boxes of cassette tapes. He told us that when he first came over to China (20 years ago) that these tapes were his lifeline. The man loves his Hair Metal! Check this sick jam from 1987:

We are at a weird spot right now, our contact is leaving the country soon here in Kunming, and we are unsure what our next travel move will be. We hope that this weekend doors will be doing some opening and closing. There are many options and travel within China is pretty straightforward because of the train system. We should know by Monday, hopefully.
On another note, I started reading "The Heavenly Man" yesterday. It is quite a read. Intensely challenging and powerfully informing about China. Reading it feels like I am read a modern day book of Acts, and the coolest part is, it is happening now! Tight stuff ya'll.
-Josh

Meet Giardia:

This has become a close friend of ours in the past couple weeks. I first heard of this cute little parasite in the infamous Keith Gogan Backpacking Class at ORU. Gogan described it as pretty hellish, and he was very correct. Luckily the medication is cheap and works quickly, but we just found it today. In the meantime, we have learned superior sphincter and esophagus blocking abilities.

It has been a while since we posted, we apologize for that, but we have been busy entertaining some friends in our small intestines. We are currently in Kumning, China and the possibilities are pretty rockin'. We are safe, sound, and hanging with the Great White Buddha (as our host has been nicknamed). Here are some photos from Laos:

Sam = stud...unicycle super star and phenomenal human being

Glorious night at the mighty Me Kong river!!!

After a night at the bus station being harrassed by tuk tuk drivers this is what we woke up to




Paul and family at there Center for Streetkids

-Josh

Learning True Religion

Since Sunday we have been staying at a Children's Home in Chiang Rai. It is called River Of Life Children's Home. From the moment we set foot into one of the buildings we realized that this place was not normal. We were invited into their sunday morning service, and I expected the typical children's service; a service complete with Hillsongs' Kids video worship, a Jesus picture to color, maybe some puppets, loads of candy, and a candy coated message. Not the case at all. Over the next two hours we encountered a worship service filled with passion and excellence. The kids lead the worship and they have a spot on team! Honestly, the best worship band that we have heard in Thailand. That is just crazy the team being all under 21, but these kids just know how to worship. Not only worship, but also teach and interceed. The founders of the home, Pat and Debbie, have been incredibally welcoming to us, and better yet have shared a wealth of wisdom with us.
Not only are these kids some sick warriors for Christ, they are an absolute blast! We went swiming/fishing/noodlin'/muddin' in their pond:

We also got to hang out with two of the dudes' home village, which just happened to be an elephant village! And they drove their elephants, and we hung out with their grandparents, eating sugarcane and other sweets.

This was in my devotional like a week ago, and has been haunting me ever since:
"It is one thing to go on the lonely way with dignified heroism, but quite another thing if the line mapped out for you by God means being a door-mat under other people's feet....Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in a bucket - to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served?"
- Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest

I am not at all close to being there, but I am closer then I was two months ago. Especially after being inspired by this 80s classic:


Much Love,
- Josh

Our Time In Mae Sariang

Our Family...We stayed a whole week with these amazing people!!!

Well it has been a little over two months and, WOW or maybe even holy crap, is all we can really say. We never thought we make it this far, It may sound cliche, but we are just so amazed at all the the things that God has allowed us to do, how much He has worked in us and through us, and has done so much the words can not really describe. He has been faithful, and ever present, provided us wisdom and peace, and showed us how to deal with our circumstances and each other. This is funny, but we were hanging out with this married couple the other day, and they were recently married, and we began talking. It seems that a lot of the challenges that newlyweds come across(concerning each other)Josh and I have dealt with. Not saying that we are married or anything, but we have literally been 30 seconds away from each other at all times for the last +2 months. But God is faithful and amazing things are coming out of our friendship.

SO what have we done and where will we go!!!
We have been in Northern Thailand for almost two weeks now and got to spend some time with a Thai family. It was a great week as we dominated the local basketball court with our amazing American basketball skillzzzzz. We are so thug. Here is a video after a day of battle.

We taught English in a school and got to ask simple questions like..."What is your name," "How old are you," and"What do you think are the major implications of the global economic crisis". It was good times!
We then traveled to Chiang Mai, and met up with some friends of a friend and talked about one of my favorite topics for most of the afternoon...TEXAS. Being local Austinites, good times were had as we talked about Mozarts Coffee, Kirby Lane, and Freebirds...OH FREEBIRDS.
We then met a dude at our guesthouse who invited us to go to Chiang Rai for a worship conference for the youth of the area. We were already planning on going to Chiang Rai to work at an orphanage, so we jumped on the chance to party with some Thai youth!
Next is Laos, and we cant be more pumped. The prospect of a 2 day boat ride to our city is an awesome idea, one of which i can not wait to experience...More to come!!!

Josh's preferred form of transport to and from streetball magic

Over the River and Through the Woods to Rambo's House We Go...That's Right you are Looking at Burma!

To All You Haters Who Said It Couldn't Be Done...Facial Hair is a Total Go

This is Our Squad Ripe after 4 or 5 Consecutive Wins!!!

OLIVER