Coming soon...

Alright, so we've been traveling for a while now. Not a lot of traveling since we've mainly been at the university we work at in China, but in the last 2 years I've gained some pretty good travel sense. Between flying back and forth to the states and different flights/trips here in China.

So this is what I am wanting to do with that knowledge... I am going to try and put together some sort of site(s) that will help others to travel more efficiently. If you're headed somewhere feel free to ask me for some advice until I get my page up and running. It might be a week or two or three before I get any sort of progress because I am waiting on a few replies via email.

What it will look like is one of the two options described here;

• an attachment/add-on to our current web site ( www.thepflegerlife.com )
• a single web site specifically for travel, including links to cheap flights, hotels, etc.

I will also include specific advice for travel such as things to help save money.

**** I have learned that in some cases it is worth the extra 5-10 dollars for convenience than try to save it and go through the trouble that it may have cost you. If you're willing to go through that trouble... I'll help you there as well.

Sports Day...

So today was a day of sports and exercise in China. Here is a short note that we were given to explain what Sports day is all about in China;

All over China universities celebrate and promote sports and healthy lifestyles by excusing classes for two days typically in the fall but Sias is different and they do it in the spring. This is most likely due to the annual International Culture Week celebration. According to one Chinese teacher, Sports Day(s) began in the 1970's as a result of a Fu jian man's desire to inspire exercising habits in the students of his university. As other schools noticed the benefits of their students exercising they too organized Sports Days at their schools.

So today and tomorrow our students will be participating in sporting events from track and field events to random "fun" events. To me it's almost like a "field day" from when I was in middle school, just a little more involved.

As teachers we are required to participate in a few events as well. Both Lacy and I swam against other teachers today, and will swim again tomorrow. Lacy swam with 4 other teachers in a relay race and I swam a 50 meter race and tomorrow a 100 meter race.

Here are some pictures from the opening ceremony this morning. Over 600 faculty were involved in performing for the students. Enjoy!


(photos taken by matt hux)

A New Post... April 16

Hey all!

So we were not able to join in any crazy TEA parties on tax day... We didn't even have to mess with taxes this year. Since I've been in China for 2 years now and Lacy almost 1 we didn't have a lot of US income to claim. So that was nice to evade. In saying this, I believe that I'm taking a bold stand here and saying that because we haven't really paid any taxes in America, it's not really our place to say what should or shouldn't happen in government. Yes I have my opinions and I certainly have my beliefs and values that strictly hold to Biblical truths. I just don't believe that I should have a "say", a "vote." I should leave that up to the ones who actually pay taxes and contribute to the "greater good" of our country. You'll probably say that is a relative term or process of thought, and maybe I'm wrong. I'm willing to discuss this with anyone who may have a different idea.

The reason I say this is basically because I have pride, American Pride. I like to think that our flag waves and is a beautiful symbol of freedom. I work at a Chinese-American University in Zhengzhou, China. So when there is anything special that is going on at the university they tend to begin the ceremony with the Chinese National Anthem. This anthem is very important to the people, as it should be, because it is their countries song. It is called "March of the Volunteers." and here are the words;

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves;

With our very flesh and blood Let us build our new Great Wall!

The Peoples of China are in the most critical time, Everybody must roar his defiance.

Arise! Arise! Arise! Millions of hearts with one mind,

Brave the enemy's gunfire, March on! Brave the enemy's gunfire,

March on! March on! March on, on!

I say all of this because directly after they play the Chinese Anthem, they begin the "Star Spangled Banner." Nothing against the Chinese anthem at all... but in comparison, the Star Spangled Banner is absolutely beautiful. The idea of our men and woman fighting for what we have as a country, pride, freedom, constitutional rights. All of this put together brings tears to your eyes. When I hear our anthem at a baseball game it moves me, but when I hear it in China, it breaks me. To think how drastically our government is changing and how careless they are spending money, writing bills, signing them into law within 24 hours of them being written. I'm not sure who is able to read 1000 pages in that short of time. With any bill, large or small, I would think there would be a massive amount of scrutiny involved. There are people who are adding things to the bill just to get them to pass, or what you would call "fat" or "pork." Things that are not at all productive.

Anyway, back to representation without taxation... I think that we need to have a better system, I'm sure all of us do, one side or the other. Maybe it all lies in the hands of the people who are paying the bills. I know that when I was a child, I didn't get much of a say about most things my parents were paying for. I didn't get to choose where we lived, what kind of car we had, what we purchased at the grocery store etc etc. Why? because I wasn't paying the bills... They were loving and would ask me what I wanted or what my preferences were, bottom line though, if they were paying for it, they had the last say.

In 2006, 41% of Americans paid no income taxes according to the Tax Foundation. This is a pretty steep number if you ask me. So basically, 59% of the people in america are paying income taxes. Maybe those who aren't shouldn't get much of a say when it comes to electing officials. If you want a say, get an honest job, pay your dues and vote. If not, no problem, live with the decisions made by those around you.

Plans...

Change of plans...

This semester, or should I say our time in China is coming to a end a lot faster than we had expected. We can't believe how fast the year has flown by. The relationships we've made and the ones we are beginning to make are so fun. It's hard to think that we'll be packing up in less than 3 months to move home and begin our next chapter.

Chapter 2; "Life as a married couple in America"

Well before that happens we have a slight change or amendment to add. Originally we were planning to finish teaching and hand our final grades in on June 9th, then head to Shanghai to meet my parents. Travel for 2 weeks or so with my family and then fly home together.

*Amendment*
We will finish with classes and grades as expected on the 9th, then meet my parents in Shanghai, travel as planned, but then Lacy will fly home with my parents after two weeks of travel and I will Stay in China for 3 weeks longer.

I am taking on the responsibility of "Summer Youth Camp Director." Not sure why, but I feel like the Lrd is leading me in this direction. One; because I don't feel like my time in China is up and two; because there are a few guys I have not been able to spend as much time with because of the different role I have this year. I'm a husband now and I have responsibilities and things that come before my wants/desires that I did not have last year. That of spending time with my wife... So now I will have a few weeks to rekindle some talks and find out where some of my former students are at this point in their lives.

Probably the hardest decision I've made in a while because I have really been wanting to come home. I miss home, I miss my family, my friends, El Mezcal, Golf... Also, I will miss one of my favorite holidays of the year, The 4th of July! Every year we get together at the Bowles, and we celebrate by acting like fools, by the lighting of large colorful explosives. YANHUO in Chinese... I guess I'll have to take my guys out and buy some of the same type of colorful displays for about an 8th of the cost and enjoy the 4th here. It won't be the same because I'll not get all of Dawn et. al. cooking that I've missed so much but it'll have to do.

Lacy, I think, is going to take this opportunity of solitude, single life, and head to a much needed (in her eyes) Christian Concert weekend with her good friend Christy Sales. Not exactly who yet but I know they're excited to get some girl time again.

Wow, it's hard to believe I'm writing this, knowing that home is so close.

We're getting close but we're definitely keeping our eyes on the prize until we get to the flight gate this summer.

We had a really good "Truth Corner" tonight... very good discussion as we have been doing a "character study" this semester. In China, they love heroes and solid, pure people, with integrity. So it fits well to talk about pillars of the Bbile. We discussed a man who lived a long life, built a large ship and put many animals on the ship this evening. Great talk... The need for the ship, the representation of the ship and what a modern day ship was. The final ship... the Cross!

Love you all... hope to hear from you soon!

Classes to Chinese Basketball to Kung Fu

We want to apologize for not posting anything in a while... China every-so-often likes to block web sites and ours was one that was blocked for a while. Proxy servers help but sometimes it's difficult to find one that works from link to link.

Anyway, it's glad to be back, both to school and to writing you back home. We like knowing that we're not here just for ourselves, but for a greater purpose and to be an extension of our family back home.

So from the two of us to you we say "sanks..." I mean thanks...

It's very common, or I'd say almost inevitable for a student to replace a "th" with an "s." That is one of the more difficult pronunciation problems they have as Asian speaking people. Often you will hear "sanks" or "sank you" or "somesing" and "sat."

I can't say too much about this problem for two reasons; one, I have troubles with speaking Chinese and two, when I was growing up I had to visit a speech therapist once or twice a week to help correct my "s's" and "z's." It worked I guess... Now I'm passing on the info to these students. Maybe not working as well as my speech therapist.

We were able to travel some during the winter because of the holiday. Spring festival is about as important to them than Christmas is to us, "as a whole." There are many people who celebrate Christmas, mainly for the time off though... In China it's ingrained in them as a people to stop everything they are doing for the "Chinese New Year."

So we took advantage of this time and rested, well... tried to rest. We added up the miles traveling from China to Thailand, to Malaysia and back. It feels like so long ago but last year I was able to make the trip home to see family and friends as well as celebrate Christmas with everyone close to me. This year we just stayed on this side of the world and "globe-trotted."

It was kind of like a delayed honeymoon... we spent time on the beach, went rock climbing, snorkeling and even read a few books. Yowzers! Reading is so easy when you have time to just invest all at once. I like to knock books out in one reading, the whole idea of reading a book and coming back to it is difficult. I get side-tracked way to easily.

Getting back to school was a very nice change of pace after carrying a load around on our backs for weeks... We were finally able to sleep in our own bed, take a shower in our own shower all while just "being home." I do have to say that the food was much better in a tourist country. There were many more options...

So school is back in full swing and we've been twice as busy this semester than last. Immediately upon arrival we had to get organized as a staff to perform for all of China. Or so they said... Each year there is a basketball tournament that is similar to the NCAA "March Madness" tournament. It's called C.U.B.A. (Chinese University Basketball Association). SIAS hosted one of the regional tournaments. CCTV5, or the Chinese ESPN, was here filming all of the games which meant nationwide coverage for the university. The week was fairly exciting and provided some much needed sporting events. I finally felt like I was at a "real" university, being able to attend a college sport.

Although, the one thing that was missing was the traditional atmosphere of cheering and the rustling of the fans during games. I could not believe how quiet the gym was a times. The students would only cheer when provoked by a "cheer leader." Very strange... for us as westerners.


Not only did we get to watch the games... we were requested or "told" to put a performance together. Lacy, Yelitz(Jelitza), and Kinah worked really hard and choreographed a "dance" for some of the foreigners to do. Once they finished we went to work in front of the mirrors. I def. am retiring from dance now. SIAS has provided many more opportunities than desired to perform. So now... the next step in my life, BROADWAY! just kidding...

Classes have been going well, although this is the most challenging semester thus far. The students we have this semester are not as "polished" in the English department. We're really having to dig deep to figure out how to be effective in class. It's tough... When students look at you like you're a complete moron... maybe there's a reason, no really, when students have NO IDEA what you're saying it's a struggle. So needless to say it's been a work in progress.

More recently, we went to Shaolinsi (Shao Lin Temple). It was definitely an experience to write home about. First we made the 2 hour trip by bus with about 50 other teachers and then we enjoyed a Kung Fu show and a tour of the temple. For anyone wanting to travel to China all you need to do is see one temple, they all look the same. So the temple wasn't "that" exciting.

Actually, the more we tour temples the more we cringe and yearn for awakening in this country. The amount of idolizing that happens in the temples is insane. There is NO END. There is something for everything. I mean everything.

Once we left the temple we headed to a local high school to spend time with some students. Mainly as a liaison for SIAS to market the university to these students who will graduate in a year or so. It was really fun, at first I was not too excited about going because I knew it wasn't for fun that it was mainly for SIAS. There are so many things that they make us do "because we're foreigners" and it can get old. The feeling of being used comes in to mind at times. Only respected as a foreigner... but... I did get out and spend some time because "it's not about me," although that's had to live at times, it's true.

The school is large and IT WAS SATURDAY at 4:00 pm. Who is at school at 4:00pm ON SATURDAY??? Chinese, and other countries that will soon pass us-westerners-up in areas of education.

After the school... What else? Oh, maybe dinner in local farmers homes... How cool is that! This wasn't easy but we made it work. Because there were so many of us we had to split up and go to different homes in the same village. Of course this was planned out prior to our arrival so it was basically already organized. Oddly enough, the food was pretty good. The one thing that I liked the most was the egg and vegetable dish. This is VERY uncommon but I liked the tofu as well. gross...

Nothing is EVER surprising in China, I mean nothing... This country will cease to amaze you, whether it's the people and what they come up with or do, or just random events that take place. Most of the time and I really mean this, most of the time it's hilarious or just plain ridiculous. From the basic engineering, or "rigging" to the simple lifestyle the people live. This one, however, kind of shocked me, "kind of..." As we were eating two little children, boy & girl, about the 6-8 yrs. come walking towards us. One with a beer bottle and the other with a cup, both dinking it.


So, now we're back and time is flying. The time seems to get faster and faster each week. So fast that I often think to myself "what happened to this week?" I'm sure many of you have had this or are having this same thought. It's just unreal how fast the year has flown by. We only have a short amount of time left before we return and it is already evident to some of our students. Just today while walking home from "chrch" one of my students told me that "we have little time to know one another deeply" and he is starting to realize that we will be going down two different roads in the very near future. This is a really hard thing to accept right now because of the attachment and friendships we have cultivated. I am very excited to get home, BUT I am just as sad to have to leave. Leaving here will put us back in the job market and uncertainty of the next step and to be honest this place has provided a lot more comfort than expected before the journey began. I wasn't sure how much China I could actually handle but now it will be part of who I am, part of who Lacy and I are as a couple. We will never forget these amazing people, these amazing friends we have walked side-by-side with while residing in such a different culture. They have made the difference in our lives, and hopefully, our Gd has made a difference through us in there lives. We can only pray... Many tears of sadness, but many more filled with happiness.

Cont'd to pray... 90 more days!

Also, My parents are planning to make the journey in 12 weeks. This is pretty exciting. See you soon. (june 11th)

A crazy week of fun/students!

Well how can I say this?

This last week has been interesting, to say the least. We've gotten to hang out with students who are amazing all while having to finish up final exams and turn in grades. It's been a busy week...

I don't know where to start because it's all running together now. I'll start with finals, both Lacy and I have about 500 students between the two of us. We teach two different courses; one is Public Relations and the other is Oral English. We spread the Public Relations exam over a two week period, this week and last. The reason we did this is because we individually interviewed each student for a job. The job they were interviewing for, Chinese-English translator. So you can imagine 200-250 interviews each would take some time. Our Oral English final exams were last week and those were fairly easy in comparison, so no stress involved.

After we finished with exams we had to give final grades and enter them into excel spreadsheets calculate scores and turn them in. Sounds easy yet time consuming... not so fast! Our rosters are IN CHINESE! Nothing new to me except for the fact that they changed this years rosters and they are much more detailed. Now there are spots for so many different things; number of students who took the final, number of students who didn't take the final, number of students who averaged between 90-100%, 80-89, 79-80 etc etc. So it was a little draining having to have them translated and then getting them turned in on time.

On to the students, the most exciting part of being in China! Some of the other teachers put on a narrated Christmas program. It was basic, the passage was read aloud in Chinese and then the show began. Again, it was simple but enough to get the point across. There's not a lot of resources here to put on a big show so they used what they could and made sure the gspl was presented through this opportunity. A huge blessing...

As I have mentioned before on our blog site we meet with a group of students each Wednesday evening. This week we took advantage and discussed the Christmas story. The students love to hear about western "festivals", what they call holidays. So we read the passage from the Word and then talked about the importance of the different prophecies that had been spoken before the virgin-birth.

Speaking of ""virgin-birth," the topic of sexuality in China is one that is not brought up much. The literal translation from Chinese to English for "virgin" is "holy mother" WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? When we began to talk about the different things that were important from this passage, everything BUT the fact that Mary was a virgin was mentioned. So I said "aren't we missing something?" They said "no, we don't think so" (very innocently). So I went in to talk about the fact that Mary had never been in a relationship with Joseph. With my eyes kind of open wide and bobbing my head as if I were trying to say something "between-the-lines." The other thing that was funny was a student, one of my closest Chinese friends, Jim would say "whats a birgin, he couldn't pronounce it correctly. AND THEN... the lights came on. The shade of color on their faces went from "winter pale" to "cherry red." Probably the most I/we as a group had laughed this whole semester. They didn't know what to do or say... and it made it worse that they "knew" what it was but didn't "know" what it was, if you understand what I mean. So the shyness factor was multiplied...

You would think that the "Virgin Mary" story would be over right? Well it's not... We ended up laughing just as hard, yet again... Why you ask? We not only read the passages but we sang Christmas songs. "Silent Night" was one of those Christmas songs.... In one of the verses it reads "Round Young VIRGINS, Mother and Child..." I was sitting next to Jim and this was AFTER we had talked about the whole "virgin" issue and then I noticed this was in the next line... I looked at Jim as he sang the words knowing that he didn't pick up on this the 1st time. Now that he knows... it clicked and he realized he HAD BEEN SINGING about this! His face was HILARIOUS! As if he had seen a ghost. We stopped and began laughing once again...

I hope you enjoyed that story as much as I enjoyed being there with these amazing people! I just wish the humor stopped there for one night... too bad because it didn't.

We were just hanging out as we do when we finish with our discussions. We ordered pizza, ate, and talked about life. A question came up about how Lacy, Kerry and I will travel to Hong Kong on Saturday. We usually try to give them a funny answer like walk or ride a bike. This time I got my handy pocket translator out and typed in "hitchhike" It helps you to know what the tones are so you can pronounce the words correctly. This is hard enough even when you have a native Chinese speaker saying the word for you while helping you practice let alone trying to learn it from a dictionary. Anyway, I spoke the word and all the students began LAUGHING SO HARD! They told me to say it again, so I did, and again LAUGHING! Come to find out "hitchhiker" and "I need to poop" are the same word BUT DIFFERENT tones. Yeah, I said the wrong tones... laugh all you want! This is how memories are made EH?!

.represent.and.keep.it.real.

lacy:

so today was really refreshing! uplifting and amazing! i have to admit that lately, i have been struggling with spiritual apathy.... awesome time to struggle huh?? well i need to keep in mind that no one is perfect and has the capability of struggling with anything at anytime.... this morning, i just laid it down; i'm just tired of not caring cause i know thats not how G created me! So i just stopped making excuses and making everything candy-coated.... just gave Him all the dirt ive been keeping in my pockets and everywhere else that had a place! there was things i was holding onto that was preventing me from healing, and not letting G to have full control of my heart.... NO MORE! im sick of it and frankly, Rev 2:5 scared me.... put fear and reverence back into my heart.... im writing this because i want to get back to humility; i want to get back to my first deeds, which was being open bout my heart.... i used to not be afraid of what people thought of me and didnt care whether they judged me or not because i knew who was in my heart.... i dont know why or how, but i just began to care what people thought of me.... i thought i had to keep up an image of a "perfect" chrstian and be as good as i could be.... HA! thats not chrstianity at all.... being a chrstian is being real with what your about and believe; i used to say in high school: "If your a chrstian, REPRESENT and keep it REAL!" for some reason, ive forgotten that until now :) its so refreshing not tryin to put up a facade! who wants to hold a mask to their face forever???

anyways, like i said, today was refreshing! im so thankful for G's grace! and tonight during andys mens group, i went to SIAS cafe to work on school stuff, grades, and to have some papaya milk tea (oh so good!).... i was also talkin to my mom; yes i can multi-task :) and i got it all done too! anyways, there was open mic for a lil bit where some people were singing and playing the guitar; it was really cool! i didnt understand what they were saying, but it sounded really good! i recognized one chinese song.... anyways, after that the restuarant started to play chrstmas songs; and i dont mean jingle bells, rudolph the red nose reindeer, or grandma got ran over by a reindeer stuff... im talking, billy graham christmas choir belting out music! like bethlehem, angels, gloria, chrst is born stuff! my mom and i were laughing (more like "lol" on the computer) because its so ironic that they play that type of music but i cant type the words over the internet..... but i have to say tho that this place is pretty unique.... it was just nice to hear those songs since it really hasnt felt like christmas.... it does lil bit now tho cause some lights are up, but theres no promoted chrstmas concert going on or nativity scenes around.... OH! we did finally decorate our tree on friday!! it has lights and small ornaments with a red star on top! we will take a pic of it on wed when we have our truth corner... alright well im off to bed, i have a class early in the morning! the last time for that class this semester :)

.are.you.trying.to.tell.us.something?

lacy:

right now, im laying in bed on a saturday after teaching an english prep course for the HLI test.... (students have to take it to graduate) our room is a mess :) clothes everywhere, papers and grades everywhere; its definitely the end of the semester! and it has gone by super fast, too fast i would say.... lately i have been thinking bout this past semester and how much has already gone on! and everything around me is beginning to be normal for me..... i dont think the chinese people look the same anymore; I am starting to see the differences in them. i dont even notice that people around me are speaking a different language. i dont notice their quirks anymore like i used to. i cant think of anything now, but im not grossed out or shocked. my english is almost as good as theirs, which i mean that my english is going down the drain. haha :) i dont mind wearing similar clothes week to week. its pretty much easier now to choose from clothes when you dont care and dont have much to choose from, its actually really nice :) all the noises and craziness doesnt bother me anymore; its not that it bothered me, but i was just more aware.... its amazing how a different culture becomes home quickly; at least for me. i dont think its possible to understand, unless youve experienced because theres so much involved..... thats why andy and i wish everyone from home could come here for a year to experience it; so then we wouldnt have to think so hard of how to explain! haha

anyways, we are gettin excited bout the end of this week! our last week of finals, we will finish our grades, turn em in, and head to hong kong for christmas! also, we are having our last truth corner for the semester on wed. we are going to tell them the christmas story from the book and possibly have them help us decorate our lil christmas tree since we havent done that yet.... we havent been the most motivated couple to get everythin decorated haha holidays are really different here because they are american holidays; and since friends and family arent around, it just doesnt really seem like christmas.... possibly because we arent planning with friends and family about what to do for christmas; and we havent had snow or anything close to it; its just been really really really DRY and COLD.... i have to admit that i sorta miss snow.... and thats alot for me to admit since i dispise it! but even tho snow is messy, cold, wet, and turns ugly; it makes things interesting.... you never know when youll have a snow day or when a ice storm is coming; your always watching for it :) here theres nothing.... and even if we did turn the tv on, we wouldnt be able to understand it haha we dont ever turn the tv on, which i have to admit that i kinda miss it too.... thats another thing i dispise, but i do miss just turning something on and watching whats going on in america.... pretty much im getting used to the way of life here :)

there was a christmas party tonight for all the foreign teachers; it was a white elephant gift which can either be funny or a break-out fight :) gotta love christmas! this time no fighting, but there were some good gifts that were passed around! andy stole this one gift that had oatmeal and mac 'n cheese cause i like oatmeal and he likes the cheese :) but someone stole it, so it was locked! the one i picked was a baby rattle and of course everyone was like "its a sign!" "are you tryin to tell us something?" i laughed and said "haha good one!" i think when your newly married, everyone thinks everything is a sign for babies lol it was fun hanging out with people; we also played "apples to apples" which is always a fun game cause im good at it lol i have competitive tendencies.... well that was pretty much the day! not too excitin or much to talk about.... im hopin i get my creative juices goin cause its just not happenin for me lately... till next time, we have 7 more days until we leave for break!