Field Report: Day Four, Five & Six in China

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Our First Project Site

The Longest Night
Haven't been journalling for almost 3 days now. Had suffered from very bad AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness) for 2 whole days in MY. Wasn't that bad the first day but then got worst on the second day. It must say it was the most horrible 2 days I had so far; had headache, fever, stomach discomfort, difficulty breathing and also nauseousness. I remember not enjoying the stay there at all and had wanted return back to Lijiang soonest. Not only did I had a bad nightmare on the first night, on the second night, I couldn't sleep well either and kept waking up. That must have really been the longest night of my life and I must have woken up some 20-30 times. I remember waking up at 4am and even lamenting that it is still so long till daybreak.

I recall feeling extremely nauseous at one point and decided to visit the washroom to throw up. But, that turned out to be a real bad choice; the state of the washroom made me throw up even more... I shan't go into details. And to think that my friend told me that MY has developed quite a bit liaoz, really can't imagine how it was like in the past (they said the toilet had no doors and it next to some pigs). In fact, my friend wondered if my room was spiritually "clean" at all, so the second night, I took my bible and placed it on the sidetable and prayed for God to rid the room of any unholiness and evil spirits.

Sending Forth our Best
Actually, without the AMS, I would say I might have enjoyed my stay in MY because it was such an eye opener seeing a village school. The youth there are, compared to Singapore, more well-behaved. For instance, it is always the culture to stand up whenever a teacher ask you a question and in class, they seem to be more responsive as well. The teachers also seem to be a nice bunch of people as well. They invited us to play basketball with them one evening. So, we sent out our very best rep from Singapore... the two outdoor instructors, while we stood behind to cheer them on :) Wow, the teachers must really be very good with basketball because it is not an easy feat playing basketball at such high altitude... you got to have good lungs! No wonder, soon after, our reps tired out :) Also, I really want to hank God for the 3 training sessions that have went well so far in MY. 2 days later, it will be my turn to deliver training and I am getting all jittery.

Students there are real hardworking... studying and walking up and down the little slope behind the school... high stress time for 高考

School toilet Aim properly ah... :)

April Snow
We have decided to leave MY on the 1pm bus on 10 Apr despite the principal's offer to give us a ride if we can wait for him for another 2 hours till 3pm. Guess my AMS was getting so unbearable I needed to get down pretty soon. In fact, on our way down, it even began to snow (and I have never seen snow before and snow in April is real rare) but I just couldn't be bothered, was in great discomfort.

Will our Paths Ever Cross Again?
As we boarded the bus, leaving our 2 backpacker friends behind because they wanted to stay to do some more work with the school, I suddenly felt sadness having to say goodbye. This is like your paths have crossed with these people who have you only got to know for a few days and before you know it, it is time to say goodbye and we are not even sure if our paths will ever cross again. So there they stood in the rain, outside the bus, with the principal and teachers to see us off. Just before we left, our 2 friends gave us an envelop and asked us to only read it once we are back in Lijiang.

I have also began to warm up to the principal as he began to show concern about my AMS. In the previous 2 days, I haven't had much to say to him and there were several times of awkward silence (especially when I sat beside him for the 2 hours ride up to MY). There was also this awkwardness whenever our glances meet because I am just the kind of introverted person and did not know what to say. But today, we managed to speak to him a little and he started to show concern when he learnt that I have AMS. Now thinking back, most people in MY seems friendly, though I do feel like an alien at the inn whenever people look at me suspiciously when I come out from my room. At the school, we felt like celebrities because whenever we went, the students seem to want to get your attention and they keep looking at you, calling out "Hello!" So the principal, teachers and students are all nice people. Perhaps, the nicest people we have met seems to be this auntie and young lady at this local eatery near our inn. They are always so welcoming and such simple people. Once, we took a photo of them and they seem so happy and wanted to ask if they can have a copy sent to them, but only later to retract their request when they felt that they will be inconveniencing us. And the poor young lady's hand is all swollen and purple... think it might be due to the cold weather... frost bite? Her hands trembled as she serve tea. When we ask if she is OK, she would just smile back and say "It's OK and it's healing". God bless her...

Thank God for Friends
As we leave the two backpacker friends behind, I still want to give thanks to God for sending them into our paths in the past couple of days. Not only have they blessed us with extra "muscle power", God has used them to bless the orphanage and they have also blessed us with their outdoor experience e.g. with tying our luggage to the top of the van and most recently, being our consultants when we recently went to buy our windstoppers and for me, they gave me instructions how to deal with my AMS and also blessed me with hydration salt.

Back in Lijiang
You can't imagine how happy I was when we arrived back at the Lijiang inn. I knocked out for a whole 13 hours and even skipped dinner for that night... Early in the morning, we visited 黑龙潭 and it was a good leisurely walk in the park. Was also great observing the locals engaging in some communal dance, something you won't really see in Singapore. Almost wanted to dance along with the tune... 来来各位朋友一起来。。。

黑龙潭

Emotional Rollercoaster Again
Anyway, I have really felt horrible emotionally these few days. I knew that I will encounter this problem once again sooner or later; the problem with my introvertedness (which also made me think twice about going for missions). Sometimes, it really hurts to see how others can be relating so comfortably with one another while I am always so serious and quiet. For example, I was so upset I was so quiet throughout my trip up to MY in the van, while sitting beside the principal. I also realised how disadvantaged sometimes I am because I am so serious and quiet. People just do not know how to approach me and some even treat me differently. In fact, it came a point in time I asked God why He could not make me to be a charismatic and extroverted person? I so long to connect to people and am always so envious when I see others being able to strike up and maintain a conversation with each other.

I guess what triggered this might have been a series of events starting from the "quiet" van trip. And then later that night, once we arrived at MY, there were only 2 rooms in my inn but there were 1 guy (me) and 3 other girls. It's obvious that the 3 girls will share 1 room and I will take one room to myself and I also fully understand the rationale for that. Although I know this cognitively, somehow emotionally I can't help but feel that people find me too boring to bunk in with. Then later, I realised how, for a moment, they can be talking to me in a very serious tone but the next moment they see our backpacker friends coming, they greeted them so warmly and enthusiastically... sigh... that's an age-long struggle I always have.

This morning (11 Apr), we had devotion and debrief again in the inn. One of the questions that came up during the debrief was the question "what do we need from one another for the rest of the trip?" Actually, I felt extremely horrible that the girls had to skip 玉龙雪山 and come back down to Lijiang because of my AMS. But, I felt worst when 2 members requested for members to take care of themselves. I think this request was triggered because I fell sick. Maybe, I have not taken good care of myself when up in MY; not wearing enough at the right time to prevent myself from catching a cold. One of the member shared that she would be worried sick when any member falls sick. I know they meant well but then I just felt very very bad... I did explain that this is my first mission trip and my first trip to a place as cold as this and so I do not know how cold is cold to warrant what kind of dressing.

Anyway, good time to take stock of the trip. At the debrief, we were asked:

• How's the experience so far?
• How's the experience in MY?
• What do we need from one another in the team to make things better?
• What role do we foresee ourselves playing in missions: goer, mobilser or giver?

At the debrief, we also learnt that our trip leader had a chance to speak to one of the teachers back in MY who seem to be having some struggles. So that provided a chance for my trip leader to share the gospel and good news with her. Praise the Lord! We also had the chance to read the card given by our Christian backpacker friends. It was a thank you card sharing how she is thankful for God that we were able to meet one another and how the daily devotion has quenched her thirst for God and recharged her. It was also nice of her to affirm the team and also blessed us with 300 RMB for our work in the name of the Lord. Thanks sister!

饵快：A local delicacy (and we thought is 油条）

My DISC
Anyway, we had some time to do some DISC profiling by one of my team mates and I realised that I am extremely high S and C. It becomes clearer to me now why I have so much struggles. According to my team mate, I struggle quite a bit because I am task-oriented and at the same time people-oriented. So, I always have the tussle to want to finish task but yet want to please people. How true! Now, I can also understand why I have so much struggle and personality clash with my "D" cell leader. Somehow, knowing my DISC profile has made me somewhat troubled. I don't know why but maybe I am not coming to terms with my extremely high SC.

Journey Mercies
Thank God for journey mercies all the way back to Kunming.It's 2am now and am now writing this journal on my bed in this 宾馆 in Kunming. Have transferred to Kunming on our way to HH for our next project. Thank God for sending us angels: the Lijiang Inn lady boss who helped us to arrange for air tickets and transport to Kunming. We decided to take the late night flight, so we can save on the air fare. We also thank God for sending someone to approach us, upon arriving at Kunming airport, to offer us a reasonably cheap ride to our 宾馆.

Also thank God for us to arrive at our destination safely. Somehow, tonight, we keep getting drivers who drive dangerously. From Lijiang Old Town to Lijiang Airport, we got this driver who kept using his handphone while driving along the dark roads. Then at Kunming, we got this driver who drove us in this big saloon car (don't know if it is a mercedes) and he broke every traffic rule there is; dashing across every red light, even when the traffic police was on the opposite side of the road. Hahaha, maybe we smelled because the driver winded down his window while driving us... Hehehe, I have been wearing the same pair of jeans for 6 days now and the same shirt for 4 days. But then, because it wasn't as humid as Singapore and the temperature here is so cold, there was hardly a need to bathe since we hardly perspire... wow, like this kind of lifestyle :) But anyway, I did bathe this morning.

Finally reached the 宾馆 at 1.30am and just simply impressed with the room setup. There's this shower with 6 nozzles so you can control where you want the water to come out from. Wah so "high tech" until I stared at the shower for a while, wondering how to use it. Hmm, they also have condoms everywhere in the room. OK, took a bath and finished catching up with journalling liaoz. Need to turn in now, late liaoz and have a long day tomorrow...

11 April 2007