Studying in China

Where I lived for four months. I miss it every single day.

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:56:08 -0500

Where I lived for four months. I miss it every single day.

Now that I’m back home, phone in hand, I’ve realized why china was so relaxing….....

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:37:00 -0400

Now that I’m back home, phone in hand, I’ve realized why china was so relaxing….. Do I have to spell it out? No one could get a hold of me! I was free to do whatever I wanted and not worry about others. Now I’m bombarded with texts from everyone wanting to spend time with me and then getting upset because I have no free time. Give me time to breath people! Haha but I love them so I will do my best to accommodate. But oh how I miss the freeness of china.

Man it feels good to be home again:) and what’s the first thing I do? Go bowling with my...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:05:50 -0400

Man it feels good to be home again:) and what’s the first thing I do? Go bowling with my roommate Katie. What a great first night back!

Comin home!

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:19:49 -0400

Comin home!

Well after being stuck in hong kong for over 24 hours I FINALLY have a flight home to LA. Now I just...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:59:55 -0400

Well after being stuck in hong kong for over 24 hours I FINALLY have a flight home to LA. Now I just have to figure out how to get to Chicago….. Dun dun dun. But at least I have baby steps in the right direction (meaning towards the states and out of a communist country lol). I am ready to be home for sure:) but man has this been one crazy amazing adventure:)

Only one more day left in Xiamen, WOW these four months have gone by way to fast. Tomorrow I get to...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:38:40 -0400

Only one more day left in Xiamen, WOW these four months have gone by way to fast. Tomorrow I get to spend the day on the island then go to a movie party with some Chinese friends and say my goodbyes. UGH not looking forward to the whole goodbye thing.

Three more days and I am 90% packed! I have to go buy another suitcase tomorrow because, welp, Tiana...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:52:56 -0400

Three more days and I am 90% packed! I have to go buy another suitcase tomorrow because, welp, Tiana has WAY too much stuff haha. So the rest will be packed up tomorrow and I leave Friday! Wow it’s crazy, I can’t believe that I am not going to be here next week…. But I can’t wait to be at home!

Watched this last night in China with a group of friends. How...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:45:27 -0400

Watched this last night in China with a group of friends. How boss can I get? haha

"China has it’s own system… it’s called flow. You just find a gap and gun it."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:45:37 -0400

“China has it’s own system… it’s called flow. You just find a gap and gun it.”

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Brian Leong

"[God’s] not tame, he’s not a puppy! But he’s GOOD!"

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:44:29 -0400

“[God’s] not tame, he’s not a puppy! But he’s GOOD!”

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Brian Leong

"Many women want to marry Superman, but find out on the wedding day he’s only Clark Kent."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:43:17 -0400

“Many women want to marry Superman, but find out on the wedding day he’s only Clark Kent.”

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Brian Leong

So I have been having acupuncture done on my shoulder for the...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:41:19 -0400

Laying on the table getting cupping

Just a little close up

The end resolts

So I have been having acupuncture done on my shoulder for the past two weeks. Nothing really seemed to be working so they thought they would give Cupping/blood letting a try. It looks crazy and maybe it’s all in my head, but I can feel my shoulder starting to feel better! I go back monday and wednesday for my last two treatments :) Then it’s back to home

I'm coming home

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:37:07 -0400

Can you believe that I will be back in the states in 5 days? Wow this is going to be a HUGE reverse culture shock. I’m kind of scared, everything is going to be different. In more ways then one….

Five phases:

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:48:54 -0400

It amazes me how much Chinese think into absolutely everything that they do…

There is something called the Luo Shu? What is the Luo Shu? Well I’m glad you asked :) It is a number box of nine squares (just think sudoku) and each of these boxes have a number 1-9 in it BUT here is the tricky part. They are placed just so, that whichever way you add them up, left to right or top to bottom, each row adds to 15. Can you figure out the order? Now each of these numbers are a representative of something. There are 4 even numbers which are represented as Yin and 5 odd numbers which represents Yang (I’m sure that we all know about Yin and Yang, or at least the premise of it yea?). Now I know we can all do math so we know that 4+5=……. 9 very good! 9 is not only the largest number but the Chinese also think of it as the luckiest. Now that you know this, you can see it all throughout Chinese history. Such as when I went to the Forbidden city, you will see that the doors have dots on them that are 9x9. Now I’m gonna make it a little trickier, there is also the number 5 which is supposed to be the number that represents the Emperor (because it is the center and the Emperor symbolizes the center). As you dig deeper and deeper into the Luo Shu you see more and more correlations (I won’t bore you with anymore of them, but lets just say I had a 2 hour long lecture on it today). But Chinese don’t just look at numbers, they have the five phases also (fire, water, wood, gold (metal), and earth). Each of these are linked also and you can go even more in depth with them then you ever could with the numbers. It is absolutely astonishing!

I look at the culture here and think wow that’s really cool I wonder why they do that, and the amazing thing is, they actually have a reason for everything that they do! From my perspective I think about why we do things back home and yea we have some really cool history and some really awesome culture, but how often do we have a painting hung up on the wall because it looks pretty? The Chinese would have a reason for it and a reason for why it is placed there (not to put a stereotype on them or on us). It’s all just really amazing and would take such a long time to learn all of the different meanings behind everything. Much longer then the 10 days that I have left here! That’s right America Sebastiana is coming home in 10 days! I hope you’re ready for me, because I’m coming back more awesome then ever :)

It’s absolutely amazing that I am seeing this in CHINA! It...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:32:50 -0400

It’s absolutely amazing that I am seeing this in CHINA! It is awesome that the news is really spreading all over the world. Absolutely amazing how God works :)

So it’s down to 17 days till I’m back in the states and it’s precisely at this...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 07:42:27 -0400

So it’s down to 17 days till I’m back in the states and it’s precisely at this moment that I realize I love China and I don’t want to go anywhere. In the stages of culture shock this would be considered the accommodation phase where I start to think of the things I will miss and suddenly everything seems awesome and I don’t want to leave. (well obviously I miss home to some degree so I do want to leave.) but then I think about…

The delicious muffins that I eat for breakfast and how much I love the perfect mixture of cornbread and muffin flavor :)
Or the amazing people that I have met on this trip and how everyone here is so nice and willing to help.
How everything is so cheap and I will most likely become a tight wad once I get back.
The cookies! My favorites are called prince and they taste exactly like a strawberry pop-tart :) yum!
I’m really going to miss the church I’ve been going to here also. The pastor is so amazing and the people are so welcoming, I love it!

Just to name a few I guess, but there is so much more!

I was walking with some friends from the group and we started talking about what we are going to start doing back home that is just a big NO NO. Just to name a couple there is….

spitting our food out on the table that either is bone, or fat, or just plain taste bad.
burping in a conversation and it being a compliment instead of disgusting.
walking into a street and the cars stopping for you and not honking because they know that if you didn’t do that there is no way you would be able to cross the street.
Bargaining with someone for a cheaper price on a pair of shoes or a t-shirt or just something random you’re picking up.
Spitting on the ground, INSIDE.
Leaving your tray in a restaurant or fast food place because believe it or not it is actually someone’s job to pick that up and clean up after you (who would have thought that).

I had to get used to a lot coming here, and now that I am used to it I am going to have to unlearn it all. But it was worth the experience and when people ask me how that experience was, I will have lots of stories to tell :)

Completely immersed in this right now.

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:01:56 -0400

Completely immersed in this right now.

Just rocking the Great Wall of China, NBD

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:08:05 -0400

Just rocking the Great Wall of China, NBD

Photo

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:05:40 -0400

Just hanging around Hangzhou :)

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:57:55 -0400

Just hanging around Hangzhou :)