From Steve: (pictures following)
What a difference a day makes. Saturday was a record rainfall and Sunday brought something that most people don't get to see in China...blue sky. It was gorgeous, even though it was hot. In the morning Hannah and I got an early start as we were invited by pastor of Hadian church to speak briefly. Pastor Wu is one of the influential spiritual leaders in China as he was the chaplain of the Olympics and has entertained the Clintons when they traveled to China. Prior to church Hannah and I had about an hour with Pastor Wu talking about family, the church, Spokane, and vision. The rest of the team joined us at 11:15 coming to church seeing something not normally seen. About 1500 people were lined up waiting to get in. The church, which is an English service with lots of college students, is in English and lasts about an hour. After Pastor Wu spoke, I gave a brief intro and then turned Hannah loose. She referenced Mother Theresa when she said, if you can't feed a hundred, then feed one. She tied that into James 1:27 from the bible where James writes, "True and undefined religion is this...that you care for the orphans and widows in their distress and keep yourself from being polluted by this world." Hannah did an awesome job and really tied what Pastor Wu was preaching about to something that the congregation could relate to.
After church and saying goodbye to some friends that showed up there, we headed to McDonalds and then Tiananmen Square. Even though it was blistering hot, T Square was pretty amazing. For six months we have been talking about going to the Pearl Market and shopping hard...well they finally got the chance amid the aggressive clerks and crowds of people. After dinner we finally got to go to the acrobat show. For me, the most impressive was the young girl doing ballet twirls on her toes. Oh, and she did it while standing on the head of a young man while he walked around the stage.
Monday we got packed and checked out of the hotel in morning and headed to the US Embassy. The parents of one of our lilac girls has a sweet contact with Ambassador Locke that we were able to benefit from in order to spend the morning with his longtime personal assistant since the ambassador is out of country right now. The embassy was amazing and a great privilege to spend time seeing those things that no one normally gets to see. We also made a great connection with the assistant that may benefit some others down the road."
From the embassy we headed to the airport and quickly checked in without a single issue...well except some friendly security people trying to find something that Hal apparently had hidden on his body somewhere. We flew to Changchun, the Capitol of Jilin Province in NE China. We could have flown straight into Jilin City but I guess a city of 4.5 million people doesn't have an airport. Kind of like Chicago not having one....hmmm. Anyway, Danielle Xu, a professor at Gonzaga and resident of Jilin met us with Peter, the Director of Foreign Affairs. We went right to the bus and drove the two hours to Jilin City. Honestly it could be the Palouse here. It's green and lush and crops are growing everywhere. It's also a nice break from the Beijing air and busyness.
Driving into Jilin City was a great treat as it is very different here. It is their Summer River Festival and decorated barges lined the river....pretty much like Vegas. We did the quick check in and our official dinner began here at our hotel...the only 5 star one in Jijin. We were first greeted by the mayor and his delegation of 5 or 6 others. They were very gracious and the girls were awesome as representatives. We then had a conference room of chairs and thier mayor and Mayor Peterson exchanged comments and gifts. Then Margo and Hal exchanged gifts from our Sister City Assoc. and Lilac Festival. Honestly, it was an unbelievable time that people just don't get to do. They then moved us to two dining rooms that were set formally. Who would have thought that when the girls had etiquette training it would be for a state meal in Jilin, China? The meal was incredible, cultural, formal, and a once in a lifetime chance. They had name cards set out for everyone, dishes that we would never order, that supposedly were unique to Jilin, flowers throughout the room, and cameras. Throughout all of my travels in China, this dinner beat all the others and was way beyond what I thought back in February when we talked about this.
After dinner we went down to the river to watch the choreographed water show and the neon lights on all the barges and thousands of people. Absolutely incredible.
Monday was awesome. Not in the colloquial sense of the word, but in that this was way beyond what we would have thought, imagined, or could have scripted.
What a difference a day makes. Saturday was a record rainfall and Sunday brought something that most people don't get to see in China...blue sky. It was gorgeous, even though it was hot. In the morning Hannah and I got an early start as we were invited by pastor of Hadian church to speak briefly. Pastor Wu is one of the influential spiritual leaders in China as he was the chaplain of the Olympics and has entertained the Clintons when they traveled to China. Prior to church Hannah and I had about an hour with Pastor Wu talking about family, the church, Spokane, and vision. The rest of the team joined us at 11:15 coming to church seeing something not normally seen. About 1500 people were lined up waiting to get in. The church, which is an English service with lots of college students, is in English and lasts about an hour. After Pastor Wu spoke, I gave a brief intro and then turned Hannah loose. She referenced Mother Theresa when she said, if you can't feed a hundred, then feed one. She tied that into James 1:27 from the bible where James writes, "True and undefined religion is this...that you care for the orphans and widows in their distress and keep yourself from being polluted by this world." Hannah did an awesome job and really tied what Pastor Wu was preaching about to something that the congregation could relate to.
After church and saying goodbye to some friends that showed up there, we headed to McDonalds and then Tiananmen Square. Even though it was blistering hot, T Square was pretty amazing. For six months we have been talking about going to the Pearl Market and shopping hard...well they finally got the chance amid the aggressive clerks and crowds of people. After dinner we finally got to go to the acrobat show. For me, the most impressive was the young girl doing ballet twirls on her toes. Oh, and she did it while standing on the head of a young man while he walked around the stage.
Monday we got packed and checked out of the hotel in morning and headed to the US Embassy. The parents of one of our lilac girls has a sweet contact with Ambassador Locke that we were able to benefit from in order to spend the morning with his longtime personal assistant since the ambassador is out of country right now. The embassy was amazing and a great privilege to spend time seeing those things that no one normally gets to see. We also made a great connection with the assistant that may benefit some others down the road."
From the embassy we headed to the airport and quickly checked in without a single issue...well except some friendly security people trying to find something that Hal apparently had hidden on his body somewhere. We flew to Changchun, the Capitol of Jilin Province in NE China. We could have flown straight into Jilin City but I guess a city of 4.5 million people doesn't have an airport. Kind of like Chicago not having one....hmmm. Anyway, Danielle Xu, a professor at Gonzaga and resident of Jilin met us with Peter, the Director of Foreign Affairs. We went right to the bus and drove the two hours to Jilin City. Honestly it could be the Palouse here. It's green and lush and crops are growing everywhere. It's also a nice break from the Beijing air and busyness.
Driving into Jilin City was a great treat as it is very different here. It is their Summer River Festival and decorated barges lined the river....pretty much like Vegas. We did the quick check in and our official dinner began here at our hotel...the only 5 star one in Jijin. We were first greeted by the mayor and his delegation of 5 or 6 others. They were very gracious and the girls were awesome as representatives. We then had a conference room of chairs and thier mayor and Mayor Peterson exchanged comments and gifts. Then Margo and Hal exchanged gifts from our Sister City Assoc. and Lilac Festival. Honestly, it was an unbelievable time that people just don't get to do. They then moved us to two dining rooms that were set formally. Who would have thought that when the girls had etiquette training it would be for a state meal in Jilin, China? The meal was incredible, cultural, formal, and a once in a lifetime chance. They had name cards set out for everyone, dishes that we would never order, that supposedly were unique to Jilin, flowers throughout the room, and cameras. Throughout all of my travels in China, this dinner beat all the others and was way beyond what I thought back in February when we talked about this.
After dinner we went down to the river to watch the choreographed water show and the neon lights on all the barges and thousands of people. Absolutely incredible.
Monday was awesome. Not in the colloquial sense of the word, but in that this was way beyond what we would have thought, imagined, or could have scripted.
We then took a 2 hour bus ride to Jilin.
Entering Jilin City
Rice Paddies
Arriving at the US Embassy
Outside the US Embassy
A special prividedge was granted to Dennis and Steve when they were able to meet Ambassador Locke's assistant Dennis.
Mayor Peterson with Peter who works for the Director of Cultural Affairs.
Margo presenting a gift to Vice Mayor Fang Liquin of Jilin City.
Mayor Peterson of Liberty Lake being presented a gift from Vice Mayor Liquin.
The Lilac Royal Court presenting gifts to the mayor and his staff.
Having dinner with the Mayoral Staff.
The Lilac Royal Court representing Spokane beautifully.
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