The Last Adventure of the Summer

The summer has officially ended for me. I am in Cedarville, Ohio creating a home of my new apartment. Classes begin in less than a week, and there is still much to do over the next few days, but I am mentally ready.

The readiness that I feel for this new semester would not have been possible if it wasn't for some quality time at home in the great Northwest. Flying over the Cascades has never been more beautiful and refreshing then after 10 weeks of traveling the globe. Because of my usual bad luck with flight delays, I didn't get home until over 40 hours after landing in the US. However, that dazzling descent into PDX energized me--so much so that 8 hours later I was in the Columbia River Gorge hiking near a waterfall with my old pal Jordi Bright. What was about to happen next was not the welcoming home that I was looking for...

We forged a trail around the edge of the waterfall to reach its summit so that we could continue up the river. However, just as were about to reach the top of this treacherous trail, I was welcomed by an angry nest of bees/wasps/hornets (or some kind of stinging creature). After being stung about 5 times, it was time for me to turn around. Yet as I quickly turned, I slipped. The hill we climbed was steep, and as I fell, I knew that there was a very good chance that I was going to be in really bad shape or even worse...but, praise the Lord, I was saved by a tree half way down before I reached the most dangerous part of the decent. To say that was a tree would not be exactly correct. It was a cluster of five little trees ascending from the ground like fingers of a hand, waiting to catch me before I made impact at the base of the waterfall. Never have I been so grateful to be alive. Jordi had to endure an even worse attack of bees as he carefully climbed down after me. Above is a picture of my back with evidence of rolling into a tree.

The rest of my time at home was not so severe but also full of adventure. Jordi and I did actually get a good hike in the following weekend climbing up the creek that feeds into Bridal Veil Falls. I enjoyed making music with my other old pal and Cedarville roommate, Andrew Moses and his band. (Playing the saxophone was one of the greatest things that I missed while on IBI, and it was the first thing that I did when I got back home). I even enjoyed quality time uniting with my family. I praise the Lord for the blessings of the beauty and amazing people that surround the place that I call home.

China (The end of IBI)

Due to the Great Firewall of China, I was not able to access this blog during my 2 weeks there. China likes to control the media in order to prevent mass opposition to the communist government. Economically, China has embraced most of the tenets of capitalism. However, I was surprised to discover that there are still many ways that government still believes in communism. Lack of free speech (i.e. media) is one of these ways. So Facebook,  Twitter, and Blogger were not options while I was there.

               

In China, we spent a few days in Shanghai, over a week in Dalian, and a few days in Beijing.

               

When I looked at my IBI itinerary before this trip, Shanghai was near the top of my list of places that I was eager to see. This was because of all the pictures I’ve seen of the cityscape of Shanghai. Shanghai may be the most amazing and beautiful city around. It is home to some of the world’s tallest and most unique skyscrapers which reflect their colorful lights off the Yellow River below. This entire metropolitan area basically sprung up in the last 15 years. This is a testament to the aggressive role of the government in planning the future of the city as well as rapid economic emergence of China. China and India are often compared to each other, but being in Shanghai makes this comparison seem silly. China’s infrastructure is much more developed than India’s. Our group went to the top of the world’s third tallest building in Shanghai.

We took a train from Shanghai to Dalian on the same day and, in fact, about an hour after there was a devastating train crash in China. We mostly had class in the hotel that we were staying in. Dalian gives some perspective on how many people live in China. Even though I have never heard of Dalian and even though it is about the 20^th largest city in China, it is home to more people than all US cities except for NYC.

Our trip culminated in the capital, Beijing—a city that should probably hold the title of “counterfeit capital of the world”. I was impressed at how much fake stuff you can buy in Beijing—basically anything, even electronics. About 15 of the other IBI students picked up some trendy counterfeit Dr. Dre Beats headphones for about 10-20% of what they would cost in the states. They even sounded pretty good and many of the people who bought them were convinced that these headphones were real. They did not sound quite like $350 headphones, but it took us about 30 minutes of research to finally determine that they were fake—a testament to the amazing abilities of Chinese counterfeiters. The best part of Beijing was the Great Wall. It was the second world wonder that I saw on this trip. A solid number of us made it to the top of the hill. It was a challenging climb on a hot, dry day.   

                It seems that about once a week I have a special experience that I would classify as a highlight of the trip. Looking back, climbing the Great Wall will be one of the highlights of the trip. Among these highlights are: the Taj Mahal and rickshaw rides in India, the cruise to London, running to the beach at the Hague in Netherlands, outdoor concerts in Paris, mountain lakes in Switzerland and Austria, walking up the Philosophers Way in Heidelberg, Germany and seeing fireworks from the top of the city, the Hill of Crosses and swimming in the Baltic in Lithuania.

                   

What an amazing experience! I am finally back at home now and enjoying the Northwest for the next few days before I return to Cedarville to finish my undergraduate education. Thank you all who cared to read my blog as I enjoyed this journey. I plan on maintaining this blog as an outlet for my thoughts on other things in life. So there may be more to come.

 Shanghai at Night

 Chinese men like to where there shirts like this on hot days, especially if they have round bellies.

 The Great Wall: almost at the top of the hill. 

The Great Wall: Celebrating at the top.