Amoy Wanderings

After three years in Xiamen (Amoy), we are moving on to another school and another city, BASIS International School in Huizhou, China. So, I thought I would close our chapter in Xiamen with a collection of some of my favorite photos of Xiamen. It has been a very memorable time and we are sad to leave, but we are very excited for what awaits us. I am dedicating this video to my classmate and lifelong friend, Kyle Liedtke, who passed away this year. All the music in the video comes from his album Longing. Though the video is a little long (about 26 minutes) I hope it is worth the length. And please feel free to leave a comment and to follow my blog. For the full size video, go to Remembering Xiamen

One goal Sandy and I have had is to get our Chinese driver's licenses. Now, there is little desire on my part to drive (much less own) a car here in China, though Sandy is somewhat interested in it. However, our main focus is to get our motorcycle endorsement so that we can drive motorcycles here (something we have really wanted to do). So, we figured that this was a great challenge to take on while life has slowed down because of the virus. We looked into the process -- well, actually we had friends who looked into it for us -- and figured out that it was a fairly straightforward process: have our passports and Oregon driver's licenses officially translated, go to the motor vehicle office to fill out an application, pay a few fees, and then take a knowledge-based test. Since I have my motorcycle in Oregon, that will be the end of it for me, but Sandy may face some type of driving test -- we'll tackle that problem after we finish this initial process. So, last week we set o...

For the past month, I have remained silent for a couple of reasons. For one, there really has been little change to our situation, so there has been little to report. The other reason is that from all I could gather, the rest of the world is now experiencing various forms of quarantine and lock down, so that most of you have had your lives upended and need to focus on what you are experiencing. But after receiving some questions from friends, I thought I should give you a basic update. First off, we are doing very well, staying healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually. Yes, we are mainly in a self-imposed lock down, meaning we mainly stay at home, but we do get out almost every day and meet with friends a few times a week. Our compound has been opened back up (mainly); we are free to come and go, and Sandy even had a guest over the other day. We have also been meeting with a group of friends at the beach (which is a 15-minute drive from our house) on Sunday morning for ...

Girl flying a kite at the beach. It has been four weeks since the shut down began here in Xiamen, and we are healthy and doing well though we are in the dark as much as ever. We are still encouraged to stay at home, cannot have visitors into the compound, and need to wear a mask whenever we go out and will be in close contact with people. However, businesses are slowly re-opening and some restaurants and coffee/tea shops are allowing people to sit together (although even then they prefer people to sit in pairs at most). Schools in our area still have no projected start date. Here is a recent article that shows China’s current plan for re-opening schools . At this rate, I’m guessing our schools at the earliest will open in mid-April.  Sandy flying a kite. With the closing of all public meetings, people have been using alternatives to maintain contact. Our foreign fellowship has been posting weekly messages and songs so that people still can have connection. Sandy,...

"Wuhan jiayou! Zhongguo jiayou!" A commonly heard refrain of encouragement for Wuhand and China in the fight against COVID-19. Life has settled in to the new normal for us now. We basically are housebound, going out for walks usually in the evening (always with our masks on) but generally feeling like we are on a staycation without the fun aspect of a vacation. We are able to get the food we need and have stocked up a bit just in case food gets scarce, but for now it doesn’t look like we will be facing any shortages. The real challenge right now comes with the future. How bad is the virus really? How long will this last? When will school begin again? When will life return to normal? What will that normal look like? And this provides us a look into the cultural window of living in China.  So, as it stands, all schools are shut down by order of the government, and schools will reopen when the government deems it safe. Then, they will give us a one-week notice...