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...

It's only been a few days since my last post (What else am I supposed to do with all this free time?) but the situation here has already changed -- and not for the better. I could never even imagine the situation we are experiencing here could ever happen in the US or any other democratic country. You may have heard how people are basically stranded in their houses, and if you haven't, here's a good article that discusses it. Housebound Chinese Cope with Being Cooped Up Bleach water streaks on the elevator door -- as if we needed one more reason not to touch things in public. On it's face, being stuck in the house doesn't seem too bad; many of us have experienced a bad snowstorm accompanied with power outages -- a little frustrating and an inconvenience but usually short lived. But let's expand the situation a bit. Now imagine that all the public spaces have been shut down -- parks and malls in particular. Add to that your housing is an apartment in a...

Night scene taken during one of our nightly walks Much of our lives are spent waiting: waiting for someone to be ready; waiting in line; waiting for the light; waiting for a text; waiting for a break; waiting for Christmas -- well maybe that's a stretch for February. We do spend a lot of time waiting for something to happen, but usually we are able to keep busy and occupy ourselves and the waiting becomes more of an anticipation. Well, the situation we are in right now is not that kind of waiting: It feels as though we are having an extended snow day because of a severe snowstorm but without the snow or the excitement and beauty it brings. We basically are stuck at home and told not to go out unless we have to. So, we stay at home and try to get out once a day just to get some fresh air and exercise and to help us keep perspective. Nathan and Ruth Green (some friends of ours who are also in China) recently created out a video that captures the situation at home very well. ...