Wow, this has been quite the experience...
I have found myself throughout the year trying to summarize my experience to people who may have or may have not been reading my blog and I have been telling them all sorts of things.
China is wonderful -
It has beautiful mountains, wonderful people, interesting food!
China is OK -
It has decent museums, people who always want to practice English with foreigners, and the food sometime seems repetitive.
China is terrible -
Some streets have smoldering garbage piles on their sidewalks, businessmen offer you morally gray job 'opportunities', and the food can make you sick.
I have even told some people 'I have found myself'... uh oh. Even I roll my eyes at that one.
But really, how does one not find themselves when they are traveling or teaching abroad - and what does it mean?
In the context I used it - late one night, chatting with a friend on gchat - I said that I found myself and it was nothing new. It was a refreshing change of something internal to something that was always there. Something supremely mundane. *sigh*
I believe the way it is commonly used, usually by travelers, involves a recognition of ones self that was concealed before an event, such as traveling to a different place.
At this moment I would like to reinterpret the word and say that I have found myself...in a different way.
I have found myself on this trip. But this statement is incomplete to what I truly mean to say.
I have found myself eating dumplings.
I have found myself surrounded by friends.
I have found myself ...ecstatic/confused/lost/full/wealthy/embarrassed/prideful/... on this trip.
I have found myself experiencing China.
I could have 'found myself' any where, and it would have been different (and yet similar). I can eat dumplings in New York, as I have with my brother in the past. I could have been surrounded by friends as I was in college. I could have been ...ecstatic / confused / lost / full / wealthy / embarrassed / prideful / ... as I have in various other times and places where I have found myself.
In this sense, I believe that 'finding myself in China' means I have found myself with a whole wealth of experiences I wouldn't have experienced, had anything been different.
A Year in Relfection - To Find Oneself
Rain and breif summary
We headed down to the big market in UB to catch a bus/van to the countryside. All our information about catching a bus/van came from Eric's memory - sometimes outdated - and friends of Eric who didn't travel through Mongolian 'public transportation'.
We made it down to the market in the early morning after visiting the Chinese Embassy and sat in a van for 6 hours before we actually departed on the 26 hour ride out to a small town we couldn't find on the map... not where we wanted to end up. We got nervous and climbed out of the van and began walking. We left town following a river towards a lake and crossed a volcano. We camped a night, Eric got sick, and moved into a Ger on the lake shore.
We stayed a few days, fishing, swimming, and enjoying the beautiful lake (insert pictures here).
We hiked back to town, ran into the driver who took us out from UB, got ripped off by him again heading back east to Teserleg.
We spent the night, woke up, hiked to a monetary and caught a bus to the former, and potentially future, capitol of Mongolia -- Hahorken.
We arrived and visited a giant monastery before heading out to a giant valley filled with horses, goats, sheep, and yaks. We pitched our tent and read as animals milled about --- It was pretty surreal.
Storm clouds rolled in and Eric and I fled the valley to find a guest house, and ended up lost in the middle of a field as the rain began to fall. We ran into some Mongolians on the riverside who, when we asked for directions to the guesthouse, ended up being the owners. The offered to give us a ride and drove us to the complete opposite side of town (the map was completely off). We spent two nights in the guest house and today we headed back to UB
China's Embassy in Mongolia
Most frustrating experience of the trip.
Below is an account of my experiences with the Chinese Embassy in UB Mongolia. It may come off as a rant, but anyone who goes to Mongolia and has to work with this Embassy ought to be warned. Before heading over to get my visa I was somewhat worried about dealing with them as I read a user's post on Travel China Guide:
Stay away from this Embassy for getting Chinese visa if possible. People who work there are very unfriendly and non-cooperative.
I consider myself relatively patient and didn't think there would be much of a problem... maybe this was just a bad experience. Anyways...We went to the Chinese Embassy in UB, Mongolia 3 times in 3 days. They are open every other day (Mon, Wed, Friday) from 9 - 12 am. There is one person who collects forms, and one person who gives the passports back with Chinese visas. Our first time in the office we stood in line for 20 minutes before seeing a post on the wall saying that in order to get a tourist visa for China you need three things (make sure you have them):
1) Ticket showing your departure
2) Place where you intend to stay while there
3) Proof of financial stability
We left the office and went to a nearby Internet cafe and printed off the first two, not bothering to consider the third one because no one could tell us what it was.
We returned to the office at 10:30, stood in line for half an hour. A few people furiously stomped away as the officials told them that they had 'insufficient information'. The person in front of me was turned down for 'insufficient information' and the employee behind the counter disappeared - not saying anything - for half and hour. As time drew closer to closing we became anxious. Eventually the official came back and we were helped being told we also needed to show our ticket into China. They would not accept "we're taking a jeep" which is how we crossed into Mongolia.
We left the embassy, having to spend two more days in UB rather than being able to head out to the countryside. We had to buy an expensive ticket through a travel agency which showed exactly how we would cross the boarder.
We returned to the embassy on Friday at opening with all the information hoping that we would be able to sort everything out at least by noon. While waiting in line the guy collecting forms left again unexpectedly, thankfully returning after only 10 minutes. We laboriously talked him into accepting our forms finally it sounds like things will work out... We go to pick it up this Friday.
Getting ready to head north!
Yesterday Eric and I spent the morning hiking up into the mountain range that surrounds UB. On the top of the mountains there were countless Ovoos (piles of rocks, tree trunks, and prayer flags). As Eric explained the tradition - walk around the Ovoo three times and throw a stone on it - a bunch of Mongolians joined us and began to circle the Ovoo. When they finished they all began yelling towards the city below.
We hiked down the mountain leaving our Mongolian friends behind only to hear their shouts following us even as we reached the foot of the mountain.
Tired, we climbed aboard a bus and road it to the other end of town where we ate a late lunch and realized we were both getting sun burnt. Anxious to evade the sun we got a 2 dollar hair cut, and watched the new Terminator movie (the day previous we were talking about how disinterested we were to waste our time in a foreign country indoors... ha!)
Now that we've spent the past few days hanging out in the capitol, and are just now getting ready to head north to Moron, and a lake 200km north of it. We plan on camping, fishing, and trekking around.
Mongolia!
Eric and I made it safely to UB, Mongolia!
After arriving in a Chinese boarder town and unwillingly hiring a Chinese driver we attempted to buy some cheap motorcycles. We were, however, eventually discouraged -- the bikes were expensive and there was a huge fee to transport them across the boarder from China to Mongolia.
We ended up climbing onto a jeep with a bunch of Mongolian nationals and crossing the boarder just barely catching a train to Ulaanbaatar. The morning after we awoke to watch the sunrise and pull into the now bustling capitol of Mongolia (according to Eric the city has grown exponentially since he was last here 5 years ago). We will stay here for 3 or four more days before heading to the countryside.
Cheers!
Jon and Eric
No more freedom
I am going back to China today and I will not have access to the Internet.
Rough plans for the future:
In a few hours I will fly back to Macau with some friends I have been in Thailand with.
We will cross the border into Zhuhai where I will wait 2-3 days to board a train to Beijing to meet my brother Eric.
We will meet in Beijing and either loiter there for a bit or just head north to Mongolia.
Eventually in mid-July we will head back to Minnesota.
I will throw some updates up as the Chinese government (or eventually the Mongolian government) permits.
The Beach, Snorkling, and Sunburn
We woke up at 7 this morning and climbed on a long boat and cruised to a nearby island where 'the beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. I've never seen the movie, but ever since I set foot in Bangkok I have heard about it -- Every backpacker and tourist wanted to go there. Upon arrival at the secluded beach we lept off the boat and swam to a ladder which led us to an isolated campground looking area and further in was a giant beach (In the middle of the bay about 20 feet out was a beautiful 30 foot sail boat tilted at 45 degree angle - we concluded that the crew must have anchored and it slipped -- an expensive mistake).
After 10 minutes, 7 seven or so giant boats pulled up and unloaded a few hundred people on the beach... My small group of friends, 6 of us felt out numbered and lost the joy of being there. We returned to the long boat, to find 2 giant cruise ships and 6 other long boats anchored. We snorkeled (!!!) for an hour or so, and drove back to 'monkey island'. It reminded me of the parks in China where the monkeys would lurk the path and attack tourists.
Side note:
We have been touring Ko Phi Phi with a Canadian couple. Before joining us they rode elephants in southern Thailand where the guy contracted some sort of rash on his inner leg which pussed at night. The first day in Ko Phi Phi, his girlfriend sliced her foot open on a seashell requiring several butterfly stitches. Today the guy got sun burned and the girl was bit by a monkey on this monkey island.
This was their first trip together and they claimed that they were doing us a favor learning everything the hard way. They were real troopers.
Ko Phi Phi!
Yesterday morning at 4 am we woke up and went to the Bangkok airport and caught a plane to Phuket, and island in south western Thailand. We landed and took a taxi to the docks where we missed the ferry to Ko Phi Phi by 30 minutes and had to wait 5 hours for the next one. We ended up on the island at 3:30 with some new friends and began to look for a place to stay. We went to bed at 8:30 last night we were so exhausted.
The island is beautiful and I will be sure to insert some photos when I have more time on my hands.
Today we will hike around, swim a bit, enjoy the beach, and possibly swim with sharks.
Too much to write about!
Today I had some free time to explore on my own. I ended up exploring a firehouse and crawling into an attic, and meeting a few Thai people. They are extremely helpful. They will tell you where to go to get the closest razor, and what time a given museum closes. They will also cheat you, if you aren't savvy enough (we ended up getting dragged around the city the first day here).
I noticed that taxis around big hotels start at a few hundred baht, while taxis else where are in the ten digits. Even Tug-Tugs will look you up and down before offering a price. Usually in the morning/afternoon, if you are in a non-hotel area you can catch a tug-tug for 20/15baht per hour. After going to your first destination (if not before) they will take you to 'their sponsors' where they will expect you to buy a suit, tie, dress shirt, ring, or other piece of jewelry. If you are lucky, they will take you to a TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) shop where they will help you plan your trip and offer you free water. Towards the end of our time messing around with Tug-Tugs we would relax and throw out extravagant hypothetical situations while sipping on free water provided by the agents.
Tug-Tugs are a thing of the past, now that we are on day 3. We would just as soon walk 10 blocks before snatching up a Tug-Tug and driving in circles until they decide which sponsor to bring us to.
Anyways, the people here are kind, if you know the way the game is rigged. They will give you directions to the most isolated places with hopes that on the off chance you will chose them in your next journey.
A Brief Update and intro to Thailand
There is a 65% chance that I will be staying in China at United International College again next year helping the International Development Office or the Office of Whole Person Education (the on campus volunteer organization).
It is my hope that another year in China will allow me to increase my Chinese language proficiency as well as allow me to return to the US and land a job with an international company/travel abroad agency/study abroad agency (in reverse order).
I have become a Foreign Agent Specialist for an international modeling company in the Pearl River Delta. After working on for the Medical Device Sales Company I expressed my uneasiness to the manager and he suggested that I help him recruit western models to star in movies and various advertisements. I have since been in one movie as a wealthy westerner on a cruise ship, and a line of advertisements as a cook (with the white mushroom hat) recommending an expensive line of toaster ovens and steamer appliances. The pay isn't great, but it's fun to hang out on a movie set with a bunch of friends and watch a famous 12-year-old actor fake-play the piano while his mother (a famous Taiwanese superstar) watches sobbing.
Just today I flew out of Macau with Carl, Joel, and David (3 other T.A.s) to Thailand. We flew out in the afternoon and met a middle aged ex-pat who informed us of the seedy underbelly of Thailand -- unmentionables. He continued on to tell us that it was very common for middle aged men to visit Thailand on a business trip for a week or so, return home to their wives -- only to sell their assets and return to Thailand to start a new life. In fact, he admitted, he was one of these people, he even had a Thai wife. But, he justified the sudden switch to the fact that his wife was actually scheming to divorce him.
Anyways, the plane reinforced certain stereotypes we have already heard about from other travellers but only brought them down harder upon us. Even now sitting in the hostel I shudder thinking about the advice this man shared with us - he not only validated the darker reality but passed it off as casual advice from one traveller to another.
---Lost and Found---
Not letting it get to us, we evaded his company and claimed our bags and was falsely counciled by airport 'government staff' into taking a taxi for much more than the airport shuttle bus. The driver was a funny guy whole helped show us different temple guides and told us about upcoming Mui Thai boxing matches.
Due to our lack of cash we had to take a pit stop at an ATM to pull out more money - getting out of the car Joel unknowingly dropped his Ipod touch into the gutter. We climbed back into the taxi and found our hostel where Joel realized he had lost his iPod. Not letting it get to him, we went out and ate some pad Thai (amazing) and walked around the neighborhood. We actually found our way back to the bank where we pulled the money out of the ATM and Joel inspected the gutter to find his iPod face down in a puddle.
Excited at the find we went and ate some delicious homemade Coconut Ice cream at a nearby restaurant and shuffled home.
Whoa!
C'mon.
Really? Not posts for a few weeks?
I was just getting into posting rapid fire too, then -- poof -- nothing.
Well I am here to tell you all that I am OK! I did not fall off the Great Wall, or killed and sold for parts.
I AM BACK, for awhile at least. Ha ha - I am in Thailand and the Chinese government cannot block my blog access here.
So what happened was the Chinese government blocked all blogging sites for the past few weeks because it was close to a historical event that happened on June 4th in Tienanmen Square. I have heard murmurs that they were expecting a blog lash back.
I have tried to use proxies and sites to get around the blockage, just so I could let you all know whats going on but the page would always time out and the posts would never auto-save or post.
Here is my apology for my tardiness as well as my appreciation for your interest. I have even received a few e-mails asking when I would send an update... here it is.
5-12 Candle Light
On May 12th we met on campus for a candle-lit vigil in honor of those who lost friends, relatives, and homes in the Sichuan earthquake. While the ceremony was almost entirely in Chinese, it felt good to take part. The night started off with a few songs, a few speeches, and a video of a group of UIC students who went to help shortly after the earthquake. They then showed a video of Children who were happily going to school in a large trailer provided by the Chinese government (illustrating the resiliency of the region), sang a few more songs followed by a few speeches by students who are from the Sichuan province. A woman, who I was told wasn't from Sichuan (nor was the dance) danced on stage for two songs and then a large group of students came to the stage and passed around a microphone as they sang a song (which eventually included nearly everyone as they held tea candles and reflected on the event.
The Mysterious Island
---Rides!---
Me and some TESL friends (workmates) went out to Mystery Island and had at an actual Chinese Theme park! There's a theme park nearby the campus where we teach... Pearl Land... but it's small and doesn't look very exciting. This one, had tons of rides and all sorts of things you might want to find in a theme park.
---FREE DINNER?!?---
After we ran around Mystery Island all day we headed back to the coast of Zhuhai where an Italian Restaurant, Peccati di Gola, which was celebrating it's 1 year anniversary (which meant free food). Trust me when I say this is the best western restaurant in Zhuhai. We ate our hearts out and enjoyed the fresh air!
Shopping, Cooking, and ***Recipes***
---Odds and Ends from Friday---
After a few months in this bustling town, one might think that exploring would lose its excitement, or time might be filling up with too much hard work. -- But this is not the case, we always find time to...
---Cooking---
Wow! We took these ingredients:
Chopped them up and stir fried them:
And made a few delicious dishes. I will post the recipe below when I have time... I might try it again sometime soon and upload a picture of the end result. It's supposed to be a set of family secrets... so I am ever so thankful Mimiko shared these recipes with me. = )
----Recipe - Chinese Eggplant-----
1 Long Chinese eggplant
2 decks of cards worth of thin sliced meat (not much fat) - pork or beef.
3 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tablespoons of Ginger
Oil & Soy Sauce
*optional Soy Bean Paste (I am told it brings out different flavor)
Half the eggplant and slice up the eggplant into fatty chunks (about a half inch thick). Throw some oil in the Wok and fry up the eggplant. Eggplant sucks up the oil and can end up tasting like cigarette butts soaked in oil, but the secret is to smash the oil out of each slice with a spatula as it's frying. Give it a few minutes and then throw them into a dish to relax for a minute.
Back in the wok, throw on some more oil, toss in the garlic and throw in the meat. Once the meat is cooked -- toss back in the eggplant, ginger, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (as well as the soy bean paste). Bang, you gotta dish.
***General Notes on Cooking***
The Ginger and Garlic amounts are estimated an can change up based on your taste. I have read a Chinese cookbook over here and both Ginger and Garlic are the backbone of most Chinese Dishes. They are extremely good for you and have a bunch of properties which are beneficial to ones health. (I bet this is a no duh moment for a lot of you, but I found it interesting.)
Using soybean paste and soy sauce made things a little too salty for me... Because I have the paste, I think I will tone down the soy sauce next time.
----Fried Eggs & Tomatoes----
I will add this later, I am going to run and then swim for a bit
Summer and Weekend Plans
I have recently heard news from the West...my brothers might be coming out to visit me. This will mean I will have to extend my VISA and hang about a bit until they get here. I am very excited to see them and have the opportunity to travel around with them.
Tomorrow I will be going to a Chinese BBQ and afterward learning to cook Chinese food from a friend in my kitchen, I'll write down the recipes. This weekend I will be going to Maccau to get some books and explore the area a bit more.
A Sheep in Wolves Clothing
New Format
As the end of the year draws even closer I have decided that the blog could use a bit of a facelift. I have changed the colors, added a counter at the bottom of the page, and I am thinking about throwing together a quick logo or something.
The Guangzhou Haircut Dance
Guangzhou - The town that keeps on going
Incomes & Outcomes (Cont.)
The sales agent, my boss, and I climbed into another cab and drove to the final hospital. On the way my boss asked me if I was nervous.
Bossman - "Do you think this will be a difficult job?"
"Nah, it doesn't look that difficult."
"Your job really isn't that hard. All you really need to know is Ni Hao. Xie Xie. Bye Bye. It would help to know a few other things but you are being paid to improve the company's image. Many hospitals in China believe that the technology of western products is better than China's. We need you to be there to show the clients that we care about them. Smile a lot. When we go into this next hospital make sure you pay attention to what I do. Next time, I will not be here. It will just be you and the agent."
"I really don't know that much Chinese."
"Don't worry about that. The agent will do all of the talking and negotiating. Just smile and thank them. This time, just watch what I do."
We exited the cab and entered a huge hospital. Earlier in the day, my boss taught me to say, "Director of technology" "Hospital Director" "hospital" and how to formally address my boss in front of other people. As we scanned the hospital directory he pointed out the Chinese Characters and said them out loud. He mumbled "ke dahn" and we set out walking past waiting rooms and laboratories. We stopped outside of a woman's office where we paused before shuffling in. We all shook hands and took seats as my boss introduced himself, handed out a business card, and a catalogue of the company's medical equipment.
The woman behind the desk looked unimpressed.
After 5 minutes we shuffled out of the room and began to walk down the hall. One doorway down stood a man in a laboratory coat who was stirring two beakers of red liquid over hot plates. Initially I thought it was blood.
He looked up at us and my boss approached him handing a business card, catalogue, and introduced us. The man stopped stirring and paged through the catalogue. I glanced back at the door and saw the biohazard sign. --I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be here-- The walls were lined with vials and various chemicals in canisters.
The man put the catalogue down on a steel table and picked up his glass rod to stir the fluid again. He added some red powder and continued to talk with my boss. I smiled as i realized he wasn't stirring blood, just some red powder into water from the sink. The man had inadvertently given me ammunition to do my job, my smile widened.
I stood there with a smile plastered to my face for the next 40 minutes scanning the room for things which could distract me and kill the time. When we finally left, my boss was angry and spent a good ten minutes in the parking lot talking heatedly to someone on the phone.
We said goodbye to the sales agent and boarded a bus.
Bossman - "That last hospital was terrible. She didn't want even want to speak to us. We will discuss business later. Now we party."
We went to a Chinese restaurant and ate some noodles and walked to a grocery store where he bought a Budweiser for himself and I. He toasted a successful day, while muttering about the failure at the final hospital.
Bossman - "We will have business cards for you printed tomorrow. You are now our Senior Director of Sales."
He clasped me on the shoulder as he walked us to the bus which would take us home. It was the most comfortable bus I have taken in China. In between falling asleep, we talked about family, the state of the economy, his parents faith in Buddhism, and his inability to believe in God.
Bossman - "I don't believe in God. I believe in myself."
Although this isn't the first time I have heard such a statement, I think it is the first time I have seen it manifest itself in ones attitude and actions.
Incomes & Outcomes
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History behind the job:
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I wrote a few days ago about being offered a job to sell medical equipment for a large company in China. Not seeing much of a problem I decided to try it out and met up with my potential employer for a training session.
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My boss led me to three different hospitals today. Nothing could be quite so despairing.
I exited the cab to meet my boss who was standing near the bus stop. He ushered me into another cab, where we rode to the first hospital. The first hospital was a veteran's hospital, where we wandered around until we found a beaten up building in the back which looked more like a slum apartment than a manager's office. I followed my boss into a room as he grinned at the coming deal. After 20 minutes of interchange and a few brief looks up at me (from the client) and we left.
Bossman - "Next time wear leather shoes...And tuck your shirt in."
I nodded, and followed him off in my Birkenstock sandals and button-up shirt.
We climbed into another taxi and rode off to a public hospital.
Bossman - "...It's the agent who makes the actual sale who gets 40% of the profit from the equipment. The hospital usually gets about 20% of the profit... not the hospital itself, but the person in charge of buying the equipment who is usually pretty greedy and arrogant. They tend to look after what is best for themselves and not necessarily the hospital. Lastly I get the last 20%. Is that wrong? How does it work in the US?"
I was baffled and didn't really have the capacity to speak for his American competitors but I was pretty sure America wouldn't be the team riding a white horse. So I let him know as such.
After 30 minutes of standing outside the hospital's bosses office, my boss calls his agent in charge of selling to this branch and summons him. Within 15 minutes he shows up and begins to wait with us. We wait in the alley for nearly thirty more minutes before they suggest moving inside the main hospital building where we wait for the next 45 minutes.
Inside the main building we saw burn victims, children, and old people hobbling along to the elevator which, I hoped would take them up to a place where they would find some relief.
Bossman - "In China, you don't want to be a doctor or lawyer... you need to be a businessman. That's how you can make a lot of money, and quick."
My face flushed, "In America, it's somewhat the opposite. You want to be a doctor...or a lawyer."
BM - "Most Chinese people aren't that wealthy so they usually go to public hospitals like this."
"Are these hospitals pretty good?"
"No. They are usually pretty bad."
My heart sank for the remainder of our time together. We sat and watched people walk by seeking sub-par medical assistance from doctors who were accepting a poor salary, so that that their boss could buy overpriced medical equipment getting a kick back that would please them and flow back to my boss, to his sellers, to me.
Bossman - "After my first job as a salesman I figured out that I hated selling things. I hate days like this, when I have to go around and visit hospitals -- visiting customers like this. It helps when you realize it's just a game. As long as you realize that it's not work and it's just a game, it makes things a lot easier. This is just a necessary part of the game, but I would much rather be in my office drinking tea."
Running, Alienation, and Chalk
This blog has become something very special for me, and I will miss blogging when I return to the US. Not only do I feel special each time I hear about people caring enough to read about my journey, but also it has been a huge cathartic procedure. In past travels abroad I have found running to be the most cathartic activity. Whether it be South Africa, Porto Rico, Colorado, France, or Italy --- The moments that most stick out to me is 'getting out' and seeing the city for my self via foot. But with blogging I have found a new outlet to augment my running.
Carrer Day!
Kids these days
Qiao
This last weekend I took a short trip out to Qiao island with some friends. We walked across the bridge which joins the island to Zhuhai and spent a beautiful day exploring! At one point we ended up in the heart of a Chinese military training facility surrounded by guards who told us to put our cameras away and pointed at the way out. It was pretty nerve racking.
Towards the middle of the we arrived at a giant gate with ollyWood written across the top. Approaching the gate, a guard came out to us and asked us to pay him 10 kuai ($1.25) to enter. We shrugged and payed up - taking a moment to study a nearby map which indicated a beach somewhere up the road. After climbing a hill -- seeing nothing more than a few graves, some flowers, and some 'no burning' signs -- we came to a beautiful view of the ocean, with a giant beach and tons of fishing nets. We decided to climb down and take a peek. After winding down the mountain side we wound up at a beach covered in trash, the majority of which was shoe parts (perhaps there was a nearby shoe factory). After stumbing through the litter we paced along the coast taking pictures of fishermen, mussel encrusted rocks, and a nearby light house.
Anxious to get away from the sad sight we climbed back up the hill and continued up to 'ollyWood'.
The road ended abruptly at a building with a giant female 'buddha-esque' statue posing nearby. Other than the bulding, statue, a bbgun/ballon shooting range, and magnificent view of the island, there was nothing to ollyWood.
We decended the giant hill and climbed on a bus to return home.
Let's talk about people.
I was given a book, igniting the heart at our first meeting. In it are a series of quotes from various Bahai books and questions that follow from the reading.
