Congratulations to my cousins, Paul and Sarah, on the birth of their first son, Joshua Paul Webel. Look out, world … he’s gonna be one special kid, the never-before-seen combination of Webel and Sears blood!

Lunch (bao cai fan):

• Mom: Bullfrog
• Dad: Spicy and sour duck feet
• Lance: Fried pork with spicy peppers
• Helen: Eel and cucumber

Dinner (with headmaster and English teachers):

• 1,000-year-old egg (actually fermented for 10 months)
• Tofu with pork
• Spicy whole mini shrimp
• Sweet squirrel fish
• Happy family stew
• Sugary shredded potatoes
• Hollow vegetables
• Spicy steak with bones
• Spicy pig intestines
• Beer-battered duck bones
• Eggplant
• Apple vinegar (cider)
• Chinese beer
• Yogurt (sour milk)

“I’m glad it’s not dog season!”

– My mother, in reference to our dinner plans in China

I’m tired, so this is gonna be quick … Here’s today’s rundown!

• Dad and mom helped me teach 2 classes today … dad told the kids about our family history and mom told a funny story from my childhood.
• We had fried rice and noodles for lunch at my favorite tiny restaurant near my school.
• We also took a guided tour of the Liangang Steel and Iron Factory, a huge modern facility that employs 17,000 people and uses some gigantic machinery to produce billions of tons of metal every year.
• Dinner was at a really nice restaurant with Star and Barbara, two of my local friends … we had eel, beef, lotus root, pumpkin, and green beans.
• Afterwards, we went to another arcade, where we played basketball, danced, and conquered an interesting matching game. We met Grahm (my fellow Loudi foreigner) there and talked for a while.
• To end the evening, Star and Barbara took us to a traditional Chinese tea bar where we (and especially mom) enjoyed some very high quality tea freshly grown in Hunan.

This morning we woke up around 8:30, had some breakfast, then caught a cab to the middle of Loudi. We had noticed a traveling circus the day before and decided to check out the festivities … for a dollar!

The show was crazy … it featured a dozen fearless children and teens who had been highly trained in acrobatics, tightrope, unicycle, horse-riding, rope swinging, and several other feats of fantasmicocity. It had one ring and was under a giant tent … and it was quite obvious that all of the equipment was decades old. Safety first!

Near the end of the show, a couple of the kids ran out into the crowd and pulled me into the ring, motioning me to sit inside a giant copper pot. They then proceeded to lift the pot onto a girl’s feet … and she literally spun me around, juggling me with her legs. You can’t see it in the photo below, but a small boy actually climbed onto the pot at one point as she spun it around!

[BARREL OF FUN, BY LANCE WEBEL]

After the exciting show, we went to the local park to enjoy the beautiful day and relax a bit in the shade. We thought about taking an electric boat ride, but decided instead to go and get an early lunch. We tried a new restaurant and were very satisfied with their eggplant, potato, tofu, and beef dishes … all for about $5.

Next, we walked a couple of miles to the bowling alley for some pin-pushing fun. We even bought some socks on the way because we were all wearing sandals … but when we arrived, we discovered that the electricity was out! Bummed, we instead took a cab to Loudi’s walking street, a brand-new shopping area with lots of upscale shops.

After walking around for a little while, I finally convinced my parents to go get a foot massage with me. So after playing a quick game of hoops in an arcade we passed, we went to the best foot massage parlor in town.

The massage I ordered was top of the line ($5) … it included a couple of foot washings, a long and steady kneading of the feet, traditional medicine, a body massage, and the highlight … a portion where they put towels on our shins, soaked them in alcohol, and lit our legs on fire! You should have seen the look on my parents’ faces when their shins went up in flames!

[Legs on fire, by lance webel]

Next, we went to a local market, where mom bought a $2 necklace and the rest of us walked around for a while admiring the piles of little shops and stores. Eventually we got tired and went back to my apartment, where I served some grilled cheese and dragonfruit for dinner. Afterwards, we watched some Seinfeld, played some Chinese checkers and darts, and talked to my sister on the Internet (Happy Birthday, Ronda!).

All in all, it was a typical day in China. And my parents are beginning to see what I mean when I say that I’ll never really be able to describe this place to people back home, no matter how hard I try!

My mom just typed a really long email to our neighbor back in Akron, so I asked her if I could edit it a little and post it here. It’s kinda nice having another author in town … and I think that it’s fascinating to read about her impressions of China.

Dear Karen,

Yes, it’s your neighbor here! We are knee deep in the Chinese culture. It has been such an eye-opener for us! You cannot explain on an e-mail what it is like here … in most ways, the country is opposite from America.

We were in Beijing for a week and the people were literally body-to-body. May first was a holiday and people from everywhere traveled there to see the many important Chinese landmarks. We saw beautiful pagodas, gardens, ornate bridges, and important historical areas … I think that we hit most all of them. We stayed in a youth hostel that was located in the “Old China” region. The dwellings in this area were in an arrangement called a “hutong” … they were beyond interesting! We saw the real everyday life of the humble Chinese families and how they exist and provide for their families.

Since then, we have been on buses, trains, cabs, on foot (a lot!), and have been continually moving. Lance moves with great ease through the crowds and has taught us how to cross the street, a matter of life and death! Now we are in his hometown … there are old trucks, cabs, motorcycles, rickshaws, rickety buses, people pushing carts with trash in them or volumes of food, furniture, boxes of who knows what … on and on.

I think that it is really sad how the people live. They are poor and struggling. The towns are dirty and full of garbage and there is unfinished construction everywhere. I can’t understand how they live that way. Lance has explained that they are meticulous about their person but do not feel a responsibility towards their surroundings. There are little venues all along the street with every shop you could ever think of, and street food is a very common way to eat here. There are cheap jewelry shops, plumbing shops right next door, and then maybe a bridal shop, complete with a caucasian mannequin. Crazy!

Though this is their situation, they get an A+ for their kindness, smiling faces, and willingness to help out if you are lost. Here where Lance us located, he really is a “Rock Star” of sorts. For that matter, so are Adolf and I. We are the ONLY foreigners here. People just stare at us and come up and try to speak to us so they can tell their friends that they spoke to a foreigner. They gather in clusters and point or say “hello”, their favorite English word, by far.

The little children are beautiful and the young ladies are stunning! The men are hard-working and seem worn out. As they ride on a bus, you will see may times that they fall asleep, waking up abruptly when the bus jerks or stops. It is not uncommon to see a family of 3 or 4 riding across town on a motor bike. You are rich if you own a car and a car is a treasured posession.

Well, I can’t begin to tell you all that I am experiencing but thought you would enjoy a small part of it. We will attend Lance’s school on Tuesday and the rest of the week and he is threatening that we will have to teach his classes! His apartment is located right on campus and is quite comfortable and adequate.

Your Neighbor in China,
Linda

Yesterday we ended up going down to the Temple of Heaven for a couple of hours, enjoying the pristine environment and hordes of people, before getting a tasty lunch at Mickey D’s. We then went to a silk market where we haggled (successfully) for some souvenirs and gifts, rode the subway, had an amazing (though expensive) dinner at Outback Steakhouse, visited a humongous walking street, and got some English books and maps at a couple of big bookstores. It was another saturated day, but one that we all agreed was fantastic!

But now our time in Beijing is officially over. In a few minutes, we’ll ride a bus to the train station, where we’ll hop on the T1 train (the fastest) for a 13-hour trip to Yueyang. We’ve got some really comfortable beds in a private compartment, so mom and dad will get to experience some first-class Chinese travel!

I miss all ten of my beautiful grandchildren. I hope you miss me! You would love it here, and maybe someday you can come to China. I will see you very soon!

love,
Grandma Webel

Here’s a quick update on what we’ve been doing.

Yesterday we woke up a little earlier and went outside the hutong (ancient neighborhood where we’re living) to get some breakfast at the roadside stands and restaurants. We had some steamed rolls with rice, egg mcmuffin-eque sandiwiches, and potato and chicken rolls. Then we boarded a bus for an hourlong drive to the famous Summer Palace.

The Summer Palace is a resort that ancient emporers and their families used to use to get away from the dirty and hectic Beijing scene. Because yesterday was a national holiday, Labor Day (”Wiyi”, or 5-1, May 1st), the Summer Palace (and the rest of Beijing) was packed … everywhere we went we were stumbling over bodies.

The place was still fantastic, though … a huge lake (Kunming Lake) with hundreds of boats, some big temples, lots of arched bridges, and some beautiful willow trees. We walked around for about five hours, climbing huge rocks and steep steps the whole way. Then we boarded a crowded bus (where we actually got seats!) for the hour-and-a-half journey home.

We had an early dinner of Beijing Duck, a delicious local specialty that was everything it’s quacked up to be (that pun was courtesy of my dad). We also had some fried eggplant and pork and some tasty broccoli.

Then we rushed off for an evening performance of kung fu acrobatics … a flashy show designed for the viewing pleasure of hundreds of western tourists. The ride there was crazy … because of the holiday, traffic was terrible and we all had to grip our seats and bite our tongues as our driver weaved through traffic, getting us there minutes after the show started.

Today we decided to step back a little and relax … we’re not going to do as much walking, and we decided not to visit the Forbidden City as planned simply because it will be jammed with people (they say that if it rains on May 1st, the ground doesn’t even get wet because of the crowds). So we’re probably going to a silk market, a famous park (Temple of Heaven), and then catching another acrobatic show tonight.

Here we go!

Note: this post was written by my mother.

I’m not sure if there is a conspiracy going on in the family to do away with me. When I forgot my passport upon leaving Germany, Ross drove at an extra-ordinary fast speed, faster than anyone on the Autobahn. I asked him if he was getting back at me for all the “mother-in-law” annoyances through the years. That trip was BAD, but it pales to my experience today!

Lance took me to the Great Wall of China, dropped me off and said, “You can do it!” THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA! You must be kidding! He wasn’t, so I started my climb up the Wall. Was this his great plan to get me back for all the annoying “Mothering” of his youth? You might be interested to know that I did just fine. I even rode a toboggan back to the starting point with the skill of an olympic athlete, with Lance recording this remarkable event on his expensive camera.

If this seems like a Disney Movie or perhaps a Twilight Zone episode, it isn’t. When I go to bed tonight I’d like to be a fly on the wall (NOT THAT WALL!) to watch my dreams unfold. They should be something else!

If Lance’s itinerary doesn’t settle down, I may not make it out of China in one piece. So goes my remarkable life.

LOVE, MOM

On mom and dad’s first full day in China, we decided to start out slow. After a full night’s sleep, we met at 10am for breakfast in the hostel. For some reason, I felt as tired as they did, and I hadn’t been up nearly as long as they had (over 29 hours). After we filled our tummies, we headed to the bank to change money then jumped on a bus for Tiananmen Square.

T-square, as I like to call it, is the biggest public square in the world. It features a couple of large gates, the Mao Zedung mausoleum, and a monument to the “people’s heroes”. We skipped out on the National Museum and the Great Hall of the People, and Mao’s resting place was unfortunately closed for renovation. But we did go through the classic Gate of Heavenly Peace (under the huge watchful eye of Mao himself), spending some time in the grounds of the Worker’s Cultural Palace (which, like most of the city, was also undergoing some major renovation).

Lunch was a monumental event … mom and dad’s first Chinese meal, chopsticks and all. We had some sweet and sour pork (tung cu li ji), a Beijing favorite, and some cooked cabbage (bai cai). They were mostly successful with the chopsticks … but they’re already starting to see that if they don’t learn quickly, they’re gonna be hungry!

After lunch we went to a famous Pearl Market … the first two floors were full of fake goods, artwork, fake historical memorabilia, and low-quality pearls and jewels. I bought some jeans (¥120) and we bought three scrolls with typical artowork on them (¥50 for all three) … mostly so dad and mom could see the bargaining process. The third through fifth floors were full of higher quality jewelry stores … and after looking around a bit, we walked into the nicest store of all and had a delightful conversation with three of the salesgirls. After about an hour, dad ended up buying a beautiful diamond ring for mom!

After a long bus ride home, we had a late (9:30pm) dinner and looked briefly for some shoes for dad (his sandals really hurt his feet today). And now we’re back at home, getting a good night’s sleep before our trip on the Great Wall tomorrow. We’re not going to one of the remote or challenging sections of the wall, but we’re not going to the overly-tourist-y place either. I’m really looking forward to it!

Dad and mom are here, safe and sound!

We’re going to take it easy tonight … we’ll go for a nice dinner at a western restaurant to talk over our plans for the next four or five days. Then we’ll buy some shoes for mom and head back to our hostel to maybe take in a movie or something relaxed before an early bedtime.

I haven’t posted much on here in the last week, and I probably won’t for the next couple either. But let me take a few moments to catch you up on what’s going on over here in Chinars.

My marathon training has come to almost a complete stop. For a while, I was experiencing some foot problems because I didn’t have proper shoes. This last weekend, however, I traveled to Changsha, the provincial captial, and found the only pair of size 45 (U.S. 11) running shoes in Hunan Province. I’m not exagerrating. They don’t fit exactly right (Chinese feet are smaller, as are their shoe designs), but they’re much better than anything else I’ve had … so I think I’m finally good-to-go in that department.

On Sunday morning, however, another major problem arose. I bought some tasty fried street food (not sure what exactly it was) … and about an hour or two later, my world started turning upside down. I started vomiting uncontrollably, getting really weak and dehydrated, and even tingling and losing feeling in parts of my body. Not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.

Luckily, I was at Daisy’s house (she’s a friend from Loudi), so after letting me (unsuccessfully) try to sleep it off, she and her family helped me to get in a cab and go to the hospital. At that point, I was utterly weak, shaking and starting to lose my ability to think clearly. Daisy’s mom was convinced that it was caused by my shorts and t-shirt (Chinese people are obsessed with wearing warm clothes and literally think it causes illness not to) … but I knew otherwise.

My program director, Daniel, showed up at the hospital in the nick of time, helping me to secure a bed and (with the help of a retired doctor he happened to be with) scooting me back into a hospital room. And by “hospital room”, I mean a 20′ by 30′ waiting room with two dozen people sitting in hard seats with IV’s plugged into their bodies. I stayed in that room for the next 10 or 11 hours, letting nurses repeatedly shoot me in the buttcheek, run 17 tests on me, and hook me up to a steady stream of IV medication (10 bags in all). It was an absolutely surreal experience!

Believe me, that was a really long story short … I’ll have to type more about the Chinese medical system later.

The good thing, however, was that when my principal found out about my illness, he decreed that I should have the entire week off! So I’ve been home in Loudi for the past couple of days, doing some much-needed catch-up on emails, cleaning my apartment in preparation for my parents’ visit, and making some travel plans for Beijing next week. I still have a nasty chest cough, but that should be gone in a day or two.

So tomorrow I’m off to Beijing! It should be a grand adventure … I’m excited to welcome Mom and Dad Webel to The Middle Country, introducing them to the world I’ve been living in for the past 8 months. We’ll spend 5-6 days in Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, T-square, etc.) then take a train down to Yueyang to visit my cousins for a couple of days. After a potential visit to Changsha, we’ll head back to Loudi for a week in the life of Lance.

How exciting is that?

In this video, a young man with Aspurger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning version of Autism, describes what his life is like from the inside. I did some research on Aspurger’s in college … and I discovered that these people are incredible. They’re often extremely talented, precocious, and advanced in many different ways (think Rain Man).

For a more personal view of Autism, check out my cousin Annette’s blog. She talks a lot about how it affects her as a mother and how it has changed her family as well. What an incredibly powerful story they have!

[rick and nicole, by Rachel]

Nicole Lynne Bodjanac, 22, went home to be with the Lord on February 26, 2007. Nicole was a 2002 graduate of Norton High School and a graduate of Radiography School through Akron Children’s Hospital. She was a member of Norton Apostolic Christian Church.

Nicole loved people and always had a smile on her face. She had a strong faith and always believed “Either way, I win!” Through her illness, she wanted others to come to know Christ.

She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Robert Dolfen and is survived by her loving and devoted husband Rick; parents, Paul and Cindy Webel; brother, Paul (Sarah) Webel, Jr.; sisters, Renee and Danielle Webel; grandparents, Reinhardt and Arlene Webel and Betty Dolfen and many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Friends may call at Bacher Funeral Home (map) on Thursday, March 1, 2007 from 2 to 4 and 5 to 9 p.m. Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 2, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at Norton Apostolic Christian Church (map) with Pastor Jeremy Jivan officiating. Interment will take place at Greenlawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:

Stehlin Foundation for DSRCT Cancer Research
1315 St. Joseph Parkway, Suite 1818
Houston, TX 77002

Cancer free, at last. It was strange to be so far away for an entire chapter in my family’s story … but even from here, it was hard to miss the beauty and grace and significance of it all. You can read Nicole’s story for yourself at her blog.

Nicole always brought out the best in everyone around her, and I was particularly prone to being infected by her laughter. It will be good to see her again one day.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

– 2 Corinthians 5:1-8