Our report of the adventures of our homeschool high schooler working and living in Asia this summer, We are using psuedonyms although many of you will know who we are, because his host country is not free and we do not wish to endanger those he is working and living with. Please feel free to comment and sign your name, just do not use our names. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:34:00 -0500 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:34:00 -0500 Number One Son had been telling his Honorable Uncle for a while that he needed a haircut and asking him where to go.  Well, when the decision to send him on the trip with the customer was made, the haircut gained priority!  So...   Honorable Aunt and Honorable Uncle decided to take him to the Japanese Spa where they have their haircut.  Honorable Uncle told Honorable Aunt, "Now make sure they don't make him look fifty years old!  Make them give him a young haircut.  Now, he doesn't have to look 17, tell them to make him look, say, 22."  Aunt says, "Something stylish.'  Uncle says, "Yes, [son] you'll have plenty of time to look conservative when you get a job, enjoy the freedom of being a student."  Number One Son starts to get concerned.  "I think he needs some blonde highlights around his face," says Aunt.  Uncle retorts, "Maybe just go blonde entirely."  Number One Son is getting alarmed now.  Aunt suggests, "Blue highlights are very popular now."  Number One Son is getting very alarmed indeed.  "No, purple would be better," she says.   At this point they pull up to the Japanese Spa and go in.  Lo and behold all the male hairdressers have these, um, pompadors.  Number One Son, you have to understand, is Mr. Conservative.  He starts looking for exits.  Honorable Aunt smiles a kind of disquieting smile and unleashes a flood of language on the attendant.  Honorable Son wonders what he will do if they bring out the hair dye - deck him and run?  He watches carefully through the whole ordeal - what are they doing???  Will he have to shave his head in Detroit on the way home?  Bald is infinitely preferable to purple in our church.   Unable to bear the suspense, Honorable Mother jumps in, "But how would you have known if it was dye - you probably couldn't read the package??"  "Oh no!  I didn't think about that!  But, it's okay, mom, it's a little unusual, but not too un-Western looking.  It's not purple!  Or highlights - horrors!"   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/373589/ Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/373589/ Number One Son reports:  I'm antsy today, I have a lot of responsibility to see that things go smoothly.  Honorable Uncle told me to get to the site we were visiting today by 2pm, since it closes at 4, but we didn't get to the hotel until 2:30pm and get rooms until 3, we took taxi to world famous gate.  They didn't allow us to take our bags on top, so we took turns watching over the bags and going up on the gate.  We finished there and meandered up the 1000 ft passage only to find that they had shut down the ticket counters for today!  Our customer really wanted to go to Nat'l History Museum, so we went there, but it was shut down; everything was closing -- what now??  We decided we will walk down toward nat'l numismatic museum -- then we changed our minds and decided to go to the famous elegant shopping district -- I got video of stuff all over the center of the city.  I had a very interesting time, and got some most interesting video and very interesting pictures I'll share with you later.   On the way down there, we walked down to other end of of the city square and then realized that the shopping district started at the other end, so we walked back to other end, couldn't have been more than a mile or two :-)  -- We finally got to the shopping district, stopping at the huge fancy mall we went to as a family a couple of years ago.  I had skipped breakfast and had airline food (Did you have squid slice this time? - Honorable Mother) for lunch. We were both hungry, so we stopped and got some sweet stuff at that wonderful bakery there.  I got the things I miss.  I went to a place that was a Coldstone Creamery clone and got a cherry smoothy and then went somewhere else and got a garlic and oregano bagel.  The customer got a sandwich, mango smoothy and tiramisu cake.  I found out that he is a music afficiando - all sorts, jazz, classical, lots of things.  We saw a music and dvd store. It actually looked like legal copies of things - nice labels with everything spelled correctly.  It was more than street prices, but a whole lot less than western prices.  We looked around for a while.  I ended up just getting sound track cd from Return of the King. He got a couple of cds.  We walked down the main part of the shopping street just watching people and looking around.  We got to the other end and sat down in front of the cathedral.  We talked for a bit and I found out his parents are Catholic, but he doesn't attend church.  We got to see the thing where they strap folks into a capsule and fling them into the air on bungie cords.  Watched that for a while,  We were both beat, so we started talking about dinner: We can go to a favorite restaurant [that has a branch in both cities] or go eat Peking Duck.  We walked back down to our favorite restaurant there - I felt really weird ordering, I tried to get input from the customer, but he is extremely amiable.  It is so hard to tell the difference between being happy and just going along with it. I am trying to plan ahead and think ahead without being overbearing and controlling. Please pray I don't inadvertently offend him!   I am having trouble reading him.  Yes, I am trying to be the perfect Bunter, Mom.  [Bunter, the most excellent butler of Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy Sayers' books - if you don't know them, you ought to!]   So, we ate at [restaurant] and it was $32 for the two of us!!  [At a very nice restaurant].  They brought us appetizers - boiled peanuts - it was challenge time - who can pick them up? I ordered the sauteed beef and sliced garlic which we had the other day in my "home" city.  Wonderful!  High quality steak chopped into one inch cubes, very thin slices of garlic sauteed into carmelization, with onions and peppers. I chose an order of ["home" city] pork dumplings, which they do so well, but I really wish I knew what dish we had the first time I went this summer: fried noodles in patty, sliced, with something like marchand du vin sauce on top - wow!  There were not as many pictures in this city's menu, so it was harder to order. I ordered crispy noodles in a certain style - a pizza like patty about nine inches in diameter of crispy noodles with spring onions cut in pie wedges served with a container of sugar and one of vinegar. How in the world to eat it????  We managed to eat it rather messily :-)  I worried if I had ordered enough, but the only thing we actually finished was the dumplings.  I ordered braised veggies with mushrooms and they were good mushrooms.  Plenty of food.   Yes, by that point, I'd gotten a feel for how things were there, so I got some longjing tea.  I drank a tea pot full in addition to two cokes.  I did hand him the wine menu, and he glanced over it, while I ordered a coke, then he said, "I think a coke, too."    After we ate, he said, "Let's go back to the hotel, we're both beat."  I suggested, "Hey, let's have them drive around the famous square on the way." He said, "Ok", so we did and it was all lit up!  It was spectacular!  Told driver in the patois, where to turn each time to take us around the square.  It took about 10 minutes and I videotaped all the way.  Then I told the driver to take us to the hotel. The customer insisted on paying for half the taxi, but I paid for all other expenses, per orders.   The customer seemed excited tonight.  I negotiated for a car for all day tomorrow to take us to a unique world heritage site.  They wanted to charge $13 more to go to another site as well and they wouldn't let you pay by the time, but wanted you to pay by the trip.  Okay, I arranged for a car and driver just to the site.  "What kind of car is this?" I asked as Honorable Uncle asked me to.  "Maybe a [junky car used for taxi]."  I said that was no good, maybe an Audi instead.  The concierge winced, but we finally negotiated for $112 for the driver to pick us up at 8am and wait until we were ready.  Drive us the 80 or 90km to the site and wait for us there until 4pm at the latest and drive us back. So glad that is over!  I was pretty anxious about negotiating that!    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/373577/ Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/373577/ Number One Son has been given a great honor and great responsibility.  He was told Saturday that he'd be leaving Monday morning to take an important customer to a huge tourist destination in Asia to show him the sights as his guide and translator.  They have flight and hotel reservations, but Number One will be responsible for all meals, engaging drivers and guides, arranging for travel to a far away must-see place and more, since the customer doesn't know a word in the local language.  It's a huge responsibility for a kid his age.  Please pray that Number One Son would have wisdom and discretion: that he would respresent the company well and show the customer an enjoyable time, that he would have discernment to choose honest, safe drivers and guides, that they would both be kept safe and that he would represent our Lord well.  He's really getting thrown in the deep end this summer! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/372306/ Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/372306/ Number One Son reports: I changed some money this morning--a lot of trouble, wish I had just used my ATM card--and then went to the markets. Spent a good bit--but this is my next-to-last weekend over here, figured it was worth it.  I went to the expat church at 4, then got a new camera battery and supper in my neighborhood. I was planning to do a lot more, but I ran out of my money (in local money, that is) and my taxi card was getting dangerously low, so I figured the Lord must not want me on the streets tonight, so I came home and have been packing   I felt bad not staying out late tonight, but first I was low on money, so I went to find a bank, but the bank was closed.  And the hotel told me they didn't offer that service, even though they had an electronic exchage board on the wall!  And I thought, well, at least I can go back to the mall and get some ice cream with my prepaid card I had.  But I found I had left that at home.  And I thought, well, I can at least go down to the [famous site] and get some photos at night.  But then I realized that my taxi card had a reserved deposit on it, and so I couldn't just spend it out.  So I thought--maybe the Lord just doesn't want me out tonight--no other clear reason why I can't seem to be able to spend anything, even though I have access to tons of money.  But that's OK.   I went to some of the fake markets today--had a pretty good time. I got (don't tell her) my little sister a second string of pearls (cultured of course, but still pearls), this one pink.  And I bought myself another sword--a really interesting curved Japanese-style sword made of steel and black ABS plastic.  And a brass abacus keychain for my backpack or something.  Not junk, interesting stuff.  I actually spent about $100 today--but it was worth it--I didn't spend it on junk (besides, it was mine and Honorable Uncle doesn't even know about it). [N.B. Honorable Uncle has a horror of buying junk, defined as anything not made by a worldclass company.]     I really loved shopping for the pearls--you ought to see the way they sell them here. Nothing fancy. I went to this market that was mostly 4- and 6-feet deep shops with roll-up doors. And found a place where a husband-and-wife team had a shop with folding tables in front of their slot under big umbrellas. They just lay out these huge bunches of pearls on the table--they're all about 10" strings, with the ends of the strings woven together. Three rows of these bunches, size by size, with about 8 different choices in each row--pink, dark (black), white, an off-white golden cream, etc.  Actually the rows are price comparisons--i.e. you have nicer more regular small ones and larger imperfect ones in each row. And then when I picked out the string--they pulled that string out of the weave and laid it in a lined box. Then the lady unstrung them and restrung them individually on a new string with a clasp. Even at wholesale cultured prices, there had to be several hundred dollars of pearls spread across the table. You want to look at them--they hand you the rope. It was really interesting--I think I enjoyed it more than if I had been buying it out of satin-lined cases in a jewelry store. I did take a couple pictures--don't know how they turned out.   I got a second battery for my camera tonight--a drop-in replacement for about $14. You never really know what you're buying, and it's an inordinate amount of fun. Now I need to buy some jade and tea.  That's next weekend, I guess.   Honorable Mother then suggested he ask Honorable Aunt about jade - it's extremely hard to tell what you have got in jade.  Number One Son replied: Well--Honorable Uncles's answer would either be buy it at Cartier's or you can't buy it at all. Sometimes I don't mind getting the inferior grade, though, if that's all I can get--I couldn't afford natural, wild-caught pearls. I was gonna try to get down to [the market] again today and try to buy a cross like the one I broke. But I don't want to show it to Honorable Uncle, as then he'd ask how much I paid for it--and while I don't think I overpaid too badly, at least at US prices, he would--nothing exists for him without a certificate of authenticity. I sort of feel that I'm better off buying what I want with my money and no questions asked. Not like I'm planning to invest in world-class jade. I just want a couple of decent curios   Pray for me--and continue to pray after I get back from this trip. Some days I feel like I've done great and seen a lot this summer, other days I feel I haven't made what I should have of this opportunity. I guess it's somewhere in between--and thinking about it--I guess perhaps my worry is in whether I lived up to my own expectations--the Lord will make what he wants to out of it. I'll just be worrying a lot in this last week or two. I don't want to ruin what time I have left. I mean, I'm worrying tonight about whether I made the right choice turning back and coming home--I know I've made plenty of not-great choices and wasted plenty of time, but on the other hand I've seen and done (and especially experienced) a lot. I keep reminding myself that I'm living on my own for the first time, working a full-time high-pressure job.    Honorable Mother reminded him that, "I seriously doubt this is your last time in [that country].  We are in business with them now.  We may all be travelling many times there."   Number One Son answered: I hope and pray so. Funny thing is how things change. At one point not too long ago I agonized over the possibility of the Lord sometime calling me to live over here in the Kingdom work. Now that doesn't scare me nearly as much--I would almost welcome it for itself. Not saying I don't miss home--just I've come to love here too. Well, goodnight! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/372303/ Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:52:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/372303/ We haven't shared too much on the blog lately, because we've been traveling with limited internet access.  I wanted to give you an update, though.   Number One Son got an unpleasant surprise last night when his uncle took him to a restaurant known for its focus on the looks of its waitresses.  When Number One Son realized where they were, he decided he just wouldn't look at the waitresses.  Their waitress ragged him unmercifully for not looking at her.  Number One thought, "Two can play that game."  He said he decided to just do like his two-year-old sister does when she's mad at him: "I just pretended she didn't exist.  Just utterly refused to acknowledge her existence at all.  It was pretty funny."  Guess they'd never met anyone who was a manly man and yet had made a covenant with his eyes.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/371151/ Thu, 9 Aug 2007 08:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/371151/ I'm sorry you haven't heard much from Number One Son this week.  We (and he) have been frantically busy on business this week.  Then, Friday morning when Number Two Son called him, Number One Son sounded Terrible!  He had gotten an awful sore throat and head cold.  It was tough, but he sucked it up and went to the gym and to work.  When he got to work, hardly anyone was there, but they trickled in over the afternoon.  Honorable Uncle  and Honorable Aunt got in about 4 and Honorable Uncle called Number One Son into his office for an assignment.  He looked so terrible, that Uncle even parted with some of his secret stash of Tylenol Cough and Cold (a rare occurence, there are just some things that are hard to find in Asia :-)  After looking at him awhile, he said, "Look, the driver is coming to take you to the subway station.  Can you make it home by subway?"  Son said he could manage it, grabbed McDonald's for the third time that day (if you are too busy to stop and eat in, but you can't eat street food like the populace, just like here, McDonald's is the place).    Honorable Uncle told Number One Son to just stay home Saturday and "don't make me sick" (He just got over a two week awful cold - I don't blame him), so Number One slept in yesterday.  In the morning, he called the leader of a Christian student group he'd been given the contact for (providentially another student in the online AP course he just signed up for is from his city!)  He found out where their fellowship was meeting, grabbed some lunch and a taxi and set out to find them.  Unfortunately, the taxi got LOST - really LOST and Number One didn't have a map, so feeling sicker and sicker, he gave up and went home.  Good decision, though he was sad to miss the meeting -- he fell asleep and slept for 12 hours.   Sunday morning (I know I am posting on Saturday night, remember it is Sunday morning his time!) he got up and was STARVING - so he went to KFC for taquitos.  They have three kinds - pork sausage, pork floss (like dried pork dust) and shrimp and egg.  He didn't order the shrimp but got one anyway and it was pretty good.   He's not sure what he'd like to do today.  He doesn't feel like doing anything, but it seems a waste to stay in on a (1) free, (2) pretty, and (3) not too hot day in his city!  He's thinking of going to the expat service, and perhaps taking the time to video the apartment and neighborhood so he can show it to us when he gets home.   Please pray Number One Son gets well quickly and has a profitable testimony among his family and co-workers.  His time is growing shorter, just a few more weeks; please pray for God's wisdom and blessing on our young man. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/368089/ Sat, 4 Aug 2007 21:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/368089/ Hong Kong!  It was visa renewal time and everyone had been working very hard lately, so Number One Son went to Hong Kong with Honorable Aunt, Honorable Uncle, LIttle Cousin, Grandmother, Tiny Cousin, etc. He rode the Star Ferries, went to Kowloon, spent a day at Ocean Park, visited Disneyland HongKong and more.  He had lots to say about Disneyland, but I'll let him share that with you later!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/365809/ Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/365809/ Witnessing in this country in Asia is difficult.  You can't talk to people in a group, because one of them might report you and out you go - if you are a foreigner, if you are a native, in you go - to prison!  You have to be very cautious in who you talk to in order to either maintain anonymity or to establish enough relationship that you know it is safe.  Relying on the leading of the Holy Spirit is very important.  Number One Son had a great opportunity today that he reports by a secure channel: "Get this--I got to spend the whole trip home tonight witnessing to someone.  I pulled out my laptop and fired up my music.  Normally I do this with headphones, but I hadn't hauled them out yet.  And he was OK with it, so I just played it on speakers.  A while down the way, I thought--let me tell him it's Christian music. So I got out my dictionary.  And figured out how to say that.  I followed it with 'I am a Christian.'  He replied that his mother and father were Christians!  When I asked him whether he was religious, he said no, but he told me about them.  Does he speak english then?  No--all in this language.  With the help of Langenscheidt's!  [Dictionary]  Anyrate, I ended up telling him that I listened to this music when I was sad, and played one song.  And then when I am happy, this song.  It was somewhere in here that we got delayed where we usually have clear sailing -- I figured that is typically known as a signal:  ...slow...   making the trip longer.  So I kept going, and eventually figured out how to tell him that this music praises and worships Jesus, and I sing, I am praising Jesus.  [Son says, "I love Lord Jesus" in the local language here.]  About then we got back to my neighborhood -- it took a while to figure out much of this in Langenscheidt's.  Oh, and I told him some other things-- [Son said the rest in the local language and Honorable Mother's translation skills are not up to getting it right for you - I do know it was about the Lord's love for us.]  This man is always glad to help, very friendly, never irritable, even when I try his patience].  He's the one that originally showed me about getting around.  He's about as close to a friend as one can get if you share <200 words  We've tried some linguistic explorations before, but this is far beyond.  Well, I was praying the whole way, especially after he said his mother and father were Christians.  We've added a significant number of words to the netlanguage between us!  Thanks and keep praying.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/363863/ Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/363863/ Wild WiFi is the term Number One Son has come up with for WiFi you can tap into in a restaurant or public space that isn't traceable to your machine. This is a treasured thing (hence the rash of internet cafe closings every few months) because there is no privacy there and anything you access from your home can be used against you.  Number One Son sat in an internet hamburger joint last night until they were done cleaning up just to enjoy the wild wifi. WiFi's changing the world, folks.  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."  Sometimes knowledge comes in new ways - pray for our brethren. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/363429/ Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/363429/ Number One Son reports: "The back streets are all full of tiny little store fronts cheek by jowl all along the street.  They are each only about 15 square feet!  There are lIttle tiny lumberyards with outlets, wiring, switches, just what you need for home repairs.  There are clothing stores, little produce stores that look like the produce section teleported out of Lowe's, even a cobbler of handmade fine shoes.  A lot of the things that we buy at the big box retailers are bought here at separate little stores.  They have huge electronics malls with tons of little stores that specialize in one or two aspects of electronics.  If you ask a proprietor for something they don't have, they run and buy it from their competitor at wholesale then bring it back and sell it to you.  There's so much opportunity to start up a small business here.  One disadvantage, though, is that you don't often see the high end stuff at these little retailers; they don't sell enough to keep it in stock.  Then again, now that I think about it I see the same thing at home.  I certainly can't find professional editing software at Best Buy.  Here, though, even the upper midrange stuff is a little hard to find."    "The market here has discovered how to fake an iPod.  There are fakes all over the place.  The only recognizable difference I can see is that the fakes have a standard usb port instead of the proprietary one." "I apologize about not sending more pictures, I have been very busy.  I'll try to take and send more this month!  I hope today is not as busy - I literally haven't had time to eat lately!" At this point, the taxi pulled up to the office and he said, "I'm not sure I want to ride with that driver again.  In the 15 minutes it took to get here, she almost hit two bicyclists!"    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/362620/ Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/numberonesonreport/362620/