Why Asia?

September 5, 2013 / Kelly Day / 5 Comments

Ancient shrines, elegant arch bridges, divine cherry blossoms, artistic pagodas, spiritual temples, and breathtaking landscapes are all images one congers of the Asian continent. Beyond these captivating and soul stirring landmarks, there exists a delicate culture based in beauty, honor, tradition, and a quiet strength that gives this unique society its understated power. This culture, who highly values discipline and educational development, has lead the world in scientific and mathematical discovery for thousands of years. Asia is still the champion of academics today. According to international educational studies, Asian students out perform all other nations in their understanding of mathematical concepts. As a math teacher, I proposed a grant to visit several math classrooms across Asia, meet with teachers and learn about the rich Asian culture in order to gain insight on how we can achieve similar academic success in the United States. I proposed and was awarded a large sum to fund a six-week journey across seven Asian countries which helped me gain insight and develop an appreciation for the Asian culture and heritage with which I can share and inspire my students.

I teach 7^th grade and I know how first hand accounts and personal experiences have helped my students gain perspective and broaden their understanding of the world in which they live. This age group does not connect to mere facts listed in a book, but are easily engaged with authentic accounts and personal reflections. Asian history is a major standard of the 7^th grade curriculum. Throughout the year they will learn about all of the countries I visited this summer. I have already had the opportunity to share my prospective and experiences with them on the subject. I cherish opportunities that help me use my knowledge of various civilizations to teach my students and make them more informed and aware citizens of the world.

Although I have traveled extensively in the past, this trip was my first experience in an eastern culture and it challenged me personally as an explorer. It literally broadened my horizon and helped me realize that, with God’s amazing grace, love and provision, I can accomplish even more than I could ever imagine. I relish the growth and experience this summer provided. I tell my students that if your goals don’t scare you a little, then you are not thinking big enough. This summer I took this motto to heart! This summer was the definition of intimidating. In the course of 7 weeks I visited 7 Asian countries, 15 cities, slept in 18 different hotels/ hostels, took over 19 different flights, and experienced 22 custom check in/ outs. I accomplished all of this with ease without knowing the language or the traditions and customs of this incredibly unfamiliar land. Most importantly I loved every minute of it. This summer, I overlooked the incredible skylines of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. I explored sea caves in Thailand. I rode an elephant in Cambodia and explored ancient temples at the Angkor Wat complex. I hiked up The Great Wall of China, and visited the ancient and mysterious Terracotta Warriors of Xi’An. I visited Guiline, and its awe-inspiring 20,000 peaks along the River Li. I experienced true hospitality in Korea, and saw the tranquil golden pavilion of Japan. Instead of staying in my comfort zone, I dared to dream big, I aimed high, I sought out opportunities, and God provided in each and every way!

This summer was both intellectually stimulating, professionally motivating, and emotionally renewing. It not only provided me with new teaching tools, concepts and applications for my classroom, but it also developed my understanding of the world. This project gave me inspiration, direction and a renewed enthusiasm for the mathematics content that I love so dearly. It also challenged me as a world explorer and transformed me into a more informed, well-rounded person and teacher. Overall my goal is to inspire my students to be productive, informed citizens that feel connected to the world around them. This project helped me accomplish that goal. In the next few weeks I hope to share some of those lessons and experiences with you. So stay tuned!

Top 15 Things About Asia that Surprised Me.

July 21, 2013July 21, 2013 / Kelly Day / 4 Comments

1. ASIA- The Land of Hot Dogs, Corn on the Cob, Ice Cream and KFC?????
Be it Thailand, Cambodia, China, Korea or Japan, what did I find on every street corner, in every market, cafeteria, street vender or convenience store? Hot Dogs and corn on the cob! Ice cream cones were always nearby as well. Top that with the fact that KFC’s are more common than McDonalds and Starbucks combined, your mind just might explode. But it is the truth. For every 1 McDonalds there was at least 4 KFC’s My cambodian driver had never even heard of McDonalds or Starbucks, but there were 2 KFC’s in his small city! A month ago I would have told you nothing screams US of A to me more than Hot Dogs, Corn on the Cob, Fried Chicken and Ice Cream. I mean, all of them are literally dripping with so much American tradition it is ridiculous. However, I would say that more Chinese eat Kentucky Fried Chicken than do Americans. I mean, when was the last time YOU went to a KFC? I am not even sure if there is one in my city. Now I understand why they are on the demise in the US. KFC is concentrating all of their efforts on the Billion people in China! And don’t get me started on the number of Ice cream shops in Asia. They LOVE I mean LOOOOVVVE Ice cream over here.

2. Where’s the Sauce?
I have yet to find Soy Sauce on any restaurant table. It is nowhere to be found. Apparently adding more salt to already salty food is just an American phenomenon. As are Fortune Cookies. I have had amazing Chinese meals, and not a single one of them ended with a cookie telling me helpful advice like “He who does not drink is thirsty.”

3. A Red Light does not mean Stop
Well… It does, but not for long. I found it surprising that a culture that is so trained to follow rules and not question authority have NO problem violating every traffic rule known to man. Crossing the street in Shanghai was always a life and death type of experience. And there were several moments in various Chinese cities where I felt like I was Frogger. The red light on a stop light apparently does not mean stop. It means slow down, check that no one else is coming and then keep going. But, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. If I grew up in Red China, maybe I would think Red was “go” as well. (Too soon?) Also, they have trouble with waiting in line. I don’t know how many middle aged Chinese women pushed right in front of me in various types of what I assumed to be line situations. Apparently a line is of little significance. I finally learned that you have to just respectfully push your way in. If you try to wait politely for your turn, you may be waiting a long time.

4. The Happy Room- Not so Happy.
The guide at the Forbidden Palace kept calling the bathroom the “Happy Room”. And with such a cheerful nomenclature, how could I not go utilize its services. However, this was my first experience with the public bathrooms of China and I didn’t find it quite so happy. There are two things you should know before you enter a public restroom in China. The first being that there are no toilet seats- they are all squat style toilets.

This seemed shocking to me at first, but I can see the logic behind these types of public toilets. There is no contact with the actual device- therefore in a way it is more hygienic. You just aim for the hole in the ground. The problem is that I am a westerner who is not accustomed to such a system and there are other westerners here as well and the floor was COVERED with…well lets call it “happy” water. The smell was quite over powering. The second thing you should know is that public bathrooms are BYOTP. Thats right. Bring your own Toilet Paper. If you are used to that system it isn’t a problem. You come prepared. However, if you are not used to this system you are kind of left in the lurch. Thankfully before I entered the stall for the first time,a Chinese woman gave me some of her tissues. In the rare event that you did run across a western style toilet seat there are helpful (illustrated) instructions on how to use such a device!

PHEW! I am so glad those were there. I almost forgot that you are not supposed to stand backwards on the toilet seat. That would have been embarrassing. Not to mention difficult! I don’t think I am that talented. I got use to the Chinese bathrooms….kind of. But I was really glad to see the Happy Rooms in Korea and Japan. Their seats not only existed, but were heated! However they had so many bells and whistles on them I found them quite intimidating.

5. Chinese prefer Blonds
For a bit in Asia I was traveling with a family from Australia. They were all blond and caused quite the stir amongst the Chinese tourists. Those who were traveling from the Chinese countryside were especially fascinated with the family’s daughter because of her light skin, blond hair and blue eyes. They would run up to her, grab her and take a photo with her. At first she was quite scared, as you understandably would be, then she got use to it. However, about 100 pictures later she got annoyed. My friend Karyn once had a lady come right up to handed her baby over to Karyn and took a picture of the two of them. It was quite funny! My friend Karyn was like…she just handed me her baby! He was the cutest little happy Chinese baby you have ever seen. ( side note, this trip has really made me want a chubby little Asian baby!). This reverse photo bombing never happened to me because I don’t look Western enough.

6. They are scared of the Sun
If the sun is out, the Asian Women are under umbrellas. Their culture loves fair skin and they go to great lengths to stay pale. The hotter the weather the more covered they are. They wear long sleeves, hats, gloves, sunglasses, scarfs, even face masks to protect their skin. I almost got the feeling I was living amongst a community of vampires. The truth is that they think white skin is beautiful and that darker skin means that you are part of the working class. Therefore they will go do almost anything, to stay pale. I even saw a woman wear a full face mass and cover every inch of their body while going on their morning run. They carry their umbrellas everywhere. Some are even very talented at holding the umbrella while riding their bike, with two kids in tow. This aversion to the sun is not just for vanity, but also helps them improve their station in life. It is harder for a tan woman to get a good job in China. This is very different than the American philosophy that views tan women as relaxed, healthy and vibrant. While this Chinese practice seems to be painfully warm, perhaps this is much healthier than those who spend their summer frying their skin in an effort to look like an Oompa Lumpa.

7. “High” Style
Fashion was very interesting and varied from city to city however there was one common thread. The girls wore: high heels, High collars, and High skirts. Seriously. Everyone wore high heels. I mean my feet ached just to look at some of these shoes! And the skirt and shorts were very short, but the neck lines were ULTRA conservative. I mean It was very rare to see a collar bone and absolutely NO cleavage. Almost every man in Korea dressed and looked like a math professor (Nice slacks, shoes, button down shirt and big glasses)- It drove me wild!

8. The half shirt compromise
In contrast to the women who cover up to avoid the sun, when it was hot it was very common to see men, especially old men, in China roll up their shirts up to their armpits and walk around the city, eat dinner in a restaurant, or ride the subway, fully exposing their stomachs. Up until 2008 it was not uncommon for men to go about their day without shirts. When the olympics came to Beijing, the government, in an effort to appear westernized, made it law that men had to wear shirts at all times. Therefore, this half shirt on-half shirt off is a way for the older men to cling to their past without disobeying the government. I call this the half-shirt compromise.

9. Remove your Shoes!
I now know why it is very important to remove your shoes before you enter a house, or restaurant or school. Between the squat toilets, the poor drainage systems, and the fact that it is culturally accepted in China to spit anywhere at anytime (I mean, big honking spits right in front of people. I think I almost got spit on a couple of times.) your shoes get quite filthy. I still forget to take of my shoes sometimes and I hate when I realize how rude that is to their culture. The school I visited in Korea requires its students to remove their shoes when they enter the building and wear special slippers around the school complex. And the hotel workers where shocked when I entered my hotel room before first removing my shoes. One of the spas I visited in Thailand made us leave our shoes outside of the store before we entered. It is very important to them and after living here I see why.

10. It’s not the same.
The Letters and Characters of Thai, Khmer, Malay, Chinese, Korean and Japanese all look VERY different. Below is the same sentence (They do not look the same.) translated into the different languages. You can see how different they are.

Thai: พวกเขาไม่ได้มีลักษณะเดียวกัน
Malay: أنها لا تبدو هي نفسها.
Chinese: 他們看起來不一樣的。
Korean: 그들은 같은 보이지 않는.
Japanese: 彼らは同じように見えません。

Khmer- The Language of Cambodia is my 2nd favorite ( only after Thai). However, it is not easily translated. Below is a sample of its beautiful writing. I have no idea what this says.

11. Which side of the road?
There is a major discrepancy on which side of the road is used for driving. This caused me a lot of difficulty. I never knew which side of the side walk, stairs, escalators to walk on or which way to look before I crossed the road because it kept switching on me. In Singapore and Thailand they drive on the left, but Cambodia was right. Hong Kong was left but Mainland China and Korea were right. And then Japan was left again. It is probably a good thing I wasn’t driving.

12. Breakfast is just a meal in the morning.
The breakfast buffet at my hotels were always interesting. They put a mix of “western” breakfast food in there for the tourists, but the rest was filled with Chicken Terriaki, Salads, Noodles, Soup, Sautéed cabbage, fried rice, sushi, ect. I am sure it is strange to them that we have to have a “special” kind of food in the morning. To them breakfast is no different than any other meal…it is just the first one of the day.

13. The Cost is the Same.
The prices may be different due to the conversion rate, but overall I have noticed that the cost of items in China and Korea are fairly similar to the costs found in the US. This was shocking to me. If something is inexpensive, it is usually made in China. Logic then follows that all of the products in China would be inexpensive. This is not the case. If you go into a mall in china and factor in the conversion rate, the price of ordinary items are pretty much exactly what they would cost in the US. Now,I will concede that food is less expensive. You can go out to eat with your friends and the cost of the meal is less than what you would pay for one meal in the US. But, products are not as cheap as I thought. In the markets I was able to barter a bit and get some prices down, but I think I was still paying the tourist price for most items. However, some items I found more expensive in Asia. Coffee, for example, is much more expensive in many parts of Asia. (And not very good. Seoul was the exception.) And EVERYTHING was expensive in Singapore and Japan.

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14. Seoul- The Seattle of the East
There were more coffee shops in Seoul than just about any city I have visited in the US. Almost every other building was a multiple story coffee shop. It was wonderful! Mix that with the fact that it was drizzly 4 of the 5 days I was there and you can see why I kept forgetting that I wasn’t in Seattle. However, I found out that it isn’t usually customary to have friends over to your house in Asia. You don’t often entertain guests at home- you get together at a resturant or in this case a coffee shop! Also, people are so friendly in Korea. I actually met a few people while I was at a coffee shop. I noticed a guy wearing a cap with the American flag on it. I am sure I said a cheesy joke and we started talking, I helped him with his English lessons and we became instant friends! We met up for dinner the next evening and they even brought me a gift of special Korean cookies! I was quite touched! They are great people and I am so blessed to have met them!

15.Soap Operas- the Universal Show.
One day in Shanghai I took it easy and stayed in my room. I ended up watching a bit of a marathon of a Chinese Soap Opera. To my amazement, after only 30 mins I pretty much figured out the entire plot-line without understanding a word of what they were saying. I also realized in about the third epesoid each one has exactly the same plot with only subtle variations. I found out that there about three things on the television in China; very dramatic soap operas, Old time China period shows or really, complicated and hysterical game shows that seemed pretty random and therefore impossible for me to follow.

Mainland China- Beijing Day One

July 7, 2013July 8, 2013 / Kelly Day / 3 Comments

Beijing surprised me. Coming from Hong Kong’s concrete Jungle I expect Beijing to be a similar crowded city where people walked shoulder to shoulder with busy tiny roads, crazy traffic, and loud dirty streets filled to its brim with people. (can you tell Hong Kong was not my favorite) Instead I found the capital to have a MUCH more relaxed feel to it. Its roads, that had been restructured for the 2008 Olympics, were wide, efficient and allowed traffic to flow freely. Something that also added to the improved traffic was the fact that when you get a license plate to drive you are also given travel restrictions. For example, if your plate number starts with a six you can’t drive on Tuesdays during the month of July. The restricted days switch according to the month. It definitely helps with traffic, but I would find the system to be quite confusing. I suppose you get use to it after a while.

While the Beijing skyline perspective is not nearly as impressive as Hong Kong, Beijings buildings do not suffocate the city. Instead they were spread out and gave it and its inhabitants room to breath. Yet, Hong Kong is hardly to blame for its crammed nature. Because it is an island covered with Mountains, useable land is limited. However, the contrast between the two cities is not soley due to physical limitations. There are also huge cultural differences that contribute to the city design. Unlike Hong Kong, which was developed by the English, Beijing has been purposefully and carefully developed over hundreds of years according sacred concept of Feng Shui.

Growing up in the Midwest, the concept of Feng Shui was never taken too seriously. Perhaps it would be casually and comically mentioned when rearranging furniture, but never really considered to be truly important. However, I didn’t need to spend very much time in Beijing to see that Feng Shui is no joking matter to the Chinese culture. It is taken into careful consideration for almost any designed element from city design to food placement, and even a woman’s jewelry. The art of Feng Shui started thousands of years ago and was used as a way to balance one’s Qi (Ch’i). The words mean Wind/Water and represent the polarity between heaven ( wind represented by a circle) and earth (water represented by a square). Beijing is designed as a series of several concentric squares all stemming from the central 250 acre square that is The Forbidden City.

This palace complex, which is the heart of the city of Beijing, was built in 1406 at the start of the Ming Dynasty. It was designed as a square in the new capital of China to represent the fact that it was the center of the earth according to Feng Shui. To the North of the palace there resides a man made mountain or Prospect Hill. It is the Feng Shui belief that a mountain should reside to the north of a city to promote good Qi. This massive and mysterious city housed 24 emperors and their families for over 600 years during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Forbidden to outsiders, any common citizen or foreigner who entered into the city gates were painfully executed. The mystery of the unknown has therefore captivated the minds and curiosity of outsiders for generations.
Due to changes in political powers the Qing Dynasty ended, the last emperor of China was overthrown and the palace was opened to the public in the early 20th century, however much of the city was destroyed during the cultural revolution to follow. Now days this ancient palace is filled daily with thousands of tourist who wish to see the temples and palaces of their ancient past.

The complex is simply massive. It has over 800 buildings and exactly 9,999 rooms. It could have had more, but the emperor dared not to disrupt his Qi by building a complex with more rooms than the supposed 10,000 rooms of heaven. But, I personally think 9,999 rooms is plenty. It would take a person 27 years to spend one night in each of the rooms. As I walked around the ornate city I found it incredible that such a place with such amazing detail was constructed in only 14 years. Yet, I suppose you can accomplish a lot with over 1 million builders. The color scheme was much the same throughout the complex. Red which wards off Evil, Gold which represents royalty, blue represents heaven and green represents earth were used carefully to create good Feng Shui. Careful attention to detail was shown throughout the construction with careful consideration for the number of represented elements. The number 9 represents long life, therefore many buildings were constructed with 9 windows, 9 archways, ect. Every door had a series of 9 by 9 golden nobs that promoted long life and harmony. There were also 9 animals represented at the top of the palace to represent the fact that this was the most important building. No other building has that many animals represented.

There were also large golden pots positioned throughout the complex. These were filled with water to use in case of a fire, but even these were designed to promote proper Feng Shui. They were positioned over fire pits to keep the water from freezing in the winter and therefore symbolized all 5 natural elements, earth, wood, fire, metal and water.

To the south of The Forbidden city is the famous Tienamen Square. This square who’s name means the Gate of Heavenly Peace, is known for something quite different in the United States. It was difficult to get answers about what happened on the square in 1989. I asked my guide about it and either she couldn’t say or really did not know the truth about the event, but her account of what happened was not what I had learned in school. I tried looking it up while I was in China but the content was blocked. What striked me most about the square was its size. It is the third largest city square in the world. (109 acres and 960 by 550 yd). Another interesting element was the fact that you can visit the preserved body of Chairman Mao in a nearby government building. The line to see him was longer than any line I had seen before. It was quite the site and something that was difficult for me to understand.

Phuket Thailand

June 23, 2013June 25, 2013 / Kelly Day / 1 Comment

Welcome to SouthEast Asia! Even though I spent the first leg of my Asian adventure in Singapore I don’t think I experienced true Asian culture until I landed in the Phuket airport. Imigration was fast and easy, but once we stepped outside, I realized that I was truley in Asia. In Singapore order ruled and English was the primary language of everyone. In Thailand things were different. It was quite refreshing to be in a country where English skills were limited. It strenthened my methods of comunication and also helped me develop patience and understanding. Even though there were comunication barriers, it did not take long to see the hospitable spirit of the Thai people. We reached our resourt and were greeted with real flower Leis that smelled wonderful. The resort was gorgeous and as we checked in we were given cold towles and fresh juice. The complex was absoluetly lovely and the pool was amazing. It was monsoon season so the resort was not very full and we were able to get a room for very cheap.

Because of the weather, the beach on this West Side of Thailand was very rough and unpredictable and the waves were rough. Therefore we decided to take our umbrella and go explore the city. We were very glad we did not stay in the party center of Patong Beach. Instead we stayed in the quiter and less touristy Karon Beach. As we walked around we wondered upon a night market. We later found out that this happens only once a week. We were so blessed to have chosen this night to explore. This place was very interesting. It gave us a new insight into the culture of Phuket island. We saw booths where you could get a fish pedicure. That is where little tiny fish eat away all of the dead skin on your feet. We also ran across a Bug Buffett. We declined both of these experiences and moved on to find a massage place where we both got 90 minute massages for about 12 US dollars. They were wonderful, however the Thai standard of modesty when it comes to massages is quite different than I’m use to. It was quite the experience.

After our massages we went to a local restaurant to get some authentic Thai Food. I got Pad Thai and my friend Teresa got Masaman Curie. This started a tradition and we would compare these dishes throughout the rest of SE Asia. The waiters asked us where we were from and we said USA. They were very surprised. They said that they had never had an American eat there before. At first we found this hard to believe seeing how Phuket was such a tourist destination. Yet, the more we thought about it the more we realized that Teresa and I had not ran into another American in Southeast Asia. Not even in Singapore. However, determined to show off their true Thai hospitality the crew did a great job of cooking us up some traditional food and it was great. Just before we were about to leave, it started to rain again. The cook from the restaurant came out and tried to give us her personal umbrella. I was truly touched. We refused, but that she would give one of her few possessions to an entitled stranger tourist is beyond normal understanding of generosity. And my heart was touched.

The next day we rose early to start an adventure. We woke up early to go cave canoeing. According to others, it had been raining fairly heavily the past week. I didn’t mind. It had been nice to sit in the open air hotel lobby and read while listening to the rain and feeling the cool breeze, but I prayed that it would be nice for our canoeing trip. When we woke up that morning, the weather didn’t look good. A van picked us up to take us to the other side of the island to start our adventure. The rain poured and I started to get more and more worried that we had wasted our money. Yet I prayed that God would change my heart and my thinking. I thought instead how lucky is it that it is raining right now while we are in a van traveling to the canoes, and perhaps it is God’s will for the rain to happen now instead of later. I knew right then that God was going to take care of us and if we had faith in Him he would work it out rain or shine. I knew it was going to be a great day and I started to praise him in my heart! It was an interesting ride to the location. We passed under a fallen telephone poll, oh- don’t worry the tangled mass of unorganized electrical wire that is quite common in the towns of Thailand held the poll up high enough for our van to drive under. Then we drove past a mud slide. It was a great way to start our little adventure.

Instead of worrying, I thanked God for His protection and timing. Perhaps if we had come a few minutes later we wouldn’t have been able to get through. Through prayer my heart had changed from one of worry to one of praise and God honored that. When we got to our Canoes it was the best weather the island had seen all week. I had faith that it would work out and God provided, just like He always does. The canoeing adventure was incredible. It was absolutely perfect. It rained a couple of times at the end, but by that time we were hot and the rain was welcome. It even added another element of adventure to the experience. It was quite fun and the whole day was perfect. And the next morning it was even sunny enough to lay out by the pool. God really provided! It is amazing how powerful a heart of praise can be!

Singapore the Melting pot of the East

June 23, 2013June 23, 2013 / Kelly Day / 1 Comment

And so I arrived in Asia…..Kind of. A resident of Singapore told me that I chose a good city in which to ease into the Asian culture. With a heartfelt chuckle he described the city as “Asia lite.” There is truth to his statement. The city reminded me more of New York or London than anything I could conjure from my limited knowledge of Asian culture. Because it is a city of Ex Pats or Ex-patriots, it lacks a true identity. These ex-pats leave their home country seeking the thrill of living in an exciting and financially powerful hub of the Eastern Hemisphere. Along with their wives and children they bring with them their unique qualities that embellishes the unidentifiable flavor of this booming City State. It is a true melting pot. At first glance I didn’t think so. I thought it was just English. Everyone spoke English, the signs were in English, they used English electrical plugs, and even drove on the left side of the road. However, one trip to little India, or china town or Arab street you can see the different threads that weave together this beautiful tapestry that creates the lovely nation of Singapore.

My first night in Singapore I got to really taste what it is like to be living in a vibrant city full of culture and depth. I still don’t know how God worked this all out, but I ended up staying with a lovely friend of a friend of a friend. Her name was Britta and she was originally from Germany but I know her now to be a true citizen of the world. She proved herself to be the most gracious and willing host even BEFORE I had even met her. When I asked her why she would be so open and welcoming to a stranger she simply stated that she had received so many blessings from individuals around the world in her own journeys that she was pleased for the opportunity to help a fellow traveler. I have often felt the same way and I knew right then that I was going to learn a great deal from her.

My first night Britta took me to her friends art gallery opening. (pantone my art). It was a display of 10 different artist. Each artist painted the same subject but each had a designated color and medium. The night was full of art, culture, food, drinks and interesting people from around the world. This incredible experience was followed by a rooftop feast of THE BEST Indian food with the incredible Singapore Skyline as our backdrop.

The next day I explored the beautiful Singapore Botanic Gardens which includes the worlds largest collection of orchids. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed seeing the calmer side of Singapore. I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and had time to contemplate my surroundings. The people people of Singapore were incredibly friendly, kind and helpful.. And everything was orderly, clean and efficient. The city, which outlaws gum due to its messiness, was spotless. There was never ANY trash on the ground despite the fact that I could NEVER Find a trash bin. I found out later that one reason for the cleanliness was that the city can fine you up to 1,000 dollars for littering or make you do hours of community service. A country with ACTUAL consequences! How refreshing! The fact that crime is truly punished (ie drug trafficking is punishable by death) creates a city with a very low crime rate. Funny how that works.

Later that evening I had dinner with a friend from Malaysia I had met on the train from Prague to Luzern Switzerland two years previously. Through the power of facebook we figured out that we would both be in Singapore and he graciously showed me around the city and took me out for a traditional Malaysian meal. I have to admit that I was nervous to try Sting Ray, but it was actually quite good!

The next day my friend Teresa arrived from Indy and we explored China Town and Little India. We tried the countries beloved Durian Fruit. While I can appreciate the giant building in the city that is shaped like a Durian, I did not love the taste or the SMELL of the Durian Fruit. Later in Thailand I would find a sign that prohibited the Durian to be eaten inside the building because of the smell…which if you have ever smelled a Durian is quite a reasonable request.

That evening, Teresa, Britta, Britta’s friend from Sweden and I went out for a ladies night. We started on Arab street and ate at a Turkish restaurant. It was incredible. Probably my favorite dining experience I’ve had so far on this trip. After dinner Britta took us to some amazing spots around Singapore. One of which included the famous Marina Bay Sans hotel. This building is famous for its giant boat shaped rooftop infinity pool that lays across the three towers of the hotel. What fascinates me the most about this structure is not the remarkable pool but the knowledge that this incredible building resides on reclaimed land. It, and all of the incredible buildings around it are now standing where the ocean use to reside. It is knowledge of structures like this that give me a huge appreciation for the civil engineers, like my brother, who have the ability to create these structures and make them safe.

So…in three days I was in Singapore I experienced the foods of India, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, and Turkey. I had met many people from all around the world. And I got to see some pretty incredible sights. It is a very interesting city. It seems to be always on the move. Just like the people who move in and out, it is constantly changing and adapting and molding itself into the gorgeous tapestry of individualized threads full of life and flavor.

Redeeming Love

May 25, 2013June 1, 2015 / Kelly Day / 8 Comments

Last month I returned to Spain. I had not traveled for a few months and I was getting restless. I mistook these feelings of restlessness as a superficial need to satiate the little bug inside that feeds on travel and adventure. This human weakness might have contributed to this building desire, but I now believe there were more powerful forces at work.

God needed to talk to me. He needed me to truly stop and listen. And He, being my creator and God, knows my heart better than anyone else. He knew that during this particular journey my heart would be most readily available and my ears would be more receptive to His message. This is often the case when I travel and perhaps why I pursue it so fervently. I am not usually the type to be silent or still. My life is always in a constant state of movement and I am very rarely alone. I flutter from one social gathering to the next. As a true extrovert, I gain energy from being in the presence of others and have several different groups of friends that appease my need for social interaction. However, when I travel, I find myself alone for hours on end; at airports, around cities, parks, beaches, forests, ect. Don’t get me wrong, I have become quite an expert at finding “stranger friends” to talk to along the way. These friends are always blessings sent by God to teach me and quench my need for human interaction, but on the whole my travel experiences force me into a mindset of introspection. When I travel, I truly slow down. I truly listen; to myself, to my heart and to my God. I am silent and still and my heart is in a state of constant gratitude and worship. This provides the perfect platform for God to teach and mold me.

This particular trip my soul was in perfect communion with God. I finally began to understand something He has been trying to teach me my whole life. The completeness of His perfect love. I have always had a hard time understanding unconditional love. When people meet me it doesn’t take them long to recognize that I am habitually apologetic…..I’m sorry. This stems from my unconscious fear of doing something wrong to loose peoples love. Now multiply that fear by a million and you can understand my inability to understand why a perfect God could love someone as imperfect as me. I have never truly believed that I was acceptable in His sight. I believed in the forgiveness I earned from the death of Jesus but I never truly understood the completeness of that forgiveness. If I am being honest I have always seen God as someone who merely tolerated me. I could not picture God’s love for me as it is described in the Bible….the kind of love a groom feels for his bride or a father feels for his child. However on this trip God opened my heart and showed me the power of his amazing grace and redeeming love.

God used several mediums to explain this love to me during this trip to Spain and proved his love through several blessings. One powerful tool was the book “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers. I very rarely take books with me when I travel as I don’t often have time for them. This time I made an exception and I started reading this book on the 5 hour buss ride from Madrid to Granada. This fictional book is an allegory of the Biblical story of Gomer and Hosea which is in and of itself an allegory of God and His people. The novel tells the story of a righteous and Godly man who rescues and marries a prostitute. The prostitute cannot understand his forgiving love and kindness and runs away from him to rejoin a life of prostitution….THREE TIMES!! Throughout the book it is so evident the love the man has for his wife and how deeply her desertion hurts him. The reader feels so confused…why would she run away from such perfect and complete love? Doesn’t she see that He really does love her and that she is the only one who won’t forgive her past and move on? Why is she wasting her life listening to lies of her worthlessness while the Author of Truth is screaming promises of love, forgiveness and redemption? This truly is a powerful novel and I highly recommend it to any woman who sometimes struggles with understanding God’s love.

This book started an amazing dialog between God and myself during my stay in Spain early this April. I, like the woman in the novel, never felt fully accepted by God. I never believed I deserved God’s love. However this book helped me understand the foundational and most liberating truth. I was right. I don’t deserve God’s love. I am a sinner and what I deserve is death. But God loves me anyway! This is the life changing earth shaking Truth with a capital T! It is the one that Satan tries so hard to conceal! He makes us feel inadequate and like we have to earn God’s love….which is impossible and therefore fuels our feelings of inadequacy. The truth is there is NOTHING we can do to earn it. It is given freely and completely. That is the beauty of the gospel. It has the power to turn a hopeless story of sin and its consequences into a story of perfect and merciful redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

This trip to Spain was truly a love story between me and God. The entire week I remained in His love and my joy was made complete just as Jesus promises us in John 15: 9. There were times I thought my heart would explode for the joy and love I felt. There were times when I could not contain the worship in my soul and I wept. I wept in Retiro Park when I realized all of the amazing ways God had taken the hopeless situations of this past year and turned them into demonstrations of His glory and love. I wept when God used a painting at the Thyssen-bornemisza Art Museum to speak directly and clearly the promises of my future. I learned how to abide in His Love and God poured His blessings like rain on my life and my soul. With joy, rather than condemnation, I began to understand what only a truly redeemed sinner can. In a spirit of continual worship my heart happily sang “I don’t deserve this love or these blessings” and God’s quiet, constant and graceful response was the same “I know, but I love you anyway.”

Wandering in Madrid

March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 / Kelly Day / Leave a comment

Most of my days in Spain were spent aimlessly wandering around the streets of Madrid. I liked living in a big bustling city. Everyone always had somewhere to go, see and do….but not me. I just sat, watched and walked. I walked from Plaza to Plaza, bistro to bistro, and museo to museo. I ate more olives (aceitunas) than one could possibly count. Green olives, red olives, black olives, reddish brown olives and I swear some were even purple….. This olive based diet was not a product of my obsession with this vegetable-fruit (although I do love them), but rather because every café, restaurant, bar or bistro in Madrid supplies its patrons with a deliciously endless plate of complementary olives. Couple that information with the realization that the wine was quite literally cheaper than a glass of water and you have discovered my daily lunch menu.

My first few days in Madrid I explored all of the big tourist spots. I visited the Plaza Mayor, The Royal Palace, The Opera House, Botanical Gardens, The Soccer Stadium and The Bull Fighting Ring. But after a week or so I settled down into a routine of exploratory leisure. I woke up late in the morning, got dressed, walked to the Metro station and started my day in front of the Banco de Madrid. Here I would get some breakfast, which usually consisted of a chocolate croissant and a café con leche. I would sit outside and eat it while I watched the businessmen and women hectically go about their day in this bustling city center. When I was finished with breakfast and people watching I would start my daily stroll through the city.

I always took the Metro Line 9 and then I always transferred to line 2 at Principe De Vergara station even though there were other stops that were just as easily accessible and direct. I choose this particular exchange because of a street musician who’s violin filled this station with sounds of Vivaldi , Mozart and Chopin. Sometimes it saddened me at the number of people who took his presence and talent for granted. Everyday the same thankless crowd would walk by without a single glance or indication on their daily commute to their busy jobs. Yet I suppose I was just as guilty. I justified myself by the fact that I often stood and listened and give him an euro each day. Yet I did nothing more than wonder what had led him to this life. Did he know how much joy his notes brought me everyday? Did he know that I organized my daily commute so that I could hear him play? I wonder if he is still there playing, providing a beautiful and consistent service for those who are too busy to listen or care. Yet I am sure he will be missed once the station falls silent.

My stroll varied each and everyday but generally consisted of the same elements in different variations. The best route would start at the Peurta del Sol to visit the infamous bear of Madrid Statue. I did not stay here long because during my tenure in Madrid this plaza had become a makeshift tent city full of thousands of “angry youths” protesting the Spanish government. It was a sort of precursor to the Occupy Wall Street movement that would happen a year later in New York. I could understand their plight. Spain had a 24% unemployment rate at the time, yet most of these “angry youths” looked pretty content with their jobless career of getting high and making a mess of the beautiful city square.

I would continue my journey from the crowded and somewhat shady Puerta de Sol to the Plaza Mayor. Here I would stop and look at the street artists and visit some local shops. This ancient City Square is beautiful and full of rich history, yet it is also a tourist trap. The restaurants surrounding the Plaza are inauthentic and drastically overpriced so I would stroll onward. I’d get lost in the cobbled stoned back streets of the old city to find a cozy little restaurant off the beaten path. I would finally find a place away from the expensive tourist restaurants filed with English menus. And I would sit and eat my free plate of olives and drink my seemingly perfect glass of wine while I journaled, wrote post cards and reflected on a perfect day strolling around the city.

After I had my fill of wine and reflection, I would continue my promenade through the city. I strolled past the Gran Villa, the Plaza de La Cibeles, the most beautiful palace/ government building in Spain, the triumphant archway of Puerta de Alcala and on to El Parque del Retriro, which is one of the most enchanting and peaceful parks in the world. I could spend the entire day just in this big city park watching the boats paddle in the pond in front of the Monument to Alfonso the XII.

The best part of my Madrid Wanderings was that I never knew where I was going to end up. Each and everyday was different and I simply followed all of my whims and fancies. Inevitably I would stumble upon some festival of some sort either at the park or the Plaza Mayor. My favorite day was when I happened upon a used book festival. I spent hours combing through the giant outdoor library. That is the beauty of an unplanned day, each new café or park or monument becomes a little gift. You can take the same path the same day for 20 days in a row yet each day has its own little discovery or gift. Each day can be a new adventure if you only allow yourself to open your eyes and truly see the world around you and if you are not afraid of getting a little lost along the way.

Spain: All in God’s Perfect Timing

March 16, 2013March 18, 2013 / Kelly Day / Leave a comment

Spain. Just the word alone elicits an almost Pavlovian response from all of my senses. Suddenly, I smell the oranges of Valencia and hear the pounding of the Flamenco dancers under palm tree lined pavilions in Seville. Spain. My mouth waters for the taste of olives, jamón, wine and paella while my soul aches for the creations of Gaudi’s genius and my heart yearns for Madrid’s ocean of culture.

It took me a long time to get to Spain. In retrospect, it was a trip almost 10 years in the making. My obsession started in 10^th grade when I took my first Spanish class. I worked harder in this class than any others. I vowed to one day live or study in Spain and therefore I worked tirelessly to learn the beautiful Spanish language to the best of my ability. Oh- How many nights did I fall asleep at the wee hours in the morning going over another deck of Spanish flashcards!?

The opportunity was never right in High School, but I told myself I would student teach in Spain. This was something that I planed for and pursued all four years of college. My senior year I was accepted into the international program at my school and I was on my way to Spain at last! However, something fell through at the last moment and my placement was cancelled. I was devastated. Spain had been my plan for the past seven years and suddenly it was gone…like a puff a smoke. I sobbed that night. Spain was taken from me and I didn’t understand why.

We say, “Things Happen for a Reason” often in our society. This gives us something to say to those who have had disappointment in their life. We say this when something happened/didn’t happen the way we really wanted it to go. We say this to sound humble and gracious, but it takes a lot of grace to actually KNOW in your heart that things happen for a reason; God’s reason. Sometimes we never know why things truly happen, but God has a perfect plan for our lives we just have to have faith and humbly know that that He who created the universe and He who IS and WAS and IS TO COME may have a better grasp of what is good for us than we do. In this case, however, I have the unbelievable gift of knowing why Spain was “taken” from me.

God, in His infinite wisdom had more planed for me than my impatient heart could have ever conceived. Instead of spending the last semester of my college experience off campus, He gave me one of the most rewarding semesters of my life. I was able to host a comedy show call Friday Night Live, I fulfilled my duties as a VP for Student Government, and I was voted by my classmates to be IWU’s Senior of the year at graduation. If I had been in Spain I would have missed out on all of those blessings and I would have peddled away so many precious “last moments” with my dear friends on a campus that I LOVED.

More importantly, God’s choice to not send me to Spain allowed me to say goodbye to my grandfather. My pops, a man who more closely resembled Christ than any other man I have ever met, fell very seriously ill the last month of my college career. He truly lived a life of love like that described in First Corinthians 13:4. My pops was patient and kind. He did not envy, and did not boast. He was not proud, self-seeking, nor easily angered. He did not keep a record of wrongs. He did not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Pops was a farmer. He loved the land, and worked hard everyday to glorify God and live a life producing all of the fruit of the spirit.

Because I was not in Spain, I was able to be there when he got sick. I can still feel the whiskers on my cheek from when he kissed me goodbye for the last time on this earth. I cherish that moment above any other in my life so far. That last kiss on my cheek from him means more to me than any study abroad experience ever could.

I could praise God and His wisdom for that reason alone. But God is even MORE faithful than I could ever imagine. I may not have been able to student teach overseas, but instead God blessed me with the opportunity to spend 8 incredible weeks in Spain. This was God’s plan, not mine. And as always, His perfect plan was infinitely more superior than the one created by my limited human brain.

The summer after my second year of teaching I got the opportunity to live with a family in Madrid in exchange for a few English lessons. Instead of six weeks of stressful student teaching, defined by me yearning to explorer the city while being held captive by grading and lesson planning duties, I spent two beautiful, perfect, unrestricted months soaking up every ounce of experience and culture possible. I spent my days blithely wondering around the city of Madrid, observing life, reflecting and growing.

Spain changed me. It was an incredible experience, for numerous reasons in which I hope to share in future posts, but most importantly it demonstrates how faithful our God is. He knows. He Cares. And He is continually weaving together a stunning masterpiece that is my life. Our God is so faithful and in control and if we patiently seek Him and His will, sometimes we get to see the intricately beautiful ways He mends and molds our threads together to create a masterful work that glorifies Him and His unending goodness.

**** Side note: 11 is my favorite number and Spain ended up being my 11th country. It was the 1st of 11 countries I visited in 2011. (11 in 11). This post randomly ended up being my 11th post. God is just so good and just so clever sometimes!

Berlin: A Contrast of Old and New

February 21, 2013February 24, 2013 / Kelly Day / Leave a comment

Berlin- Before May of 2007 I had no plans or any real desire to visit Germany’s capital. It’s not that I had anything against it, I just had other cities at the top of my to-go list. Little did I know that it would be the city that would leave the greatest impact on me in my epic tour across Europe. You see, that spring I decided to take a class on WWII history. It was not just any class. In true “Kelly style” I took one in which I could see for myself the infamous and notable sites of WWII and experience the history and implications of this tragic war.

I didn’t know what to expect of Berlin, but I found it fascinating. Maybe it was because I had been so highly anticipating a visit to Paris (a city that I would later find to be disappointing) that Berlin caught me totally by surprise. I think more than anything it was interesting to see how far this city had come in such a short time. In only 62 years, Berlin had overcome complete structural and economic decimation, fascism, communism, foreign occupation, a cold war and a metaphorical and very literal wall of painful segmentation. Through all of this (albeit self-initiated) destruction, present day democratic Germany has emerged as the thriving economic powerhouse of Europe. It is the locomotive of the E.U. propelling the collective nations forward into the 21^st century.

The modernism of Berlin caught me by surprise. The city skyline that was destroyed during the bombing raids of WWII has been rebuilt creating a very contemporary metropolis unlike most other German or European cities. And in the classic German spirit it has been organized to the T. Everything has its place and is accounted for. Including the city’s trees! Leave it to the Germans to be the only nation to literally number every single tree with a little blue tag. However, when you dig deeper, past the trendy skyscrapers of Potsdamer Square, and the clean (oh so very clean and orderly) sidewalks, you see some of the old scars left behind by the city’s dark past.

This contrast of New and Old Berlin was particularly biting. A tour through the city was a tour through modern history. I visited the Old Opera house in Bebelplatz square. It should be a place to celebrate the fine music, art and literature of Germany but instead it represents the location where the Nazi party burned over 20,000 books in 1933. As I looked down into empty bookshelves encased in the memorial marking that notorious spot, I felt the lonesomeness of all those vacant shelves pinning for their lost works and ideas.

I also stood on the East side of the Berlin Wall and felt its lingering sting of separation. I could sense the pain, frustration and tyranny this wall represented. As I walked along it I imagined myself to be someone living in East Berlin walking home from work, knowing that on the other side of this wall was unattainable liberty, prosperity, democracy, friends and family. I visited Checkpoint Charlie and heard the stories of the men and women who were so desperate for liberty, a liberty I take for granted more often than I care to admit, that they gave their lives in an attempt to cross a section of land that could be measured in yards, yet was as intangible as crossing the Sahara Dessert. How could something so close be so very far away?

I walked past the Brandenburg Gate and I imagined it as it was in 1963 when J. F. K. stood in front of the Banner draped doorway. I wondered what he thought of the scarlet barrier placed there by the Soviets to purposefully prevent him from looking into the Communist East. I also heard the lingering echo of President Reagan’s 1987 speech pleading for reconciliation.

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Ronald Reagan

And Finally as I effortlessly and peacefully crossed through the gate I could hear the cheers and feel the joyful, tearful elation pouring out of the thousands gathered here on that fateful day in 1989 when the gates were finally opened and Reagan, and the people of Germany, got their wish. That wall did come down, and Berlin was rebuilt. But it will forever have scars that no amount of modern buildings can conceal.

Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial

February 21, 2013February 24, 2013 / Kelly Day / 1 Comment

You are standing in a maze of graves. Fifteen-foot tall steel tombs surround you in every direction and you can no longer find your way out. This sea of industrialized death is 5 acres of ugly anxiety educing confusion. It makes no sense, yet there is something so eerily and unreasonably systematic about this grid of graves. It is almost as if this pattern of destruction was planned.

Am I talking about a horrible nightmare? No, and at the same time an outstanding yes. I have just described the Holocaust Memorial found in Berlin just south of the Brandenburg Gate. This controversial memorial is dedicated by Berlin to the millions of Jewish people who were murdered in the Holocaust.

This memorial might get a lot of criticism from other onlookers, but I thought it was a brilliant and poignant representation of what happened in Germany over 65 years ago. The memorial is literally a giant 5-acre section of the city in which they have constructed a grid of 2,711 steal rectangular slabs of varying height. The architect, Peter Eisenman, didn’t give much of an explanation for the design. Rather, he wanted each person to come up with his or her own interpretation. This is mine.

The slabs of ugly concrete represent loss- unmarked tombs of stolen generations. There are more than you can count, and when you look across the giant block of ugly, impersonal and industrialized nothingness the shear enormity of the memorials makes your blood run cold.

The memorial was built on a slope. This creates the initial illusion that all of the steel graves are the same size. I think this symbolizes how little the world, including many Germans, knew about the monstrosity that was the Holocaust. Most of what was known was only the surface level until it was too late.

When you get closer, the tombs on the perimeter are only an inch high, and as you walk towards the center they gradually get taller and taller. The symbolism here is particularly chilling. A systematized murder of 11 million innocent people did not happen overnight. It was a gradual slope. It started small, with propaganda and indoctrination and the “simple” practice of wearing a golden star. However, once you start going down that path you realize that the death has mounted up around you. What was once at your ankles is now at your knees. You are searching for a way out, but the grotesque train of genocide lead by an insane dictator has started and the powers at large will not be slowed now.

Suddenly you look up and the graves are now taller than you and stretch in every direction. You can no longer see anything other than giant ugly steel slabs of symbolic death and annihilation. A series of screaming questions run across your mind. Why didn’t anyone stop this? How did they let this happen? Why didn’t anyone say anything when the graves were only ankle high? Is not even one death worth standing up for? How did it get to this point?

The death toll was not in the thousands, but the millions. You look across this seemingly endless grid of graves. The magnitude suddenly makes it hard to breath especially when you realize that every single grave represents the death of about 4,000 innocent lives. This gives new meaning to 11 million, a number I cannot truly comprehend. This whole field would have to be multiplied by 4,000 for it to be a true representation of how many suffered and died. I felt a sense of hopelessness when I stood in the middle of this sea of systematized extermination that was so completely detached from any human reason or emotion. I think of the German people who were not evil but did not stand up and fight for their innocent countrymen and I am reminded by a quote from German Albert Einstein,“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Filling My Map

The life of a constant explorer

Travel

Why Asia?

Mainland China- Beijing Day One

Phuket Thailand

Singapore the Melting pot of the East

Redeeming Love

Wandering in Madrid

Spain: All in God’s Perfect Timing

Berlin: A Contrast of Old and New

Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial

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