I'm in the Philippines!

On the back of a Jeepney!

Helped out with cleaning feet so 200 kids could get new shoes from TOMS.

TOMS Shoes

Update & Sushi Night!

I've been so blessed with God's love this week. I can feel His real living love for me more than I ever have. I'm always happy that I feel like this!

So, to get to the point of this little blog post, I went to have sushi with my friend Cassie from Shenzhen and her friend Xiaoguo. We had lots of fun and I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. Best sushi house I've been to in China and not expensive either!

So, I'm doing great and I am loving the Lord! Eat your sushi!

Shenzhen

I'm in Shenzhen for the time being. I'm here studying for 3 months.


This is a picture of Shenzhen I took. It reminds me of home because of the blue skies and trees.

Being so close to Hong Kong, SZ has many foreigners and non-native SZ people. You can find almost anything you want, foreign wise. It is amazing. Such a different from Chongqing. SZ is a nice vacation from CQ but I still miss CQ.

Recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup in China!

I'm not a big fan of cream of mushroom soup but this is so good that I had to share it. You might wonder how the h&h substitute tastes and added milk mixtures but it turns out great each time.

Cooking

Dice up the mushrooms and onions. Put butter into into a saucepan and wait until hot then add the mushrooms and onions. Cook stirring the mixture for about 2 minutes or just before the butter starts to burn. Put aside.

Place the remaining butter into the saucepan, cook until melted, and add the flour. Cook until all the butter and flour are combined and then continue to cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the h&h slowly while continually stirring. Add the mushrooms, onions, and season with salt and white pepper. Remember to not let the mixture boil or the milk will curdle. Add your desired toppings (Parmesan, garnishes, and so on) and you're done!

Ingredients

250 grams of fresh button mushrooms (I just use the standard Chinese mushrooms)
1/4 c. of butter
2 tbsps. of finely chopped white onion (if you don't like it you don't have to use it)
4 c. of half-and-half mix (equal amounts: 2 cups milk and  2 cups cream)
-Because half-and-half is hard to find in China all you need to do is this. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and once melted pour in 1 cup of milk. This makes 1 cup substitute of h&h. Make 2 cups of h&h substitute to make two cups "cream" and you're good.
2-3 tbsps. of flour (depending on how thick you want your soup)
salt (to taste)
white pepper (to taste)

Makes 4 bowls of soup.

I hope you enjoy the soup and the little soup icon can I made to represent this dish! :)

Kong Fu Panda 2 | 功夫熊猫二

I just saw KongFu Panda 2 in theaters! Loved it.. despite the fact all my Korean friend were tell me I look like Po the big bellied panda. I appreciated that, oh yes.

How do normal (low-class) Chinese people do it? It costs 55 RMB or about $8.55 to see this movie in China! Man, I can't believe how much I paid for this movie. Think about it like I do..

Breakfast: 3-5 RMB
Lunch: 10 RMB
Dinner: 15 RMB
Bottle of Coke: 3 RMB
Monthly Internet Fee: 100 RMB
T-Shirt: anywhere from 20-150 RMB

Movie Ticket: 55 RMB

I spent 55 RMB on a movie ticket that allowed me to sit in a theater for 2 hours and laugh. Wow!

P.S. Put money aside and go see it.

A Whole New World

I bet you have heard the song.. It is from the Disney movie: Aladdin's, A Whole New World! How does this relate to China? Don't worry it does. Whilst living in China certain things seem to be lost. Free Internet, free thinking, and connection to the world you thought you'd always be connected with.

Being over 8,000 miles from home.. I haven't been able to learn the new slangs, songs, see the new movies, know who or what is happening, and so on.. This sadly includes the death of my grandpa Schlarb. He was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer about two weeks ago and died last Thursday. I still don't believe it. I live this far away.. nothing is familiar and I can't seem to understand this. I live in A WHOLE NEW WORLD.. This doesn't mean that this world is new but it is a whole new (as in a large foreign place to be adventured) world. Because I don't see my family face to face crying and I wasn't at the funeral.. it is hard to understand and even believe this happened.

I want to take the time to write it out. Grandpa, I love you. I will always love you. See you in Heaven and I know you are proud of me. I hope you can see me through the Chongqing fog down here in China! I'm not sad in some ways but very happy to know my grandpa is rejoicing with Jesus. I think one thing that you taught me was to always do what I want to do and not to let others convince me otherwise. You liked all these weird shows, movies, crossword puzzles, no dressing on your salad, and you were proud of it. I'll be the man I want to be through God and glorify Him just like you did. :)

Tips for Living in China: Part 1

Tips for Living in China

The official unofficial guide for how to be foreign, if you forgot!

Taobao
Taobao.com is amazing and you can mostly trust the sellers. Its mafan to get an account to pay for stuff but if you have a Chinese friend who is willing to help you by using their chinese card, it'll make it easier. Taobao has lots of stuff and all the time. The worst part about buying western food in the store is you have to wait for the stuff to be in stock. You can order cheese and stuff on TB for it is shipped in dry ice. It is your choice: shop online or shop in-life. :)

Food & Drink
The biggest piece of advice I'd like to tell you is to be adventurous and have fun with it! Every store isn't going to have the same things and there is no consistency with foreign foods. You might see something you love for an entire month or even year but then the next day you won't see it again. So, if you really like something and you NEED it… Buy it.

Flour: Buy High Fructose Flour 高筋面粉 gao1jin1mian4fen1 (this is China's all-purpose flour). It can be used for bread, cakes, dough, tortillas, etc… You can buy it at Trust-Mart, and Walmart. Most of the other flour in China (just called mianfen) is flour made for dumplings. I've made tortillas and different doughs with it before but the all-purpose type bakes and holds together better.
Brown Sugar: Can be found at almost any type of grocery store. It is sold in a clear plastic with red sealed bag from the brand, Tai O.
Sugar: Sugar might taste a little different but if you get Tai O's brand white sugar it usually tastes the most normal.
Powdered Sugar: Tai O brand again, PS is hard to find but not impossible. In Chongqing it can only be found in Metro, last time I was in there it was in the isle as the spices and seeds.
Butter: You can get lots of butter here but you have to buy it when you see it. But make sure you look and see if it is salted or not! Most of the butter you'll see (not at Metro) will be unsalted.. So make sure you look. Unsalted butter isn't really useful and very mafan to make salted and make taste well.
Baking Soda and Powder: I have no idea if you can get this. My guess is that you can get it in Metro but I don't know. I bring mine or have it shipped from Meiguo!
Yeast: I've only ever seen yeast at Metro. I haven't ever bought it myself but if you ask the workers they might have it. (Tip: Ask at least three different workers. Sometimes people say they don't have something when they do because they don't know or think you are speaking English and they don't understand. I always ask a few people spread out in the store. (Don't be offended if they do this, it is just the fact that they are listening for English and not Chinese. It doesn't mean you pronunciation is horrible!).
Cheese: Cheese is hard to find sometimes. If I see it in Shapingba, I usually buy one just so I can at least eat cheese. Honestly, after not having it for so long, I start to forget about it and then I'm re-surprised. Metro always has it. SPB doesn't but like once every two weeks. Taobao might be something you want to use for cheese if you are a BIG FAN!
Fruits & Veggies: I get all my fruits & veggies from Carrefour, Wangfujin, or Yonghui. It doesn't really matter where but if you get it from a street vender it will most likely be cheaper and sometimes is fresher. Sometimes markets are fresher because they have farmers deliver products in big trucks so it is basically coming from the same place (I guess).
Meat: I don't and will not buy meat from a street vender. I'm too scared too. Their personal hygiene (washing hands mostly) and the standard hygiene of Chinese meat sections outside are pretty low. I like to buy meat in any of the three previously mentioned markets.
-Beef: I like Carrefour best for beef, they have a similar tasting beef to what we are used to. I use it for ground beef (they grind it for me). Wangfujin is my favorite place because there are never any people inside. It is so quite and clean! This isn't their store standard but the fact that the people coming to this store are more like a few hundred a day instead of thousands… it is nice inside!
-Chicken: I buy chicken breasts (鸡胸 ji1xiong1) at Wangfujin. There is always lots of chicken breasts and if they don't have any they'll go to the freezer and get you some. It is about 6-7 yuan per breast. Some of them seem less fresh than others.. Make sure you look through them.
-Pork: I'm not a pork fan so I'm not sure where you can get good pork. If you want pork tenderloin, I suggest going to market2meal.blogspot.com and looking at her post on how to find a good loin in China. She lives in China as well.
-Seafood: You can get seafood at any store. Most of the time is is alive or just killed. Be careful with seafood. China isn't known for having the best selection of fresh food. Fresh to the Chinese means alive (even if barely). Fresh to Americans means cleaned, not many chemicals, and you know how much of what is in it is bad or good for you. I've seen people with fish in bags in their carts and the fish jump out (with in the plastic bag) and then I saw a man with a fish in the plastic bag at a bus stop.. the fish was moving around a lot so the man took the fish and swung it up high and then pounded it on the ground as hard as he could to paralyze it..
Natural Tea: Find a tea store and experiment! I love to try new teas and in China it is hard to go wrong with tea! Buy dry flowers, berries, and seeds and see which ones your like. I love Jasmine tea and chrysanthemum.
Bottled Tea: I often buy Jasmine tea in a bottle. It is 3 yuan a bottle and it just tastes great! Just enough sweetness to make it taste right! There are about 10 or so different types of bottled teas and about ten companies that they different ones. See which company and which tea you like.
Soda: Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, Coke Zero, and Seven Up are the most popular types of soda in China. At Watson's Drugstore/Market you can buy Watson's Root-beer, Vanilla Soda, and imitiation Dr. Pepper but they are all horrible. I advise you not to try them.

To be continued...

Youtube

The first time I landed in Chongqing, I wanted to film everything! Food, school, and anything that I could think of. I don't know why I haven't. Part of it is lazy or just my personal feelings of being embarrassed because people always stare at non-Asians and that I'll be talking to holding a camera.

So. I've decided to film and post at least two videos per week on youtube about Chinese stuff, my life, and anything I'd like to talk about.

Here is a link to my youtube page if you'd care to listen to me instead of read what my fingers have given you to read: My Youtube

I want a BigMac just right now!

It is 4:39am in the never sleeping city of Bangkok. We just got off the 8 hour bus we took from the island, Koh Tao. We are staying at Lek's house but we don't want to wake them this early so we went to the only "safe" place to go to at 5am... wait for it, McDonalds. I feel ashamed going in, being a zombie, and waiting until 5am when breakfast starts but I don't really have another choice. This McDonalds is located at the center of the foreign backpackers bar and club street. What would one expect? Lots of drunk people. That is what. I went to the toilet and a drunk guy paid for my entry (sometimes in Asia you have to pay for the toilet). I guess he was feeling good. I return and these two guys come in and not long after them talking very loud do I figure out their goals in life. I'll use more appropriate language but basically.. Bang girls. These guys are loud and when leaving knock over a chair. An employee yells at them and they yell back, "hey man, this is McDonalds." It upsets me to see people like this but in a sadistic way also makes me feel good because I'm happy I'm 19 and have a better head on my shoulders. Oh ignorance is noisy!

On a side note, it's almost 5am and I'm happy to be able to eat something. I have the hunger! Before we were able to take the bus we had to take a series of public transportations to get off the island. We took a taxi from the hotel to the pier where we met a couple. The man Charles, from France and his girlfriend Terra from Michigan. Nice people. Charles is studying business in Seoul and Terra travels Asia for fabrics and gems and sells them for high prices in the USA. We had lunch, rode the boat together, and then departed at the pier while they waited for a train to Malaysia and we waited for the bus to Bangkok. Charles to me is the typical Frenchman. He's fashionable, a bit rude, loves sweets and adventure. Most French guys I've met are more or less like this. Terra is a free spirit. She feels for the Tibetan people's sufferings and says she takes things from all religions and lives her life and bases her actions on Karma. She got her iPhone stolen in bangkok and to my surprise actually said, "I don't know what I did for this to happen to me!" but not in the normal why I'm mad way but the why did karma punch me in the face. I'm a good person right?

Meeting people so different you start to see how they turned into who they are now based on the little intrinsic details they tell you. People observing to me is very interesting. I like to think I understand people but I don't. It's more of an activity I enjoy telling myself I'm good at.

Look a the time! 4:58am! Time for my McBreakfast. Sawasdeekrap!

Happy Pains

The feeling that is being pumped into me is happiness. Why you ask? I'm heading back home from vacation to the major city of Bangkok after being on an island. After being on this island for a week and a half, I am starting to feel trapped. It hasn't a claustrophobic feeling of trapped but a feeling like I'm not going anywhere. I'm happy to be heading back to a big city and then in a few days going back home to China.

The the bugs and birds make their noises and the waves pound on the shore, I also feel happy. These are great sounds. I am happy to hear them now but sad for it to be my last day on the beach.

I'll share a picture of this beach when I get back home.
(EDIT I'm not home yet but I got a chance to upload this pic via facebook).

Today we will take a 3 hour ferry back to the mainland and then venture back to Bangkok on a night bus. I need to prepare myself for the feeling of being stuck again. I dislike public bus trips. They are hot, uncomfortable, and noisy. I pray this one will be smooth.

On a side note, two days ago I was unluckily diagnosed with an earache brought on by swimming and I slipped on the rocks last night which caused my lower back to ache. My only wish is that I'll feel better but thinking of returning home after a 17 day vacation makes me smile. Would it you?

On the backside of that first sidenote, the beach makes me miss my family. All of my memories of the beach involve at least one of my family members. But I am happy to be here and I try to tell myself that one day they will be able to enjoy it too! Positive thinking, I must have.

19 years old and still learning! Who knew?

My friend Hugo and I were discussig the Bible whilst sitting on the hotel bed and arguing and having fun. I learned some new things about the Bible from him. Now that isn't surprising because we can always learn new things about our wonderful God but what he said in a sense made my faith stronger. He told me that he thinks the Bible is a good book. He even used to be a Christian. He told me that he thinks revelations is absurd and shouldn't be in the Bible. I mean, it makes sense to why someone would think that.

After talking for a while, he told me that revelations wasn't the only absurd thing in the Bible but in Genesis when God wrestled with Jacob as a man. I honestly was flabbergasted. I didn't remember that part. I reread it as it did seem weird.

Genesis 32:24, "So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak."

After some thinking I email my dad about it and he told me what this is believed to mean which made me feel enlighten. If you'd like to look this up yourself, look up William C. Williams' words on Theophany.

This blog post should be in no way your completed readings for this verse. Go read the entire 32:22 until it eds chapter 32 and then read what Williams and may others have said. It makes more sense. My dad explained it in a way of Jesus' form or the man of God's being taking on man's likeness to do acts towards men. Very interesting. I literally didn't know. Thanks Hugo!

Comeback! Matthew Soren!

I've decided to rename this blog! It was supposed (and is) to be about me and life but I've forgotten to write down most of my everyday happenings. So, now I and going for change. This weeks Glee's episode was comeback and I want to think like that for as long as my brain will allow me to remember. So I am coming back as Matthew Soren! For it is the name my mother yells when I'm I'm trouble. :) now saying that name makes me smile.

So for you, I am Matthew Soren! (but dont think you can tell me to clean my room).