People to People in China: “Sardines”

“Do you see how backed up the traffic is outside?” Eighteen delegates and two guests peered dutifully out the tour bus window and nodded.  “It wasn’t until 1997 that Beijing, a city with 22 million people, got its first one million cars.  Then seven years later, in 2003, we reached 2 million.  Four years later we reached three million. Then in just three years we reached four million and two years after that we reached five million cars.  That is why we say we must adjust your schedule if there are traffic problems.”

Wen Tong, or “Wendy,” our People to People guide smiled liberally.  Her name literally meant “warm sunshine.”  She had already told us several jokes to help us relax and was now into the “overview of China” portion of her discussion.  She talked into a microphone as the bus moved deftly around the cars, bicyclists and motor scooters.

“As the economy improves in China and the number of people grow, the number of private cars has become a problem.  So, our president had the idea of only allowing twenty thousand new car licenses each month, beginning in January of this year.”

The bus driver had exited one of the main roads and was now navigating the craft across lanes of inner-city traffic.  The scene reminded me of watching my children play video games. A hundred times I thought we would hear a crash as cars turned in front of the bus with only inches to spare, or cyclists wove in and around obstacles with amazing skill.  One cyclist had a young look; her mauve bicycle was accented with stiletto heels, an iPod and trendy clothes.  Another appeared to be a grandmother and a grandchild.  A third was toting a 12-pack of toilet paper on the luggage bar behind his seat.  A fourth had more baggage than I’ve ever seen balanced on one bicycle.

I glanced over a lane and studied the cars again.  Where were the moderately priced automobiles?  Although I spied a number of smaller, smart cars I couldn’t find one that appeared older.  Most were high end. And many were very high end.  The traffic jam was like a Mercedes Benz parade, with guest stars of BMW, Audi and special appearances by Volkswagon.  I noticed the absence of incessant horn-honking and wondered if the New York City cab drivers needed a field trip to China in order to prove the seemingly impossible: crazy inner city traffic CAN happen without wearing your horn out.

The lack of parking places causes some drivers to park on the sidewalk. Continue reading People to People in China: “Sardines”

Comments

comments

People to People in China: “Departure”

They were dressed in fatigues. Three men and one woman chatted casually while their bags were checked in the Military Personnel Line at Will Rogers Airport. The private bringing up the rear was short; his dark buzz cut looked nice against his brown skin, and his posture was more swagger than resolute. The third in line was digging into her bag. My eyebrows raised when, from the depths of all manner of military supplies came a laminated zebra print bag trimmed in hot pink. She found what she was looking for, zipped the zebra print, then zipped the duffle.

When she stood up, my eye immediately focused on two small braids, one at either side of her face, approximately ½” in width, pulled up with the rest of her hair into a bun. The interaction between she and the other three was one of camaraderie. In fact, had I not seen the braids and bun, I’m not sure I would have noticed there were two sexes represented in the line for deployment.

She made a joke, walked through the metal detector, and then she and her zebra print bag were gone. Continue reading People to People in China: “Departure”

Comments

comments

Barbershop Theology: My Faith Hero

An Honest Faith

I first heard a small diatribe on the subject of faith while visiting Dad’s barber shop.  I was a college student and had grown very interested in my parents’ renewed passion for Christ.  I tuned in a bit more than usual when a fella that I barely knew started to deliver his discourse on faith.

As I recall his talk, I remember it as just that—a lot of talk.  It sounded something like this…

“It’s all about faith, you know.  When we get sick, God’s just testing us to see if we can get rid of all our questions and just believe in Him and his power.  Why, just the other day I believed really hard that God could heal my aching back, and he did!  I was tempted to doubt, but I didn’t let it get to me.  My faith healed me!”

I listened as this customer in my dad’s shop proclaimed his conviction that “most of the world’s problems are really just because people don’t have enough faith,” and that poverty, sickness, and pain could be effectively wiped out if people would just extinguish their doubts with a fire hose of super-powerful trust in God.

His talk concerned me.  Maybe he knew how to muster up that kind of super-strong faith, but I’m here to confess, I’ve never really been a person who’s been able to get rid of all his doubts or questions. In fact, I would give myself a C- if I had to submit a report card on myself. Continue reading Barbershop Theology: My Faith Hero

Comments

comments

Time For A New Chapter

by Rob Loeber

It’s a strange, painful feeling typing these words, but the time has come for me to step away from the Red Dirt Chronicles.  For the past year, I have had the amazing privilege of writing sports pieces for this site.  Every Friday I had the opportunity to share part of myself with you, our loyal readers.  It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

Being a part of the RDC renewed my love of writing.  It challenged me creatively, and gave me a sense of fulfillment that is so rare to find in any kind of work or pursuit.  Most of all, it gave me a sense of freedom.  There were no boundaries to what I could put on these pages and that is really the best part of this whole project.  I could be serious, funny, sad, sarcastic, satirical, biting, glib, self-deprecating or even controversial.  Writing proved to be such a fantastic outlet for me and what I hope came through in my words is the passion I have for sports.

I have never tried to start any arguments with my writing or the subjects I’ve chosen.  I believe the best sports writing sparks conversation and debate.  Good sports writers should never take themselves or their topics too seriously and I always tried to keep that in mind when I picked up my pen and notepad every week.

I remember when Kelly first approached me about contributing to this site.  There’s no way I could have turned her down.  “You mean I get to write whenever I want about whatever I want in the world of sports?”  Sold.  Continue reading Time For A New Chapter

Comments

comments

On the Horizon: Second Chances

For some kids, all they need is a second chance. A second chance to right the wrongs and move forward towards a future, but it is not always easy. Public schools are reluctant at accepting students who have already been kicked out of school, if they accept them at all.

In this week’s video blog, see how the Metro Tech Career Academy is giving those kids a second chance and their futures are looking a whole lot brighter.

~Courtenay Dehoff

 

On the Horizon: Second Chances from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Comments

comments

Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.