I woke up really early – at 4AM. I stayed awake until 7:30AM when I got up and took a shower. I ate breakfast (OJ and cheese and crackers) and watched an English language teaching show on TV. After getting ready, I headed out to Mark’s room. As I got out on the street, I realized that I had forgotten my razor and shaving cream. Since my room didn’t exactly have hot water, I was going to shave in Mark’s bathroom. I made a complete u-turn and went back to the entrance. As I raced in, the lady at the gate stopped and started shouting Chinese to me. I told her I didn’t understand. I tried to show her my key to prove that I lived there. After a few minutes, she called the head resident over. Of course he didn’t understand English either. After trying to explain to him that I didn’t understand, he brought me to his office to get me to fill out a Request of Residence form. I tried to explain that I had already filled one out, but he didn’t understand. After filling out the form, he took me up to the room. He motioned to me if there was anyone in the suite next to me. I said there was. He knocked on the door and woke Chris up. I told Chris I didn’t know what he was talking about. I was hoping Chris would be able to speak some Chinese to him, but Chris didn’t know any Chinese.The Bund
After filling out the forms and showing my passport to him, this seemed to satisfy him. I left to go to Mark’s room.
Mark was awake by now. It was Saturday and Mark had plenty of time to tour the city with us. After Mark got ready we headed over to the Foreign Students’ Dorm to pick up Chris. I had told Chris that Mark and I would be touring the city and that he was welcome to come along.
We got on a bus to go to People’s Square. Buses in Shanghai have a few single seats around the perimeter next to the windows. There are bars and handles for riders who choose or are forced to stand. The majority of the riders stand because of lack of seats. The cost of the ride was 1 YUAN (sometimes 2 YUAN if the bus is air conditioned) which Mark gave me a coin to cover the cost.
We got off at People’s Square. There was an abundance of people there. I wouldn’t say that it was overcrowded however. There were plenty of people selling kites. The grass is very well kept and there are signs in Chinese on the grass…I’m guessing it might say “Keep off the Grass.” In the middle of People’s Square is the Shanghai Museum.
While we were in People Square a couple of Chinese girls asked if they could have their picture made with me. Feeling a bit surprised and confused, I said “yes.” They made their picture, then Mark took a picture with my camera. Mark later said that my shirt (which was a Snoopy shirt) was inviting and may have made me seem friendly to some people.
We decided to head into the Shanghai Museum. Mark decided that we should get a double ticket to the Museum and to the Shanghai Grand Theatre to get the best value. Mark bought his ticket. I was expecting the ticket taker to ask me next. However a Chinese person had broke in front of me and was buying some tickets. This is how things operate around there. Chinese do not know how to form lines….it’s usually just a big mob of people. Mark said just to jump in there and get my tickets, so I did.
We took the tour on our own. We could have gotten an audio tour, but we decided to take the tour at our own pace. We saw authentic costumes, jade, and carved wood. As we were going along we met a Chinese girl whose English name was “Kate.” She asked if she could follow us around and practice her English. She was studying for an English language test in order to go to SUNY in New York State. We said that was fine, but we might be going to different places in the city. I later found that this was typical of Chinese English students. They will usually hang around tourist sites (sometimes buying a ticket) in order to meet up with English speakers to practice their English.
As we toured around the museum, I found myself more interested in Kate than these ancient artifacts. She seemed to speak English pretty well. Later Kate brought her friend Jack around. She said that Jack was not her boyfriend, but that he was just a friend. Jack spoke only a little English and remained silent most of the time.
We decided to leave the museum for Yu Yuan Garden. Kate and Jack accompanied Mark, Chris and me. They paid for the bus ride over there. This seemed to be the norm over there. Chinese people are very friendly and generous toward foreigners. They are willing to go out of their way to help you.
Yu Yuan Garden is a place with lots of bazaars and shops. We walked around and decided to find a place to eat. The first place we ate had a very long wait so we decided for another. At the second place, we only had a 10 minute wait. As we were waiting we had a conversation with a Chinese man in line. He said his favorite NBA team was the Houston Rockets. I’ve found that the NBA is very big in China. Everyone seems to have their favorite team.
For lunch we had some type of dumplings with sausage in the middle. I also had a Sprite. I found that Sprite does not taste like Sprite back home. It has a weird taste. After this meal I decided to drink Fanta and Coke for the rest of the trip. Sprite’s Chinese name is translated as “Green Water” since the can is green I guess. Fanta is a type of orange drink which tastes alot like Sunkist.
Kate paid for our meal even though she didn’t eat too much of this. Again this is an example of Chinese kindness we experienced.
After lunch we decided to go into the Garden part. Since Kate and Jack could not afford the ticket, we parted ways.
Inside the garden area we saw old pagodas….very typical of old Chinese architecture. While we were touring around we came to a place where they were doing paper cuttings. The man who was doing the cuttings was incredible. The cuttings were so intricate. He did a cutting of a tiger which was incredible. Chris bought the tiger cutting along with a Chinese animal astrology (dragon, rat, rabbit, etc) set. After Mark told me that he hadn’t seen anything like this before I decided to try to get a couple of cuttings for my sister and myself. The one I picked out for my sister was a picture of children playing an “Eagle and Chicken” game. I also picked out one of a ship sailing in a storm to remind me how scared I was to come to China. Mark wanted one too. He was able to negotiate the price down to a low level. The man who sold the cuttings to us was very impressed with Mark. He asked for Mark’s contact information. Mark gave him his phone number and email address. I later found out that Mark gave a fake phone number since he wasn’t too keen about giving out his phone number to just anyone he meets.
We toured around again and came to a place that does chop carvings. These are traditional stamps that Chinese businessmen use to endorse documents. I got one made with a rabbit on top of it since the year I was born is a rabbit year.
After the carving was done we took a taxi to the Shanghai Grand Theatre to finish our tour. The theatre was very plush. There was various tour guides around to give tours in English. Chris made one of the tour guides laugh uncontrollably as we entered the auditorium. He was trying to see if there was a step nearby. The tour guide saw it and lost her composure and started laughing. She must have told the other tour guides about it since after that other tour guides laughed when they saw us. In the auditorium we saw a play practice.
While we were touring around we saw a ballet practice. I was thinking these girls were probably very self conscious with all of these visitors around to watch them practice.
We got to the top level of the building and it seemed like ages until we saw another tour group lady. They seemed to abandon us at this top level. We finally saw a tour group lady was on the elevator to come down. We would have taken the elevator, but Chris wasn’t around. He was trying to catch up with another tour guide to ask how to get down.
We caught another elevator down. Chris asked the tour guide if we could go up instead of down, which made the female tour guide laugh again.
We got to the bottom of the Theatre and browsed at a gift shop cabinet. Mark had a 10 minute long conversation in Chinese with the lady at the gift shop. He told her that he was an English teacher at a local university and that I didn’t know any Chinese and was visiting the country as a tourist.
After that we tried to go out a different way, which we were promptly directed by security go out the front doors. We saw a wedding couple getting their pictures made in front of the theatre. They had a red Pontiac Firebird – obviously rented.
After this we went to the Bund. The Bund is a riverfront area. When the British occupied Shanghai they built up this area to look like the French Riverfront. We took pictures of the Oriental Pearl Tower which is somewhat like the Sunsphere in Knoxville. It definitely isn’t the tallest building in Shanghai, but it a great landmark. There wasn’t too much to do on the Bund, just stop and look around and take pictures.
We left the riverfront for supper. We decided on Italian. Mark said that Ginos Cafe was a good choice. We went in and got a table. We decided to find a bathroom use and to wash our hands. The nearest one was in a department store nearby. Mark said that it was okay to leave their stuff there. However I was not taking any chances. I took my paper cuttings and stamp and my camera with me.
We got back to the restaurant and ordered. Mark and I ordered lasagna while Chris order pizza. The lasagna tasted different…somewhat less cheesy.
After dinner we stopped by a CD and Video store. Chinese have movies on discs…somewhat like DVDs but in a different format. Many of these movies are pirated by bringing a video camera into the movie theater. For CD’s we saw mostly Chinese language singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. I did see a few English singers such as Celine Deon, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sheryl Crow.
After we got back to the University we switched room from the International Students’ Dorm to the Guesthouse. This was the same building that Mark was in. This was a big improvement. The International Students’ Dorm had peeling paint and a large box shaped kitchen sink with it. The Guesthouse was setup like a hotel room with a bathroom. To save a little money Chris and I decided to share a room for 200 Yuan total. There were twin beds in one room and then another room with a long couch and TV.
After unpacking I hung out with Mark and then went to my room to get some sleep.
Author Archives: Jeff Whittle
China Trip 2000 – Day 1 – “Is this the flight to Shanghai?”
I woke up the morning of May 18, 2000, with a terrified feeling in the deep pit of my stomach. I was completely petrified about going to China. All of this trip preparation had seemed to be a dream to me.
It had started on February 14th when I applied for my passport. I was doing this “just in case” this planned trip to China worked out. I didn’t expect that it would work out…something would go wrong, such as not getting a passport, not getting my Chinese VISA, or not getting a cheap plane ticket. However it all seemed to work out in the end.
After I got my passport back in mid-March, I called up a local travel agent to check on plane ticket prices. I gave the lady the days I was thinking about going. She said that she would check on it. After about an hour she called me back and said there was a great deal with Northwest Airlines for $695. I wrote to Mark over the weekend to ask if this date was okay. It was okay with his schedule, so I bought the tickets the following Monday. After getting my tickets, I applied for my Chinese VISA by going to the Chinese Embassy webpage and printing out a VISA application form. I followed the instructions exactly. After only 2 weeks, I got my VISA back. So after that, there was nothing stopping me from going.
Still, this all seemed like a dream to me on this morning. I told my dad that I was scared of going. He assured me that I would have a great time. My mom was away on a business trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I called her up telling her of my concerns. She said I didn’t have anything to worry about and that I should go and have fun. She suggested I take some aspirin to calm me down. Since it was my sister’s birthday, I had planned to call her up and wish her a happy birthday. I also told her that I was apprehensive about going to China. She also said I had nothing to worry about.
At around 6:25AM, my dad and I left for the Nashville Metropolitan Airport for my 8:45AM flight to Detroit. After the drive I seemed to calm down a bit. I got on the plane to Detroit at approximately 8:30AM CST.
My flight to Detroit was relatively uneventful, except at the very end. There were thunderstorms around Detroit. The airport closed temporarily. We were forced into a holding pattern for about an hour. After we finally landed we were 55 minutes late. My flight to Detroit was scheduled to leave from a gate way across the airport terminal. I sprinted across the terminal. I arrived to the gate right on time – 12:30PM EST. Still it wouldn’t have made much difference since the flight to Shanghai left almost an hour late. They were waiting on everyone who was delayed by the weather.
Feeling a bit confused, I asked the girl sitting next to me “Is this the flight to Shanghai?” She said “yes,” in somewhat of an annoyed voice. I decided to keep quiet for the rest of the trip.
I like to take this opportunity to point out that the gateway to China does not start in Shanghai. For me it started on the plane to Shanghai. Almost 80% of the people aboard were of Chinese origin….either Chinese Nationals or Chinese-Americans flying to China to see relatives. Most of these people were speaking Chinese. The announcements being made on the plane were in Chinese mostly, with a few being made in English. I asked a stewardess what the flight time was. She said about 15 hours. It was clear that I had a long flight ahead of me. I had come prepared with a Gameboy, a Discman CD Player, and some books to read. I found out that they were going to be showing plenty of movies to keep us entertained.
During the trip they showed a Frasier episode, a documentary on the Eiffel Tower, “Galaxy Quest,” “The Straight Story,” a couple of Chinese language movies and “Man on the Moon.” Except for “Galaxy Quest” and “Man on the Moon,” I didn’t watch much of the movies, opting instead to sleep as much as possible.
Sometime during the flight, as I was filling out some Chinese customs documents, the man next to me introduced himself. He had been touring America with a group of 30 other Chinese students. I told him I was going to Shanghai for 8 days. He said that it was much too short of trip. I was surprised by his friendliness.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally landed in at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai at around 4PM Shanghai time, May 19. I found some Americans on board who were experienced with Chinese customs. They said it was not a problem and that I could stay with them while I was going through customs. The American were a couple of college students from NYC. Contrary to what I expected, the guy and girl were obviously not romantically involved. The girl kept mentioning her husband who was not present (perhaps back in America). The guy was a Caucasian American, and the girl was a Chinese American with a Chinese Passport.
After going through customs….which was a breeze, I got my bags and saw my friend Mark. I was glad to see him. One of my fears was getting to the Airport and not seeing anyone I knew in this foreign city. Accompanying Mark was his friend “Ruth” who was a Chinese citizen and a student at the university.
We got on a bus to Shanghai. I kept noticing how Shanghai was like any other city and looked like America. The cars were slightly different, but for the most part it was the same. There were plenty of Volkswagen cabs, some Toyota cars, and a few Fords. There was a haze hanging over the Pudong Airport area and on the way to the heart of Shanghai. Mark blamed it on pollution. We got to the middle of Shanghai where I noticed it was very much like any other American city. The only difference was that the signs were in a different language.
The bus dropped us off at a hotel near the university where Mark taught at. We got my bags and started a walk to the university.
After entering the gates to the university, Mark saw a few people he knew and said hello to them. We got to the guesthouse inside of the university. Mark had reserved a room for me 2 months earlier. It turned out that these rooms had been taken because some important university officials were visiting. This upset Mark. This didn’t seem to phase me much since I had seen the same thing happen in America at my own university.
They put me in the foreign students’ dorm. To get there we had to leave the university and walk on the streets. The head resident put my suitcases on his bike and helped carry them over. It was a couple of blocks away. If it had been on a weekday, some of the gates would not have been closed and I would have had a shorter walk and wouldn’t have had to leave the school.
Inside the dorm, I had a room to myself with a bed, a TV, a desk, and a wardrobe. Mark was glad to see that I had brought some of his mom’s homemade brownies. While I was unpacking Mark received an emergency phone call. Mark and Ruth left to check on things. After several minutes Ruth and Mark returned. With them they had brought an American – Chris from Chattanooga. Chris had been teaching Math and Science at a prestigious school in Taipei, Taiwan. He had come to Shanghai to see “Ann” who was a sister of his good friend in Taiwan. Ann was away in Beijing, so he called Mark, and acquaintance of Ann to see about finding a room.
I mentioned to Chris that I had some Little Debbie Fudge Rounds Snacks. He was very interesting in them. I could tell that he had not eaten any Little Debbies in a while, so I offered them to him. Little Debbies are made in Collegedale, TN, near Chattanooga.
We sat around talking about things until it was time to go to sleep. Mark told me that he would call me at 9AM if he hadn’t heard from me.
Due to the jet lag, I didn’t have too much trouble getting to sleep. I did say awake for about an hour while I heard some commotion outside. The light from the hall which was shinning in from above my door also kept me awake.
Titanic Memorial
Today is the 86th Anniversary of the Titanic disaster. On April 15, 1912, over 1,500 people perished when the “unsinkable” Titanic luxury ocean liner sank off the coast of Canada after hitting an iceberg. I heard on the news today that a church in Florida was supposed to have a “memorial service” in remembrance for the victims of the Titanic. While I’m not trying to discount the great loss of life to the Titanic victims, I wonder why this particular church is doing this. Are some of the survivors members at that church? Probably not. I believe that there are only 6 survivors still alive today. Did anyone at that church have a relative that died on the Titanic? Not likely. Has this memorial service been an on going tradition at this church to have a memorial for the Titanic or is this some type of recent step? More than likely it was just started this year. I can understand a memorial service for victims of war whether the victims were civilians or soldiers. Those people had a great impact on the outcome of history. But a memorial for the Titanic? This disaster didn’t have a major impact to the world’s history compared to the wars. Personally I think the church is having a memorial service because it is trendy. My guess is that they decided to have it because of the success of the blockbuster movie. It seems like everyone wants to get on the bandwagon to cash in on the Titanic. And yes, even churches seem to want to get into the act. While the church probably would not receive cash benefit from the service, it would receive free publicity (and obviously it already has because of the news story about the service).
I ask, why have a memorial for the Titanic? There is a danger in going along with trends of the world today. The bible speaks of this in Proverbs 14:12, which says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Churches and individual Christians need to realize this. Churches should be the last organization to jump on something because it conforms to the trends of today. There is nothing wrong with having a memorial service for the Titanic victims. But I do question this church’s intent with this service. It seems that they are having this service for the wrong reasons. Churches should not do something because it is trendy and seems right, but because it IS right
NERF Cars!
Yesterday I had a minor fender bender on my way to work. It was totally my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going and rear-ended a lady while turning right onto a busy street. No one was hurt and the cars where not in bad condition at all. In fact, it really can’t be called a “fender bender” because nothing was bent. We basically traded paint on our bumpers. The lady was very nice and understanding about it. I hope the situation will be worked out soon.
It seems like everytime someone makes contact with another car on the road, they have to report the accident or exchange addresses. This ties up traffic and is generally a big headache for everyone involved. I do have a solution to the continuing problem of these minor traffic accidents. Why not have NERF cars. “Nerf,” in case you don’t know, is a spongy substance used in kid’s athletic gear. Since it is so soft, there is no chance of anyone getting hurt. Instead of making bumpers out of plastic which can scratch if anything touches it, why not make them out of NERF? That way, your drive to work would be fun, no one would be hurt over minor fender benders and no one would have to stop in order to exchange addresses and insurance companies.
(Please note: this is a tongue in cheek approach to traffic safety. No one really wants NERF cars. But in a perfect world, it might do just fine 🙂 )
Spring Break (and Inconsiderate People)
It’s Spring Break at most of the area colleges around here including my alma mata, Lipscomb University. I have 4 years of memories (both good and bad) of dorm life at High Rise dormitory. During school breaks such as Spring Break and Thanksgiving, it is not uncommon to find alarm clocks going off and continually ringing because there is no one there to turn it off. It seems pretty inconsiderate or just plain stupid to leave your alarm clock on for the weekend or school break that you will be gone. But believe me, I’ve seen it all during my 4 years at school. With that in mind, I’ll present my list of dorm pet peeves….
Top 7 List of Dorm Pet Peeves
7. People who throw away anything. If you are a scavenger, you can find anything in the trash of a dorm. One time my friend and I found a fully working Nintendo 64 in the trash (and in excellent condition). There were even two games with it. We couldn’t believe it worked when we hooked it up. I guess the original owner got a newer model and didn’t feel like selling it or giving it away to anyone, so he trashed it. That’s wasteful. Other friends have found working toasters, lamps, sofas, chairs…all ready to be thrown away. We live in a land of plenty where people don’t appreciate what they’ve got.
6. Door Alarms. After 9 pm at night, the side doors of all dorms could not be opened. If they were opened, then the alarm would sound. $50 fines were given out to people who intentionally opened the doors. The alarm was quite loud especially if you were on the 2nd floor. I’m not sure what it accomplished to have the door alarms. 9 pm was chosen because of some type of equality law. The administration wanted security for the girls’ dorms at 9 pm, so they had to do the same for the guys’ dorms.
5. Car Alarms. If I can hear your car alarm from my 5th floor dorm room, then it is way too loud. Car alarms should not go off in the rain/wind. But they did in Lipscomb’s parking lot.
4. People who trash the dorm. This accomplishes absolutely nothing. Do you like living in trash? There have been tons of times where I have gone to brush my teeth and found the sink covered with hair where someone had decided to give themselves (or their friend) a haircut. Clean up after yourself.
3. People who play baseball, soccer or any other type of organized sport in the hallways of the dorms. People, it’s call the SAC (Student Activities Center). If you would like for me to escort you there so that you can play your games, I will. I’m trying to sleep/study.
2. Maintenance work that drags on forever. This is more a problem with the college administration than the dorm residents. Showers where continually being retiled because water was seeping into adjacent rooms. One time the shower on my floor was shut down for that reason for 3 months with no repair work done whatsoever. I finally complained about it and everyone on my side of the floor was given $25 gift certificates to a local mall. Still it didn’t seem satisfactory. Seemed to me like a bribe.
1. Alarms clocks that are not turned off for breaks/weekends when their owners are not there. (See above).
Letter to Mike
Dear Mike,
You asked me to write a letter to you for your time capsule (to be opened in the year 2015). In it you asked for memories of your college days at Lipscomb University. So here goes…
I hope things are going well for you. I guess by now we’d both be about 40 years old. Agghhhh…middle age! I suspect you are working for Disney in some type of manner. Probably married.
As far as memories at Lipscomb, in our freshmen year, I remember getting (by e-mail) your 101 distribution list of “101 Things to Do During a Dull Sermon.” You had a distribution list of e-mail addresses at school. You would periodicially send out your 101 list twice a week or so. Your list grew from teh orignal sermon idea to announcing happenings at school. I had a distribution list of my own…where I would send out David Letterman’s Top Ten lists. We seemed to get competitive about who could get the most people on their distribution list. E-mail was a new thing back then. It was amazing that I could e-mail a friend in Massachusettes and she would get it within seconds.
Do you remember Mike Woollard’s stuffed animal Walrus? His Walrus was something that he made in home economics in 8th grade. He had brought this blue Walrus to school. We bugged him about having a stuffed animal at college. One time you, Matt Owensby, Amy Bohn, and some other people kidnapped Mike Woollard’s Walrus and took pictures of it at different places. You went to the local Media Play (store that sells, books, CD’s, and computer games). You took pictures of it in a shopping cart and a bunch of different places. You were so wild at Media Play, the manager had to ask you to leave. I think you went to Opryland Hotel after that. Unfortunately I wasn’t with you at the time. I had invited my parents to see Singarama (Lipscomb’s yearly musical). But I did see the pictures you took. You were able to replace the Walrus without Mike Woollard knowing anything had happened. Mike W. didn’t know what to think when he saw those pictures of his Walrus.
Do you remember rooming with Clark Gray (from Huntsville, Alabama)? Clark spoke with an extremely southern accent and liked tennis. He did have an aquarium with piranhas in it. These piranhas only ate when it was dark. Clark had put some goldfish in the tank. They weren’t eating them yet. I happened to be over at your dorm room. You told me that you were going to take a nap. I left and went back to my dorm room. You called me about 20 minutes later to ask me to come down to your room. It sesm like the piranhas had eaten some of the gold fish while you were sleeping. THere was a floating head of one of teh goldfish. Gross!
How about O.J. Simpson’s trial? It was all we heard about on the news from late 1994 to 1995. On October 3, 1995 they finally announced the verdict (in the criminal trial). They were going to be announcing the verdict will we were in chapel. After chapel we rushed into the basement of Burton Bible Building to find out the verdict. Not guilty. We were disappointed. The evidence showed that he was guilty.
Do you remember working the help desk at ISS at the school (in the basement of the library)? How about Helen Gore and Michelle Putnam? Helen was in charge of us ISS workers and kept us in line. 🙂 Michelle was a faculty member at Lipscomb. At the end of each semester we’d have a pizza party for ISS workers in the conference room at ISS. Helen would order tons of pizza from Papa Johns. We’d sit and eat all day. ANd it was all free.
Do you remember when the VAX would go down and no one could access their email (or anything else)? Or how about the change from a DOS environment to Windows ’95? That was quite a chance. It took forever for students to learn to use Windows 95 without asking the help desk.
Do you remember going to church at Crieve Hall church of Christ? I always caught a ride from you. I offered to drive, but you thought I was a bad driver. So you didn’t want to ride from me. Dan Winkler was the preacher at Crieve Hall. I remember the singing being excellent.
I remember Dennis Hennen and I visiting you at Disney World in June of 1997. We were able to see most of the parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney MGM). Animal Kingdom hadn’t opened yet. Dennis had made up these cards that told us when to ride the rides (when was the least busy times) and where the most inexpensive place to eat at was. It helped out a lot. We rode Space Mountain about 4 times.
Well, that’s about all I can think of at the moment. I was able to get a full time job in September ’97 at Northern Telecom (Nortel) in Nashville. I think right now you are planning to work at Disney World again from Feb. ’98 to August ’98. Please try to contact me when you read this. My parent’s ohone number and address is at the top of this page. I imagine I’m probably not living there any more (but hopefully still in Middle Tennessee). Hope things are well iwth you.
I’m Back – March 1997
Hello All,
It�s once again time to try and get all of my correspondence caught up by sending a form letter to you. I know it�s a little impersonal, but it�s so much more efficient for me. Anyway to let you know what�s going on in my life: I am graduating from Lipscomb University in August. I will participate in a graduating ceremony May 3, with all of the other May graduates. But I won�t �officially� graduate until I complete one more class this summer. I will have a BS degree in Government and Public Administration. My minor is Computer Information Systems. I don�t know what I�ll be doing once I get a job, but I hope to have one dealing with computers.
Things have been much more hectic this semester compared to last semester. I�m taking 17 hours which includes a internship. My internship is up at the State Capitol where I work in Representative Steve McDaniel�s legislative office. He is minority House leader from Henderson County in West Tennessee. It has been a learning experience. I have found that it takes a lot of time and patience to be a state legislator. You have to learn to be nice to constituents also. Through this internship I�ve learned that political office is not for me, so that is why I am desiring a job in the computer field.
Speaking of computers, my e-mail address will be changing. It will change to after May 3. I still should be able to get mail through the summer through my DLU account. But after the summer it is anyone�s guess to whether or not I can get anymore mail. If your e-mail address is changing (i.e. you�re graduating, transferring, changing ISP�s), please let me know.
I also have a homepage up on the internet. It is located at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/4551/jeff.html
If you haven�t checked it out yet, you might want to. I have put in some precious time into it and I hope that you enjoy it. Stop by and sign my guestbook.
As far as this summer goes, it is anyone�s guess to what exactly I�ll be doing. I will probably help out at my church�s summer camp (something I�ve done for the past 4 years; how could I stop now?). I will be taking that lone class I have left in order to graduate. It is a research class where I have to write a 50 page paper on a topic having to do with politics. I think that we don�t even formally meet.
I certainly hope things are going well for you. If I haven�t heard from you in a while, PLEASE write me back. I would love to hear from you. Sometimes the only contact I have with some of y�all is through e-mail. Anyway that it all for now. Hope to hear from you soon.
I’m Back – Jan 1997
Hi Folks,
I hope your holidays went well. I had 3 weeks off from school and somehow it went by too fast. For the first part of the break, before Christmas, it was a little boring. Many of my hometown friends were gone to see relatives and other things. But after Christmas things started to pick up. On Dec. 26, I went snow skiing in Paoli, Indiana, with Scottsville church of Christ from Scottsville, KY. The Scottsville church is a church that I used to go to summer camp with. It was fun to be around some old friends and get caught up on what everyone was up to. This was my 4th time skiing, so I am pretty much used to skiing. I skied on many of the intermediate hills. Unfortunately a ski lift that is at the bottom of the”Black Diamond” expert hill was closed. So I couldn’t try it. I had a really great time even though it was exhausting. We got up at 5 amin Scottsville (I had driven up earlier the day before and spent the night with a friend in Scottsville). After skiing all day I didn’t get back home to Mt. Juliet until 2:15am the next day!
After my ski vacation I had a post Christmas party for some of my old high school friends. We had about 17 people to show up. Most people enjoyed it. We had a scavenger hunt where we had 90 minutes to locate many things from the 80’s including a Rubik’s cube, Dukes of Hazzard stuff and a bunch of other things. Tickle Me Elmo was on the list too and to everyone’s surprise someone had one!
My semester went well too. I was pretty satisfied with my grades this semester. After a killer final exam I was thinking I had a “C” in my Macroeconomics class. But my professor must have curved the grades. As far as interesting things that happened this past semester, Lipscomb did have a bomb threat in October. The entire campus had to be evacuated. It was peculiar seeing all 2400 students and faculty gathered by the softball field on the edge of campus. They’ve offered a reward for info on who did it. But to my knowledge they haven’t been caught.
I’ve got another busy semester ahead. I’m taking Quantitative Methods 2 (Bank Math class); Systems Design (Computer Class); American State and Local Government; Public Administration 2; and Holy Spirit; and John, Peter,and Jude (Bible Classes). I’ll also have a 3 hour internship with a state Senator. So that will be a total of 17 hours, not too bad. I’ll be in a graduation ceremony on May 3, but I won’t officially graduate and get my diploma until the first of August. Then I’ll be in the job market. I am a bit apprehensive about graduating. I will be at a turning point in my career. I won’t know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing a year from now.
I hope that we can keep in touch throughout the school year. My e-mail address is the same. So please send me some mail. I can’tguarantee that I’ll be able to get to all of it, but I’ll try. I hope that you have a great new year and a good semester. See you soon.
I’m Back – August 1996
Dear All,
I hope that you had a great summer. Time passed by fast for me. It seems like just a few weeks ago I was making plans for another humid Tennessee summer. But now it is once again time for another fall semester. My summer was eventful. Probably one of the highlights of it was going to Washington, D.C., with a political science group from Lipscomb. It was for a class called Political Science Travel. Basically we spent a week in Washington visiting the sights and various lobbying groups.
After we got back we had to read a certain 700 page book and take a test over it and read another book and write a report on it. All that for 3 hours worth of credits. The travel part was very fun and interesting. Some of the places we went to included the Pentagon, the Smithsonian, Capitol Hill, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Arlington National Cemetery, among many other places. We took a Capital Dome tour with Tennessee Congressman, Van Hillary. From what I hear very few people get to go up into the dome of the Capital. We got to have our picture made with Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee. The trip itself was very tiring. We walked everywhere we went, taking the subway for very long distances. This was my 3rd time to Washington. I’ve been there more times than Disneyworld!
Another highlight of the summer was getting to see the Olympic torch when it passed through Mt. Juliet and Hermitage. I happened to be working that day at your favorite retail outlet. I timed my lunch break just right to when the torch passed through. My workplace happened to be on the path of the torch so all I had to do was to walk outside. And guess who was carrying it? Mr. Billy Ray Cyrus (Achy Breaky Heart). Now most of you would cringe at the sight of Billy Ray carrying the torch. Still it was exciting to see no matter who was carrying it. I must have caught Olympic fever because I decided to get up early the next morning and see it again in Brentwood (south Nashville) on
its way to Alabama.
For the 4th straight year in a row I was a camp counselor at my church’s summer camp. I look forward to it every year. The camp experience is such a special thing to do each summer. This time it was unique because it was at a different venue – Fall Creek Falls (about 3 hours east of Nashville). The waterfalls are the biggest east of the Mississippi. It was very picturesque.
Once again I took summer classes. This time I took Racquetball and a class called Religion and Politics at Lipscomb and Statistics at Nashville Tech. The Religion and Politics class was the best class I had this summer. We discussed various issues including the Christian Right’s role in politics. Racquetball was fun, although very tiring. It was at 8:30am every day during July. Living 30 minutes away from campus didn t make driving in rush-hour any fun. Stats was okay. It was a prerequisite to another class required at Lipscomb. It didn’t take too much brain power. All of the Stats tests were open-book and open-note.
I’ve got another busy semester ahead, but I’m not complaining. Here’s what I m taking: Macroeconomics; U.S. Political Parties and Elections; Corinthians; Systems Analysis (computer class); Personal Evangelism; and Business and Industrial Psychology. I think I have a pretty good schedule with some decent teachers. I’ll also be working once again in the computer lab at school helping people with their computer software problems.
I hope things are going well with you. Please write back. I know that this is a generic letter being sent to a bunch of people. But I want to hear from you. I can’t guarantee that I will be able to get back to you. I appreciate your friendship and look forward to your letters. May God bless you in the upcoming semester.
I’m Back – Jan 1996
Dear All,
I hope you had a good break. I decided to write to all of you at once because of time restraints and because I know that I’d be saying the same thing to each one of you. I hope this doesn’t seem too impersonal. As I write we’ve just been through our first major snowstorm of the year here in Nashville. We got about 3 – 4 inches which may not seem like much to you northerners. But it is a major problem down here when you factor in the fact that we don’t have as many salt trucks to get the roads clear. We get this much snow about once every five years. The snowstorm came on Saturday night. My family was snowed in, so we missed church the next morning. I wasn’t sure if I’d get back to school on Monday, but I was able to catch a ride with my dad. (I have very little experience driving on icy roads).
My break went really well. The highlight by far was my ski trip to Paoli, Indiana, on Dec. 28th. I went with a Kentucky church group that I know from going to summer camp with. This trip was unusual because I was one of the only ones in the group who had been skiing before. This kept me busy most of the time giving ski lessons. After all of the ski lessons I got down to really skiing. I tried my first intermediate (blue level) hill for the first time – and I didn’t have too many problems. We skied all day until about 8:00 or 9:00pm – and I didn’t get back home to Tennessee until 2:30am! Even though I was extremely exhausted, I had a great time. If you haven’t been skiing before, try to go sometime.
Christmas went well too. I got pretty much everything I wanted or needed. New Year’s was good too. I spent it at a friend’s house with a small group of friends – nothing spectacular or anything. But it was still good to be able to see some old friends.
I am not ready to be back in school. The break just didn’t seem long enough. This semester will probably be the toughest semester ever. Here is what my schedule looks like:
COBOL (computer language class) 7:30am Tues. Thurs. Even Friday
Contemporary Political Methodologies 8:50am Tues. Thurs. Even Friday
Christian Evidences 8:50am M W Odd Friday
Macroeconomics 10:00am M W Odd Friday
Foundations of the 20th Century (History class) 12:30pm Tues. Thurs. Even Fri
Christian Living 1:40pm Tues. Thurs. Even Fri.
Even though it’s just 14 hours, some of my classes are going to be very hard. I’ve heard horror stories about macroecon. And my history class will have a great deal of reading and papers to do in it, but my history teacher is a very good teacher. Along with classes I’ll also be working around 10 hours a week helping people in the computer lab. I’m still working on my major, Government and Public Administration – it’s sorta like a Political Science major with less philosophy and more of a concentration on government. My minor is still Computer Information Systems.
If you want to get in touch with me other that e-mail, here is my address and phone #:
Yes, I’m still living in the dorm this semester.
I hope you have a good semester. Write back soon! I can’t guarantee that I’ll get back to you soon, but I’ll try!