Jenna Theisen --Earliest Memory/Dream

I decided to write about Amberly's blog about her son and the spider in the window. I liked this memory because it reminded me of my earliest memory. When her son first noticed the spider in the window, he wasn't scared. It is only because his parents made him aware of how the spider can bite him that he made a connection to fear. This little boy sounds adorable. However, if they did not warn him about this evil creature in the window, he probably would not have a fear for it. Now the poor child will probably be terrified for life and maybe not evil remember why.

EARLIEST MEMORY-- I was about three years old and I was sent to bed for "nap" time. I never have been able to take naps. I would lie there for an hour and stay completely awake. I was lying on the bottom bunk in my room when I heard a noise. I had never heard that sound before and grew curious. The noise was a buzzing sound and it would be loud and then disappear. I realized the noise was coming from the top bunk, my brother's bed. Being the curious child I was, I climbed the ladder attached to the bed and ascended to the world of complete terror. Not knowing why this little creation flying about the room was making so much noise, I reached out to grab it. OUCH!!! You guessed it. I had grabbed a bee. Not only was it a bee, but it was a yellow jacket! I screamed and yelled and thought I was going to die. My mother ran into the room and while comforting me, told me I had been stung by a bee and that I should not try to touch it. Ever since this horrific and scary event, I have been scared of bees.

LATEST DREAM-- I had a wild dream last night. I dreamt my best friend from childhood came to a football game with me. I haven't seen her in years and she hadn't changed a bit. She was still the same size and age I last saw her. We talked and had a lot of fun. Then something happened and the game was cancelled and I was supposed to get back to work. I work at the stadium on campus and my boss was yelling at me, telling me to clean up all this mess. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. All of my coworkers were there watching me clean up all this mess. Then out of the blue I noticed the reason the game was cancelled. There was a big tornado-ish thing in the sky and was destroying the stadium. I ran inside to where all the other people were and my small friend. When I got inside, I noticed it was a mall. The shops were all open and I was trying to get people out of the building. No one would listen. I then was randomly in a car chase going downhill on a windy road. I could hear my boss in the background asking if I was planning on coming back to work later. Then I woke up.

Jenna Theisen--Chinese Creation Story

I found several creation stories. The creation story I found most interesting to me was the Chinese creation story. I obviously found this interesting because I am living with a chinese woman right now and have become interested in her culture. The story I found about how the earth and man came to be is the Egg story.

In the very beginning the world didn't have a heaven or an earth. Pan Ku, their creator, was sleeping on this egg. After about 18,000 years he awoke suddenly, breaking the egg. The top part of the egg was light and clear, so it became heaven; and the bottom part was dense and dark, so it became the earth. This is where yin-yang came about--"the two sides that make up a whole" (Baker).

"Pan Ku was born larger than any man and with a hammer and chisel in hand. With these tools, he further separated the sky and the land." Four mythical creatures helped him: "the tiger, phoenix, dragon, and tortoise. After another 18,000 years, he had built enough to assure the heaven and earth would never meet again" (Baker).

Pan Ku stayed very busy trying to build the world. After his death he created wind, clouds, soil, rock, water, mountains, stars, the sun and moon, and finally humans. "His flesh became soil, his bones rock, and his blood filled the rivers and seas. His limbs and body became the five major mountains in China. His hair became the stars in the sky. From his sweat came the rain to nourish the land. His eyes became the sun and the moon. And finally, from the small creature on his body, which has been equated to parasites in some translations, came man."

I love this creation story because the Chinese are very against waste. They do not like to waste anything. When Pan Ku died, all of his remains were recycled into the objects that make up the world.

I found all my information at this website:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29121.asp

Family--Jenna Theisen

So my brother Paul and his chinese wife and son are living with us now. They arrived in the United States only Wednesday and are trying to adjust to the culture shock of Montana. Paul grew up here so he is adjusting fine. It is his wife, Xuying who is having a difficult time. She has never visited nor been outside of China. She speaks some English, but not enough to fully communicate yet. I feel really bad for her because she misses her entire family. In China the whole family lives together. She has never really been away from home.

What is really interesting is she is Buddhist. She wears a Buddha necklace around her neck and has a huge poster of him in their room. She has many beliefs that are very different from ours. We found a poster advertising something about Zen and wanted to know if she would be interested in participating. She immediately said NO. You must practice the same religion you grew up with. She has many different culture issues too. For example, she has never driven a car before. I spent a few hours on our farm teaching her how to drive. It was challenging for both of us because the communication part was very difficult. But that experience brought us closer together.

Their two-year-old son Dawson is adorable. He speaks mostly chinese, but understands most English. He cannot say my name yet, but Paul and Xuying taught him to say my chinese name Gu-Gu (which means brother's sister in chinese). So now he runs around the house saying "Gu-Gu! Cu-Gu!Gu-Gu!". It is pretty funny.

I am so happy to have them home in Montana. We are all still trying to get to know each other and adjust to the new family and cultures, but it has been a blast learning.

Jenna Theisen

I finally got my blog going. YAY!!! I am terrible with computers.