FULL CIRCLE MOMENTS
Three years isn't an especially long time to live somewhere, but it was definitely long enough to provide a few noteworthy "full circle moments" in Shiyan and my connected histories.
1) China blocks blogspot. If any of you are wondering why my last blog was in May, it's because China blocked blogspot...again. When I first moved to China, my blog site was blocked making it impossible to view in China, but I was still able to access my account and make entries. Then in the Great Opening Up of '08 when China was preparing for the Summer Olympics and sites such as Wikipedia were finally accessible, my blog also became open for viewing in China - which I've no doubt had a huge impact on all zero of the Chinese people actually reading my blog. Within the last few months, however, China again blocked my blog - both my website and my account so I haven't been able to write anything. In addition, YouTube and other essentials have become inaccessible recently, thus limiting the joie de vivre for all YouTube junkies in China.
2) BLK opens and closes. I imagine there are an untold number of restaurants and other businesses that have opened and closed in Shiyan since I arrived three years ago, but few have become noticeable to me. BLK, however, was beloved by most foreigners. It opened my first year and closed just a few months ago. It was a fast food chicken restaurant - similar to KFC but exponentially better. I seldom ate there, but when I did their chicken wrap pleased me immensely.
3) Direct train to Xi'an begins and ends. This is, perhaps, the most lamentable of all! My first trip to Xi'an in the winter of 2007 was wonderful in many ways - but traveling there and back was not one of them. At that time, there was no direct train between my city and Xi'an, which necessitated a stopover in An Kang to switch trains. Since it was impossible to buy train tickets departing a city from any other city than the city to be departed, An Kang became sort of a black hole, causing innocent foreigners to be 1) stuck in that wretched city for hours on end awaiting the first free train to Xi'an or Shiyan (depending on the direction you were headed) and 2) to only be able to purchase standing tickets - a nightmare during peak travel times. As it turned out, January was a peak travel time, and my memory of traveling to Xi'an from An Kang is precisely this - standing between cars with three Chinese people leaning against my legs and shoulders, sleeping rather comfortably while I straddled my luggage (that was back during my "pack for any occasion" days) in a contorted fashion. I don't remember much about the ride back from An Kang, but I do remember waiting six hours in the freezer that was the An Kang train station, wondering if visiting the terra-cotta warriors in Xi'an was really worth losing my extremities to frostbite over. Needless to say, I didn't feel the need to visit Xi'an again my first year. By my second year, a direct train from Shiyan to Xi'an began, and over the course of the next two years, I would visit Xi'an painlessly five more times. An Kang simply became a distant anecdotal memory...until this June when China decided to discontinue the direct train. Having already promised Jessica and Barry I would visit Xi'an with them one last time, I warily boarded the train to An Kang, hurt by China's apparent personal attack on me. I won't dwell much on the evils of An Kang, but I will say that it certainly didn't fail to disappoint, discourage and suck all the joy out of train travel.
4) The Making of Communion Bread. When I moved to China, I learned to make the bread for communion, which I did every Sunday for a good year and a half. The last Sunday I spent with the Chinese, I taught them how to make communion bread, since the Chinese will be meeting without the foreigners from now on. This is by far the weightiest and most beautiful full circle moment for me.
5) Facebook. The summer before I moved to China, my best friend talked me into getting a Facebook account to keep in touch with everyone. I had been hesitant to get one since EVERYONE was doing it, and I tend to balk at massively popular endeavors. However, I eventually set up an account, and it turned out to be quite a handy communication tool allowing my family and friends to keep up with photos and my blog and me in general. Now that I'm back in the States, however, I've decided to give up Facebook in an effort to simplify my life. So, from now on, if anyone wants to get ahold of me, my e-mail address is asialyn@gmail.com.
LAST DAYS IN CHINA
I finished classes the first week of June - a bittersweet accomplishment (more sweet than bitter). On top of my game for the first semester in three years, I completed all grades and finalized my teaching plans the same week I finished classes. It was beautiful. Having nothing else pressing, I traveled with Jessica to Beijing to meet her younger brother Matthew who would spend the next couple weeks traveling with us. In Beijing Jessica, Trent and I overcame all odds (no identification - me, inappropriate showing of the ankles - Jess, and possession of a cell phone - Trent) to walk through the room housing Chairmen Mao's brilliantly neon-orange-colored body. It was quite a feat, we felt. On that Beijing visit, we also toured the Forbidden City, which was nice but not necessarily a "must-see." We were only in Beijing a few days before going to Qingdao, one of our favorite China cities. There we simply relaxed - meandered around the old town, ate fried squid, toured the Tsingtao beer factory, which was surprisingly fascinating, laid out on the beach and hit unsuspecting Chinese people in the face for merely waiting at the same bus stop as us (Jessica). After Qingdao we were home for a few days before going to Xi'an, where I was nearly pick-pocketed (Matthew swooped in in a moment of valor and confronted my perpetrator before he did any damage. My hero!). Having been to Xi'an a million times already, Jess and I did almost nothing while there besides drink Starbucks, read, and hide in our hostel from crabby Xi'an vendors. Barry and I did venture out for a walk around the old city wall - an endeavor which turned out to be about 8 miles of walking. It was good, but we were more than ready to get back to Shiyan.
My last few days were filled with visits from students and Family. I was reminded daily about the abundant blessings of life in China. There's an old adage that China's most valuable resource is its people. I agree wholeheartedly!
There's really no way to close out this blog the way my heart wishes to. So many thoughts, emotions, lessons learned, etc. float around me as I think about my time in China. But it never really was about me. Too many restrictions (the least of which were the seemingly menacing ones of the particular country I was working in) prevented me from expressing, most of the time, the deeper, more beautiful experiences had and truths learned while serving in China. It was an honor for me to be a part of the work of God in Shiyan. I'm excited now about being a part of the same work back home.
Grace and Peace.
In Him.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY...SHOWERS
When I walked into my apartment last night, I was struck by how noticeably bare the wall opposite my front door was. Being a minimalist, this is quite a thing to notice. However, the scroll I've long displayed as my one claim to Chinese decoration had fallen off the wall, the adhesive becoming decidedly too old and weary to continue its job. I went to my junk drawer to find another adhesive hook to replace the old one when it hit me that I'm leaving next month. Why waste a hook? So instead of returning my scroll to its glorified position as the only piece of wall art in my apartment, I rolled it up and placed it among the other gems I plan to take home. So now my sea-foam colored wall is not only bare but, because of the smoke-spread soot covering my walls from my Thanksgiving fire, is also sporting a faint black outline in the shape of a scroll.
Today I went shopping and bought toilet paper for the last time in China. (At least, it better be the last time or else I waste too much paper and should be held accountable for this.) It's strange when you start thinking this way - the last time I'll buy toilet paper (VINDA, baby), the last time I'll teach UNIT 7 and explain why you shouldn't call a person black if he/she simply has a tan, the last time I'll have a run-in with Badminton Nazi. It's really the small, routine activities that I'll miss the most I think. It was these activities that gave my life a semblance of normalcy while living in a world very different from the one I knew before. Shopping for toiletries tends to be a great equalizer among peoples. And while I appreciate those things that connect me to my western perspective of normalcy, I can't help but wonder in what ways that perspective has been affected by my three years here. A couple days ago I was riding the bus home and watching the driver methodically shifting and stopping and flipping a lever jetting out from the steering wheel. I watched her for a long time, memorizing her movements, trying to get a feel for the shifting and wondering if she could do it in a less abrasive way. I was thrown off most, however, by her constant flipping back and forth of the lever. It took me four bus stops to realize that the lever was her blinker which she faithfully switched left or right as she weaved between lanes. How is it possible I've forgotten the purpose of the very mechanism whose use has single-handedly prevented fender benders and whose absence has escalated countless road rage encounters back home in the States?
Last Saturday morning students from several different departments participated in the "Interesting Sports Meeting." As I had a very important date with the dentist that morning, I could only watch two of the competitions. The first competition was a four man relay race in which the first man had to weave through traffic cones, the second man had to roll a basketball
a quarter of the way around the track with a baton, the third man had to potato sack jump all the way to the fourth man who finished the relay by running hurdles. It was entertaining. The second event was an eleven legged race - ten people tied together running in unison. Some of the groups were pretty impressive and could probably outrun me and my measly two legs easily. Aside from these two activities, the others included a jump rope competition, a hula hoop race and a Chinese version of pin the tail on the donkey using a blind-folded, dizzy student, a gong and a stick. One of my students told me, after my inquiry, that these games were "mostly for fun, but were a little important." I wonder how far bragging rights go for being able to hit a gong blind-folded.
It's raining a lot these days. We hoped to go camping this weekend, but it looks like we'll be rained out for a third time. I don't remember it raining so much my last two years. My students keep telling me the climate change is the result of global warming. I don't have much to respond with to most of the things my students tell me anymore. They also tell me drinking water after eating is bad for my health. I love China, I really do.
When I walked into my apartment last night, I was struck by how noticeably bare the wall opposite my front door was. Being a minimalist, this is quite a thing to notice. However, the scroll I've long displayed as my one claim to Chinese decoration had fallen off the wall, the adhesive becoming decidedly too old and weary to continue its job. I went to my junk drawer to find another adhesive hook to replace the old one when it hit me that I'm leaving next month. Why waste a hook? So instead of returning my scroll to its glorified position as the only piece of wall art in my apartment, I rolled it up and placed it among the other gems I plan to take home. So now my sea-foam colored wall is not only bare but, because of the smoke-spread soot covering my walls from my Thanksgiving fire, is also sporting a faint black outline in the shape of a scroll.
Today I went shopping and bought toilet paper for the last time in China. (At least, it better be the last time or else I waste too much paper and should be held accountable for this.) It's strange when you start thinking this way - the last time I'll buy toilet paper (VINDA, baby), the last time I'll teach UNIT 7 and explain why you shouldn't call a person black if he/she simply has a tan, the last time I'll have a run-in with Badminton Nazi. It's really the small, routine activities that I'll miss the most I think. It was these activities that gave my life a semblance of normalcy while living in a world very different from the one I knew before. Shopping for toiletries tends to be a great equalizer among peoples. And while I appreciate those things that connect me to my western perspective of normalcy, I can't help but wonder in what ways that perspective has been affected by my three years here. A couple days ago I was riding the bus home and watching the driver methodically shifting and stopping and flipping a lever jetting out from the steering wheel. I watched her for a long time, memorizing her movements, trying to get a feel for the shifting and wondering if she could do it in a less abrasive way. I was thrown off most, however, by her constant flipping back and forth of the lever. It took me four bus stops to realize that the lever was her blinker which she faithfully switched left or right as she weaved between lanes. How is it possible I've forgotten the purpose of the very mechanism whose use has single-handedly prevented fender benders and whose absence has escalated countless road rage encounters back home in the States?
Last Saturday morning students from several different departments participated in the "Interesting Sports Meeting." As I had a very important date with the dentist that morning, I could only watch two of the competitions. The first competition was a four man relay race in which the first man had to weave through traffic cones, the second man had to roll a basketball
a quarter of the way around the track with a baton, the third man had to potato sack jump all the way to the fourth man who finished the relay by running hurdles. It was entertaining. The second event was an eleven legged race - ten people tied together running in unison. Some of the groups were pretty impressive and could probably outrun me and my measly two legs easily. Aside from these two activities, the others included a jump rope competition, a hula hoop race and a Chinese version of pin the tail on the donkey using a blind-folded, dizzy student, a gong and a stick. One of my students told me, after my inquiry, that these games were "mostly for fun, but were a little important." I wonder how far bragging rights go for being able to hit a gong blind-folded.
It's raining a lot these days. We hoped to go camping this weekend, but it looks like we'll be rained out for a third time. I don't remember it raining so much my last two years. My students keep telling me the climate change is the result of global warming. I don't have much to respond with to most of the things my students tell me anymore. They also tell me drinking water after eating is bad for my health. I love China, I really do.
Monday, April 13, 2009
REMEMBER THIS AS THE DAY YOU WERE LUCKY
Last week we gave final exams to our seven week classes. I can't decide if my students are getting worse or if I'm getting better, but I'm catching more cheaters than ever before. It seems there are always those ready and willing to take on the challenge of my "no cheating or fail my class" spiel. Before any exam begins, I run over the basics, "If you speak a word during the exam, I will fail you; if your head turns in your neighbor's direction, I will fail you; if you look at your cell phone, I will fail you..." Inevitably, there are those who refuse to heed my warning and embark on a dark path of connivery and deceit. This semester I caught one guy with a cheat sheet, one guy who had written the vocabulary words on his desk and then tried to convince me he didn't look at them during the exam, and two guys cheating off of each other. Despite these dark splotches on an otherwise wonderful exam time (I LOVE finals), I did have a few success stories. Before any exam begins, I can always pick out the ones who are likely to cheat, and I pay extra close attention to them - not to catch them, but to put enough pressure on them so that they will elect not to cheat. It seldom works, but the few times it does are well worth the extra effort. I consider it one of the noblest works to pursue during finals - preventing would-be, lazy students from becoming cheaters. Sometimes I remove the temptation from a wandering eye by asking the student to move to a spot completely devoid of his fellow classmates. Sometimes I simply stand close to the would-be cheaters. I've saved many a student from himself this way. There are also those few times when I decide grace and mercy must replace justice and allow myself to overlook a quick interchange between two students. It's on these occasions I have been known to let the students leave with this final thought, "Remember this as the day you were lucky." Ah, finals...they bring out the best in us and the worst.
So with finals come...new classes! This week we begin classes to replace the ones we just completed. The first day of class is my least favorite. They are impossible to plan for. In any given class, we might have thirty students or we might have sixty. They might have already had a foreign teacher and, therefore, and English name, or I might be their first. Their English level might be as good as an English major's or they might not understand a word I say. There's absolutely no telling what to expect so we've all had to become pretty good at spontaneously adapting to class dynamics. Even still, the first day of class usually entails the students asking me lots of questions about myself and America, and the more I talk about myself, the more disinterested in the topic I become.
Jessica and I have been meeting about four times a week - when it's not raining, or when we're not sick, and when the stars are aligned just right - to do a little exercising. Twice a week we meet for a short jog, and the other two times we meet to hike the mountain. Last week we mixed it up a bit and decided to play badminton instead of go hiking. In order to play badminton, you must get past the Badminton Nazi. He's this little old man with bushy eyebrows and a scary disposition. He sleeps in the gym when he's not running foreigners away. As teachers at this school, we are entitled to make use of the badminton courts free of charge. Badminton Nazi knows this and will comply if, and only if, we bring him our teachers' cards, proving to him we are, in fact, teachers at this school. Granted, in the past, we have brought foreigners from other schools to play with us, but it really shouldn't be that big of a deal. Anyway, we have since been trained to bring our teachers' cards with us every time we want to play. I have been a teacher at Qi Yuan for two and a half years and have played badminton more times than I can count and still Badminton Nazi insists I show him my teacher's card every time I come. Not only must I show it, but he actually compares the photo to my face to ensure that I am who I say I am. Two and a half years! I could probably draw an accurate sketch of this man's face, but he still can't recognize me!
Easter Day was rather pleasant - well, the day wasn't so much as we were hit by some torrential downpours - but the activities were great. Meeting, Easter dinner, naps, movie, more rest. Megan and Kat scrounged up some lamb, which turned out deliciously. In honor of my dad, I made hot cross buns -somewhat of a tradition with my family. We also had some bacon wrapped green beans, deviled eggs, and some incredible strawberry walnut salad Kat came up with.
The different departments in our school are beginning a volleyball competition this week. The English department has been practicing for a few weeks. I go out and play with them when I can, but I seldom have time. Abraham, the guy in charge of giving us foreigners our classes, has insisted Barry and I join them this week for the competition. Barry has played a lot more with them than I have, and he plans to join them, but I have class during the evening two nights this week so I wouldn't be able to go to the matches. After explaining this to Abraham, he told me to simply reschedule my classes. "The competition is first priority." So he says. I'm pretty sure I may be damaging my relationship with Abraham by refusing to reschedule my classes, but class is my first priority when it comes to this school.
Last year we asked our Father to bring us a harvest of male leadership to Shiyan, and he delivered. Currently, I'm studying with four boys who are incredible individuals. Keep them in your prayers. We also are wanting to continue petitioning our Father for good replacements. At least three of us teachers will be leaving after this semester, opening up three spots for those wanting to serve here. We're hopeful for good, solid replacements whose focus is what it needs to be. We could really use some help in bringing this request before our Father.
Well, I have a couple days free coming up. My students have given me time off since they're preparing for a big exam this Saturday. They're pretty stressed out about it so we rescheduled our Friday classes and canceled our evening discussion groups to give them more time to prepare. I'm not sure yet what I'll do, but with the weather being absolutely gorgeous, I'm thinking either hiking or swimming are in the forecast.
Last week we gave final exams to our seven week classes. I can't decide if my students are getting worse or if I'm getting better, but I'm catching more cheaters than ever before. It seems there are always those ready and willing to take on the challenge of my "no cheating or fail my class" spiel. Before any exam begins, I run over the basics, "If you speak a word during the exam, I will fail you; if your head turns in your neighbor's direction, I will fail you; if you look at your cell phone, I will fail you..." Inevitably, there are those who refuse to heed my warning and embark on a dark path of connivery and deceit. This semester I caught one guy with a cheat sheet, one guy who had written the vocabulary words on his desk and then tried to convince me he didn't look at them during the exam, and two guys cheating off of each other. Despite these dark splotches on an otherwise wonderful exam time (I LOVE finals), I did have a few success stories. Before any exam begins, I can always pick out the ones who are likely to cheat, and I pay extra close attention to them - not to catch them, but to put enough pressure on them so that they will elect not to cheat. It seldom works, but the few times it does are well worth the extra effort. I consider it one of the noblest works to pursue during finals - preventing would-be, lazy students from becoming cheaters. Sometimes I remove the temptation from a wandering eye by asking the student to move to a spot completely devoid of his fellow classmates. Sometimes I simply stand close to the would-be cheaters. I've saved many a student from himself this way. There are also those few times when I decide grace and mercy must replace justice and allow myself to overlook a quick interchange between two students. It's on these occasions I have been known to let the students leave with this final thought, "Remember this as the day you were lucky." Ah, finals...they bring out the best in us and the worst.
So with finals come...new classes! This week we begin classes to replace the ones we just completed. The first day of class is my least favorite. They are impossible to plan for. In any given class, we might have thirty students or we might have sixty. They might have already had a foreign teacher and, therefore, and English name, or I might be their first. Their English level might be as good as an English major's or they might not understand a word I say. There's absolutely no telling what to expect so we've all had to become pretty good at spontaneously adapting to class dynamics. Even still, the first day of class usually entails the students asking me lots of questions about myself and America, and the more I talk about myself, the more disinterested in the topic I become.
Jessica and I have been meeting about four times a week - when it's not raining, or when we're not sick, and when the stars are aligned just right - to do a little exercising. Twice a week we meet for a short jog, and the other two times we meet to hike the mountain. Last week we mixed it up a bit and decided to play badminton instead of go hiking. In order to play badminton, you must get past the Badminton Nazi. He's this little old man with bushy eyebrows and a scary disposition. He sleeps in the gym when he's not running foreigners away. As teachers at this school, we are entitled to make use of the badminton courts free of charge. Badminton Nazi knows this and will comply if, and only if, we bring him our teachers' cards, proving to him we are, in fact, teachers at this school. Granted, in the past, we have brought foreigners from other schools to play with us, but it really shouldn't be that big of a deal. Anyway, we have since been trained to bring our teachers' cards with us every time we want to play. I have been a teacher at Qi Yuan for two and a half years and have played badminton more times than I can count and still Badminton Nazi insists I show him my teacher's card every time I come. Not only must I show it, but he actually compares the photo to my face to ensure that I am who I say I am. Two and a half years! I could probably draw an accurate sketch of this man's face, but he still can't recognize me!
Easter Day was rather pleasant - well, the day wasn't so much as we were hit by some torrential downpours - but the activities were great. Meeting, Easter dinner, naps, movie, more rest. Megan and Kat scrounged up some lamb, which turned out deliciously. In honor of my dad, I made hot cross buns -somewhat of a tradition with my family. We also had some bacon wrapped green beans, deviled eggs, and some incredible strawberry walnut salad Kat came up with.
The different departments in our school are beginning a volleyball competition this week. The English department has been practicing for a few weeks. I go out and play with them when I can, but I seldom have time. Abraham, the guy in charge of giving us foreigners our classes, has insisted Barry and I join them this week for the competition. Barry has played a lot more with them than I have, and he plans to join them, but I have class during the evening two nights this week so I wouldn't be able to go to the matches. After explaining this to Abraham, he told me to simply reschedule my classes. "The competition is first priority." So he says. I'm pretty sure I may be damaging my relationship with Abraham by refusing to reschedule my classes, but class is my first priority when it comes to this school.
Last year we asked our Father to bring us a harvest of male leadership to Shiyan, and he delivered. Currently, I'm studying with four boys who are incredible individuals. Keep them in your prayers. We also are wanting to continue petitioning our Father for good replacements. At least three of us teachers will be leaving after this semester, opening up three spots for those wanting to serve here. We're hopeful for good, solid replacements whose focus is what it needs to be. We could really use some help in bringing this request before our Father.
Well, I have a couple days free coming up. My students have given me time off since they're preparing for a big exam this Saturday. They're pretty stressed out about it so we rescheduled our Friday classes and canceled our evening discussion groups to give them more time to prepare. I'm not sure yet what I'll do, but with the weather being absolutely gorgeous, I'm thinking either hiking or swimming are in the forecast.
Monday, April 06, 2009
SPARE THE SPA, SPOIL THE SOUL
A clever foreigner living in China once said, "Spare the spa, spoil the soul." We found out recently from our sisters in Xiangfan that there are hot springs outside their city, and since the boys in Shiyan held a guys' retreat this weekend, we could think of no better time than this to check them out. Jess, Meg, Kat and I joined the two Xiangfan ladies - Carie and Brittany - for a weekend of pampering. It's a good idea to avoid high expectations of activities that seem prone to disappointing, and relaxing in sanitary pools of hot water with rumors of tea soaks and pools of tiny fish which eat the dead skin off your body seemed just such an activity. We left Xiangfan early Saturday morning having already started off on the wrong foot - McDonald's, our one consolation for leaving at seven in the morning and our one guilty pleasure, was both without pancakes and without apology. We settled for something other than pancakes, which is a travesty from my point of view, and got on our tourist bus to head out for the hot springs. Three hours and a horrible lunch later, we descended upon an oasis of beauty. The spa was large, the workers were helpful, the whole system was organized and made practical sense, and the hot springs - once we were dressed and ready - were plentiful, diverse, and perfect. We had just under four hours to wander about, dipping in warm pools of various fragrances, minerals and natural materials that are, no doubt, good for your health. We even found the pool of tiny fish, hungry for what we're hungry to be rid of - dry skin. That was an interesting experience. The six of us plopped down in the middle of this cool pool, and dozens of tiny fish surrounded us, nipping at our toes, our legs, our arms - anything submerged under the water. I was extremely uncomfortable at times and amused at times and appreciative after it was all over. I'm pretty sure I'll never have a reason to do that again, but I'm happy for the experience.
We got back to Shiyan Sunday evening. The guys' retreat was "awesome." That's the word from the foreigners and from my seekers who attended. "Awesome" minus a small potato incident which already seems to have been written down in Shiyan folklore. Turns out, cooking potatoes over a campfire isn't the easiest thing to do. Luckily, Happy Guys is always a viable backup plan to any cooking endeavor gone awry.
Our Finer Things Club finished the final book we had preselected before coming to Shiyan this year - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Tonight over a couple of homemade vegetable and Mediterranean pizzas, we discussed this book and with a sense of satisfaction, recounted our feelings about all the books we've read this semester - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jesus for President by Shaine Claiborne and Chris Haw, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyesky and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Although we've finished the books we set out to read, we aren't finished with Finer Things just yet. We are now all attempting to subdue our "white whale" - that one elusive book which always seems to get away from us. For me, this book is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I've tried to read it three times but find myself returning it to its dusty spot on the book shelf before I'm three chapters in. Now, with the eyes of my literary sisters upon me, I feel a certain momentum that I'm sure will sustain me as I read this book whose author, as Kat loves to point out, "was paid by the word!"
The weather is warming up. People are shedding layers of clothes and subsequently losing half their body size. Students are becoming emboldened to ask for class outside, and we're becoming lax enough to comply. April is a great month to be in Shiyan.
A clever foreigner living in China once said, "Spare the spa, spoil the soul." We found out recently from our sisters in Xiangfan that there are hot springs outside their city, and since the boys in Shiyan held a guys' retreat this weekend, we could think of no better time than this to check them out. Jess, Meg, Kat and I joined the two Xiangfan ladies - Carie and Brittany - for a weekend of pampering. It's a good idea to avoid high expectations of activities that seem prone to disappointing, and relaxing in sanitary pools of hot water with rumors of tea soaks and pools of tiny fish which eat the dead skin off your body seemed just such an activity. We left Xiangfan early Saturday morning having already started off on the wrong foot - McDonald's, our one consolation for leaving at seven in the morning and our one guilty pleasure, was both without pancakes and without apology. We settled for something other than pancakes, which is a travesty from my point of view, and got on our tourist bus to head out for the hot springs. Three hours and a horrible lunch later, we descended upon an oasis of beauty. The spa was large, the workers were helpful, the whole system was organized and made practical sense, and the hot springs - once we were dressed and ready - were plentiful, diverse, and perfect. We had just under four hours to wander about, dipping in warm pools of various fragrances, minerals and natural materials that are, no doubt, good for your health. We even found the pool of tiny fish, hungry for what we're hungry to be rid of - dry skin. That was an interesting experience. The six of us plopped down in the middle of this cool pool, and dozens of tiny fish surrounded us, nipping at our toes, our legs, our arms - anything submerged under the water. I was extremely uncomfortable at times and amused at times and appreciative after it was all over. I'm pretty sure I'll never have a reason to do that again, but I'm happy for the experience.
We got back to Shiyan Sunday evening. The guys' retreat was "awesome." That's the word from the foreigners and from my seekers who attended. "Awesome" minus a small potato incident which already seems to have been written down in Shiyan folklore. Turns out, cooking potatoes over a campfire isn't the easiest thing to do. Luckily, Happy Guys is always a viable backup plan to any cooking endeavor gone awry.
Our Finer Things Club finished the final book we had preselected before coming to Shiyan this year - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Tonight over a couple of homemade vegetable and Mediterranean pizzas, we discussed this book and with a sense of satisfaction, recounted our feelings about all the books we've read this semester - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jesus for President by Shaine Claiborne and Chris Haw, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyesky and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Although we've finished the books we set out to read, we aren't finished with Finer Things just yet. We are now all attempting to subdue our "white whale" - that one elusive book which always seems to get away from us. For me, this book is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I've tried to read it three times but find myself returning it to its dusty spot on the book shelf before I'm three chapters in. Now, with the eyes of my literary sisters upon me, I feel a certain momentum that I'm sure will sustain me as I read this book whose author, as Kat loves to point out, "was paid by the word!"
The weather is warming up. People are shedding layers of clothes and subsequently losing half their body size. Students are becoming emboldened to ask for class outside, and we're becoming lax enough to comply. April is a great month to be in Shiyan.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SPRINGTIME IN SHIYAN
Today it's sunny. Yesterday it was raining. Two days ago I was wearing three and a half shirts and the day before that a tank top. I feel like I'm back in Oklahoma with the daily weather changes. Of course, our apartments stay about fifteen degrees cooler than the outside temperature since we are essentially living in a cinder-block ice house so at least when I stay indoors, the temperature is consistent.
My class schedule is full now that I've started two sophomore English major courses. These classes require a little more planning and inspiration than my non-English majors classes, but I think they'll be fine. And, with these two new classes, come two nights of discussion groups at my place. The discussion groups are voluntary, but I always have the max number of students - ten - sign up each week. So, as of now, my Thursday and Friday evenings will be occupied with students coming over. I like the discussion groups because it gives me a chance to get to know my kids individually and in a more relaxed environment than what the classroom affords.
Last week we got to celebrate the addition to our Family of a new sister. Florence is a spirited girl - unique and thoughtful. We're excited to share this, the greatest of common bonds, with her.
Last semester I remember writing about getting hit by droplets of water someone threw off the roof of a restaurant as I was passing by. Well, it happened again...only, this time, it wasn't water. Barry and I had just finished a pleasant meal at Happy Guy's and were walking past Hobbit Hole when we were splattered by a brown substance that smelled of vomit. Whoever it was got us good. I had this gruel - for lack of a better description (or maybe for want of a desire to accurately describe it) - in my hair, on my face, my clothes, my bare arms. It was gross. I'd like to say I'm more cautious now as I pass by Hobbit Hole (the same place I was hit the first time) and look up before walking on, but I never think to be preemptive. I'm hoping my lack of concern won't bite me in the end, but I wouldn't be surprised to be hit again within the next three months.
Before leaving for Europe in January, I signed up on www.couchsurfing.com to find people who have couches free for travelers passing through their city. Jessica and I thought this might be a fun way to travel - staying for free and meeting people along the way. Sadly, only one person had a free couch in all our travels through Europe. Our first two nights in Paris we stayed with a Vietnamese girl and her husband. It was a cool experience. Anyway, since I've been back to Shiyan, on two separate occasions, I've had requests from people to stay with me for a couple nights before going to visit Mt. Wudang. On both occasions, the requesters were from Germany. The first guy was going to Wudang to study tai chi for a month. He's a shiatsu practitioner and is really interested in the body's energy centers. He was an interesting person to talk with. The second request came a week later from a young German couple who are passing through China after spending time volunteering in Israel and will head to India next to volunteer there. They were also interesting to talk with. Anyway, I've become an advocate for couch surfing. For anyone who travels much, it's such a blessing to find places to stay that don't cost money. But, even more importantly, it's incredibly wonderful to meet people who are hospitable, open and interesting. If you're planning any trips in the future, check out www.couchsurfing.com. You won't be disappointed.
Anyway, I just wanted to send out a short update. All is going well. Hope the same is true for you!
Today it's sunny. Yesterday it was raining. Two days ago I was wearing three and a half shirts and the day before that a tank top. I feel like I'm back in Oklahoma with the daily weather changes. Of course, our apartments stay about fifteen degrees cooler than the outside temperature since we are essentially living in a cinder-block ice house so at least when I stay indoors, the temperature is consistent.
My class schedule is full now that I've started two sophomore English major courses. These classes require a little more planning and inspiration than my non-English majors classes, but I think they'll be fine. And, with these two new classes, come two nights of discussion groups at my place. The discussion groups are voluntary, but I always have the max number of students - ten - sign up each week. So, as of now, my Thursday and Friday evenings will be occupied with students coming over. I like the discussion groups because it gives me a chance to get to know my kids individually and in a more relaxed environment than what the classroom affords.
Last week we got to celebrate the addition to our Family of a new sister. Florence is a spirited girl - unique and thoughtful. We're excited to share this, the greatest of common bonds, with her.
Last semester I remember writing about getting hit by droplets of water someone threw off the roof of a restaurant as I was passing by. Well, it happened again...only, this time, it wasn't water. Barry and I had just finished a pleasant meal at Happy Guy's and were walking past Hobbit Hole when we were splattered by a brown substance that smelled of vomit. Whoever it was got us good. I had this gruel - for lack of a better description (or maybe for want of a desire to accurately describe it) - in my hair, on my face, my clothes, my bare arms. It was gross. I'd like to say I'm more cautious now as I pass by Hobbit Hole (the same place I was hit the first time) and look up before walking on, but I never think to be preemptive. I'm hoping my lack of concern won't bite me in the end, but I wouldn't be surprised to be hit again within the next three months.
Before leaving for Europe in January, I signed up on www.couchsurfing.com to find people who have couches free for travelers passing through their city. Jessica and I thought this might be a fun way to travel - staying for free and meeting people along the way. Sadly, only one person had a free couch in all our travels through Europe. Our first two nights in Paris we stayed with a Vietnamese girl and her husband. It was a cool experience. Anyway, since I've been back to Shiyan, on two separate occasions, I've had requests from people to stay with me for a couple nights before going to visit Mt. Wudang. On both occasions, the requesters were from Germany. The first guy was going to Wudang to study tai chi for a month. He's a shiatsu practitioner and is really interested in the body's energy centers. He was an interesting person to talk with. The second request came a week later from a young German couple who are passing through China after spending time volunteering in Israel and will head to India next to volunteer there. They were also interesting to talk with. Anyway, I've become an advocate for couch surfing. For anyone who travels much, it's such a blessing to find places to stay that don't cost money. But, even more importantly, it's incredibly wonderful to meet people who are hospitable, open and interesting. If you're planning any trips in the future, check out www.couchsurfing.com. You won't be disappointed.
Anyway, I just wanted to send out a short update. All is going well. Hope the same is true for you!
Monday, February 23, 2009
"DEAR, SWEET ROUTINE, HOW I'VE MISSED THEE"
It's official: the spring semester has begun, and I'm looking at four months until I leave one country I love to return to another country I love. My first class began today. It's an American oral English course, and the students seem sweet. I start four more classes this week for non-English majors, which will be followed in a couple weeks by two English majors classes. I have Thursdays and the weekends free. I can't complain (though it won't stop me from trying!).
WINTER VACATION
I'm saddened that I've floundered at the prospect of writing about my three amazing weeks in Europe. Jessica and I left Shiyan on the 19th of January and were immediately made aware of our Providential guidance on this trip when we were able to secure an upgrade from hard seats to hard sleepers on our 20 hour train ride to Beijing. Had that been the only wonderful and unexpected thing to happen to us during our travels, we could have still counted our vacation a success. However, time and time again as we made our way through France, Spain, Andorra, and back, we were blessed so abundantly by our Father who made travels smooth, interactions pleasant, and memories unforgettable. We know that our family and friends all over the world were lifting us up as we traveled, and we felt His answer to their (and our own) prayers. Forgive me for not going into specifics about our vacation, but anything I write will not merely be inadequate but will quite assuredly insult my memories of this Euro trip. If my dear readers have any specific inquiries or interests in my trip, please feel free to e-mail me, and I'll do my best to promptly respond. (asialyn@gmail.com)
ENGAGING TIMES
This weekend Jessica took her mom and her mom's cousin who have been visiting us for a week to Xi'an to visit all the great sights there. Unbeknownst to her, Trent orchestrated a surprise proposal Saturday night at the Big Goose Pagoda during the famous fountain show. Trent brought John, Megan, Kat, Luke, Finn and me with him to Xi'an Saturday where we stealthily avoided Jessica and her family while spoiling ourselves on Pizza Hut and DQ. Saturday evening after some close run-ins, a few panicked moments, and a sprint that recalled to mind the fact that I'm grossly out of shape, Trent found Jessica in a sea of people (a huge China miracle!) and proposed in, what I can only assume, was true Trent fashion - completely romantic. The rest of us were all so honored to be a small part in this, the next step, towards their beautiful life together.
ROUTINE
So now I'm back home with a little less money but with a lot more memories. Today has passed in a familiar routine-like way, and, as a creature of habit, I much appreciate it. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we make our way through what, for many of us, will be our last semester in China.
It's official: the spring semester has begun, and I'm looking at four months until I leave one country I love to return to another country I love. My first class began today. It's an American oral English course, and the students seem sweet. I start four more classes this week for non-English majors, which will be followed in a couple weeks by two English majors classes. I have Thursdays and the weekends free. I can't complain (though it won't stop me from trying!).
WINTER VACATION
I'm saddened that I've floundered at the prospect of writing about my three amazing weeks in Europe. Jessica and I left Shiyan on the 19th of January and were immediately made aware of our Providential guidance on this trip when we were able to secure an upgrade from hard seats to hard sleepers on our 20 hour train ride to Beijing. Had that been the only wonderful and unexpected thing to happen to us during our travels, we could have still counted our vacation a success. However, time and time again as we made our way through France, Spain, Andorra, and back, we were blessed so abundantly by our Father who made travels smooth, interactions pleasant, and memories unforgettable. We know that our family and friends all over the world were lifting us up as we traveled, and we felt His answer to their (and our own) prayers. Forgive me for not going into specifics about our vacation, but anything I write will not merely be inadequate but will quite assuredly insult my memories of this Euro trip. If my dear readers have any specific inquiries or interests in my trip, please feel free to e-mail me, and I'll do my best to promptly respond. (asialyn@gmail.com)
ENGAGING TIMES
This weekend Jessica took her mom and her mom's cousin who have been visiting us for a week to Xi'an to visit all the great sights there. Unbeknownst to her, Trent orchestrated a surprise proposal Saturday night at the Big Goose Pagoda during the famous fountain show. Trent brought John, Megan, Kat, Luke, Finn and me with him to Xi'an Saturday where we stealthily avoided Jessica and her family while spoiling ourselves on Pizza Hut and DQ. Saturday evening after some close run-ins, a few panicked moments, and a sprint that recalled to mind the fact that I'm grossly out of shape, Trent found Jessica in a sea of people (a huge China miracle!) and proposed in, what I can only assume, was true Trent fashion - completely romantic. The rest of us were all so honored to be a small part in this, the next step, towards their beautiful life together.
ROUTINE
So now I'm back home with a little less money but with a lot more memories. Today has passed in a familiar routine-like way, and, as a creature of habit, I much appreciate it. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we make our way through what, for many of us, will be our last semester in China.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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Amidst all the Spring Festival travel planning, minutes have turned into hours, hours into days, and plans are coming to fruition. Last Thursday Jessica and I held our last classes of the semester, packed our bags, cuddled with our puppies, and whittled away the hours until our two o'clock in the morning train left for Wuhan. Trent - having arrived in Wuhan the afternoon before - met us at the train station where we hailed a taxi to the airport to connect with our Wuhan friend, Carole, and with our flight to warmer weather. We were at last - after a year and a half of foiled plans - going to Hong Kong.
Friday afternoon we serendipitously found John and Megan holed up in their closet (literally) in one of the milliard hostels located in a large, condemned-looking building overrun with people wanting to sell anything you could imagine and understanding every English word except, apparently, "no". After dropping some things off at Trent and Jessica's lovely hostel in another condemned-looking, old building where, were we to comment on the ratty bedding, poor privacy door (a curtain), or any other less than accommodating features, we would be reminded of the e-mail Jess received after booking the place that to expect anything even remotely safe, clean or modest would be to express a purely Western arrogance and unreachable standard, we met with Harmony - a friend living in Hong Kong - and went to dine on a fine dinner of Pakistani food. As I'm sure it will mean nothing to anyone living in the States, I'll not mention all the amazing food we splurged on while in Hong Kong. Although, I will venture to say that anyone who has visited Hong Kong, especially having spent much time in Mainland China first, will understand anything short of describing our food going experiences to be a grossly inadequate portrayal of our Hong Kong visit in its entirety.
Saturday the seven of us went to Lama Island for some seafood, which didn't happen, and to enjoy a little hiking, which did. Lama Island was enchanting. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, we spent some time on the beach, and wandered not aimlessly around, but almost. That evening we took a bus to the top of Victoria Peak for a beautiful view of the Hong Kong skyline at dusk.
Sunday we visited St. Andrew's Church in the morning and then split the group for diverging activities. Trent, Jessica, Carole and I visited a Buddhist Nunnery and the surrounding well-kempt gardens. Later that evening we all re-assembled on Hong Kong island for a disappointing ride up the world's "longest" non-continuous, overly impressive-sounding escalator and then spent a few hours indecisively wandering about the part of the island that clearly caters to expats.
Monday was our "completely unsuccessful attempt at shopping" day. China has been hard on our clothes so we had grandiose plans of finding jeans at one of the many H&Ms in one of the many malls in Hong Kong. Only in Hong Kong can you show up to a mall wearing jeans and feel completely underdressed. Luckily I've developed a useful ability to not notice when I am completely noticeable. In this particular mall, there sat an ice skating rink begging for awkward skaters to skim above its sheeny surface, and despite the rink employee's refusal to allow us small support penguins to aid our unsteady legs, not one of us fell down in our thirty minutes of shaky maneuvering.
Tuesday we did a last bout of shopping which proved invaluable to me as I finally found jeans, and then we boarded a bus to the Shenzhen airport. We flew to Wuhan quite stuffed from eating our words that we would never again have to spend a night in that city. It was good, though, because we got to meet up with Zoe who has moved to Wuhan for a training school and enjoyed some good food, drinks and music at Mr. Mai's.
Wednesday afternoon we made it back to Shiyan along with a crowd of Spring Festival travelers, giving us a taste of what is yet to come. Suffice it to say, that I couldn't be happier to NOT be traveling in China during this time. Best of luck to those of you who will be! Upon entering my apartment, I immediately understood that my settling in for the evening after standing four hours on a train was a dream to be unrealized: while I was gone, workers had "painted" my sooted walls white, which translates, workers sloppily threw white paint on the wall, the floor, the couches and missed lots of spots leaving smeared gray streaks running down the walls. In addition, they muddied my floor and spread dirt everywhere. I spent the next few hours cleaning intermittently between discussing small crises that had also occurred while we were gone and needed some attention.
Thursday was Dacy and Jesse's wedding. Dacy's a Chinese sister, and Jesse is an American who formerly taught at my school. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. They had a western-style wedding in a nearby church building which was followed by a Chinese-style reception held at a local hotel. A lot of the Family - old and new - gathered together to celebrate this special occasion.
Without classes and with most of our students having gone home, my days have been folding into themselves. I do know, however, that the day after tomorrow we will be heading to Beijing - 20 hours in hard seats. The following morning Jessica and I will catch a flight to Paris where we will begin our great European adventure. Wish us luck!
Amidst all the Spring Festival travel planning, minutes have turned into hours, hours into days, and plans are coming to fruition. Last Thursday Jessica and I held our last classes of the semester, packed our bags, cuddled with our puppies, and whittled away the hours until our two o'clock in the morning train left for Wuhan. Trent - having arrived in Wuhan the afternoon before - met us at the train station where we hailed a taxi to the airport to connect with our Wuhan friend, Carole, and with our flight to warmer weather. We were at last - after a year and a half of foiled plans - going to Hong Kong.
Friday afternoon we serendipitously found John and Megan holed up in their closet (literally) in one of the milliard hostels located in a large, condemned-looking building overrun with people wanting to sell anything you could imagine and understanding every English word except, apparently, "no". After dropping some things off at Trent and Jessica's lovely hostel in another condemned-looking, old building where, were we to comment on the ratty bedding, poor privacy door (a curtain), or any other less than accommodating features, we would be reminded of the e-mail Jess received after booking the place that to expect anything even remotely safe, clean or modest would be to express a purely Western arrogance and unreachable standard, we met with Harmony - a friend living in Hong Kong - and went to dine on a fine dinner of Pakistani food. As I'm sure it will mean nothing to anyone living in the States, I'll not mention all the amazing food we splurged on while in Hong Kong. Although, I will venture to say that anyone who has visited Hong Kong, especially having spent much time in Mainland China first, will understand anything short of describing our food going experiences to be a grossly inadequate portrayal of our Hong Kong visit in its entirety.
Saturday the seven of us went to Lama Island for some seafood, which didn't happen, and to enjoy a little hiking, which did. Lama Island was enchanting. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, we spent some time on the beach, and wandered not aimlessly around, but almost. That evening we took a bus to the top of Victoria Peak for a beautiful view of the Hong Kong skyline at dusk.
Sunday we visited St. Andrew's Church in the morning and then split the group for diverging activities. Trent, Jessica, Carole and I visited a Buddhist Nunnery and the surrounding well-kempt gardens. Later that evening we all re-assembled on Hong Kong island for a disappointing ride up the world's "longest" non-continuous, overly impressive-sounding escalator and then spent a few hours indecisively wandering about the part of the island that clearly caters to expats.
Monday was our "completely unsuccessful attempt at shopping" day. China has been hard on our clothes so we had grandiose plans of finding jeans at one of the many H&Ms in one of the many malls in Hong Kong. Only in Hong Kong can you show up to a mall wearing jeans and feel completely underdressed. Luckily I've developed a useful ability to not notice when I am completely noticeable. In this particular mall, there sat an ice skating rink begging for awkward skaters to skim above its sheeny surface, and despite the rink employee's refusal to allow us small support penguins to aid our unsteady legs, not one of us fell down in our thirty minutes of shaky maneuvering.
Tuesday we did a last bout of shopping which proved invaluable to me as I finally found jeans, and then we boarded a bus to the Shenzhen airport. We flew to Wuhan quite stuffed from eating our words that we would never again have to spend a night in that city. It was good, though, because we got to meet up with Zoe who has moved to Wuhan for a training school and enjoyed some good food, drinks and music at Mr. Mai's.
Wednesday afternoon we made it back to Shiyan along with a crowd of Spring Festival travelers, giving us a taste of what is yet to come. Suffice it to say, that I couldn't be happier to NOT be traveling in China during this time. Best of luck to those of you who will be! Upon entering my apartment, I immediately understood that my settling in for the evening after standing four hours on a train was a dream to be unrealized: while I was gone, workers had "painted" my sooted walls white, which translates, workers sloppily threw white paint on the wall, the floor, the couches and missed lots of spots leaving smeared gray streaks running down the walls. In addition, they muddied my floor and spread dirt everywhere. I spent the next few hours cleaning intermittently between discussing small crises that had also occurred while we were gone and needed some attention.
Thursday was Dacy and Jesse's wedding. Dacy's a Chinese sister, and Jesse is an American who formerly taught at my school. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. They had a western-style wedding in a nearby church building which was followed by a Chinese-style reception held at a local hotel. A lot of the Family - old and new - gathered together to celebrate this special occasion.
Without classes and with most of our students having gone home, my days have been folding into themselves. I do know, however, that the day after tomorrow we will be heading to Beijing - 20 hours in hard seats. The following morning Jessica and I will catch a flight to Paris where we will begin our great European adventure. Wish us luck!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
LESS IS MORE...RIGHT?
I have my holiday blog looming before me so I've decided for the sake of sanity and brevity, my entry here will be extremely concise.
Christmas - good.
New Years - good.
End of this term - gooooood.
We're heading to Hong Kong Friday, will be back the following Wednesday (if we can actually procure transportation home during the Spring Festival travel madness), will celebrate Dacy and Jesse's wedding on Thursday, then leave from Beijing for Paris on the 21st. Jessica and I will be spending around three weeks in France, Spain and Andorra for winter break. If you know anyone we can crash with in any of these countries, please hook us up!
Happy Everyday in 2009!
I have my holiday blog looming before me so I've decided for the sake of sanity and brevity, my entry here will be extremely concise.
Christmas - good.
New Years - good.
End of this term - gooooood.
We're heading to Hong Kong Friday, will be back the following Wednesday (if we can actually procure transportation home during the Spring Festival travel madness), will celebrate Dacy and Jesse's wedding on Thursday, then leave from Beijing for Paris on the 21st. Jessica and I will be spending around three weeks in France, Spain and Andorra for winter break. If you know anyone we can crash with in any of these countries, please hook us up!
Happy Everyday in 2009!
Monday, December 01, 2008
"IT'LL BE A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT"
So much has happened in the past few days that Thanksgiving seems like weeks ago. However, to avoid being a respecter of holidays, I'll take some time to recall last Thursday; it was, in all actuality, a day worth recalling. The week itself was crazy busy, and I doubted at times whether I would be able to slow down enough to actually enjoy Thanksgiving, but given some extra time on Wednesday to do all my Thanksgiving cooking (a couple pecan pies, some ginger cookies, and rolls), I found myself on Thanksgiving day with relatively few things to do. Jess, Barry and I, having finished our Isaiah study the week before, began 1 Peter in the morning. After the study, we headed to Trent's school for our traditional game of touch football. We only had seven people this year - all foreigners - our smallest turnout yet, but we were not to be deterred by such small numbers. Trent, Barry, and Luke took on the Fabulous Four - Jessica, Finn, Kyle (from Danjiangkou) and me. It was fairly unevenly matched; when you have so few people, one extra person makes a huge difference. But it was fun, and we kept another personally favorite Thanksgiving tradition of my own - winning.
Dinner came at three o'clock (nearly on the dot). Cooking plans went beautifully. Our boys bought a turkey in Wuhan, and with Trent's sweet guanxi, we were able to fry it in the school's kitchen. It was really good. We had about fourteen people at our Thanksgiving and enough food (particularly desserts) to feed about forty. So, overeating ensued.
Saturday morning Jessica and I took a bus to Wuhan for a second Thanksgiving. It was definitely a smaller production than last year. Fewer foreigners and less food, but the regulars were all there. It was nice to spend time with old friends and meet new ones; worshiping with so many foreigners is always a treat for us too. Anyway, we didn't stay a really long time in Wuhan. We actually bought our return tickets for the following day. Jess and I were both feeling homesick for Shiyan. It seems like we always do a lot of traveling this time of the year, and as much as we like seeing other places, we like being home just as much. So our trip to Wuhan was what we wanted it to be - filled with spending time with our friends there and visiting a few foreign shops (Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Theatre).
Sunday morning before our meeting, I received a text message from Trent that said, "Bad news. You left your radiator on and caught your apt. on fire. It didn't burn much, you were very lucky. This is not a joke, sorry." Precisely because he said, "This is not a joke," and because of the brevity and bluntness of the text, I thought it might be a joke. I just replied, "Okay. Thanks," and went on with the day. Later Jess called Barry, and I took the opportunity to ask him about my apartment. As it turned out, Trent was serious. My space heater had malfunctioned somehow and completely melted (burning a hole in the floor) and caught the curtains on fire. Luckily (or by the hand of God, rather), the curtains barely burned, and the most damage that happened to my apartment came from the smoke. When I arrived Sunday night, my apartment smelled of melted plastic (still does), my walls and ceilings were brown, and there was soot in the nooks and crannies of nearly everything (including my toilet which is in another room!). I'm incredibly fortunate to have great friends who spent their Sunday afternoon cleaning my apartment. Before their hard work, my apartment was apparently rather BLACK from the soot. They spent hours wiping down everything, washing my dishes, sweeping my ceiling, mopping my floor - just so I didn't have to come home to such a wreck. I'm eternally grateful to Trent and Zoe who worked so hard so I wouldn't have to be overwhelmed by it all when I came home. Great friends! So I talked to Steven, our foreign affairs guy, and he said he'll get some workers to come repaint my walls white and do some other things to spruce up the place.
Mondays are always good days for me. First of all, I don't have any classes on Monday. Second, Jess, Barry, and I always have our morning study at nine, and then at ten thirty, we go to old man Mike's apartment for an hour of Mahjong. Third, we have our Finer Things Club meeting in the evenings. Today after Mahjong, I was upstairs trying to finish the allotted section of The Brothers Karamazov (our recent book club book) for tonight's discussion group, when I heard Jessica squeal. Shortly after, my phone rang. It was Jess; she said, "Get down here now!" When I entered her room, she was coddling a little puppy. Then she said, "Look what Christina and Lawrence gave us!" As she said that, Lawrence turned around with a second puppy in his hands and thrust it towards me as I, too, let out a squeal that only comes out of me when pets are involved. So, now, Jessica and I have two puppies. Sim Sim Bashful is the male puppy who is lazy and adorable and sleeps all the time. Trixie is female and is spunky, dominant, and rough at times. They are both so cute! I don't know what we're going to do with two puppies, but we have them, and we love them.
This afternoon Jessica, Trent, Barry, me and our two puppies trekked up the mountain behind our school in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We found one and the boys spent some time cutting it down with a tiny saw and two kitchen butcher knives. We didn't actually bring it back to our apartment while it was light out, but drug it semi-close to our apartment building for easy retrieval after darkness descended to cover our deed. Jess and I met Kat at Megan's for our FTC meeting of potato soup and Dostoesky, and while we were gone Barry and Trent brought the Christmas tree into Jessica's apartment. It needed some serious trimming and now needs some serious over-looking of some serious flaws. It doesn't quite qualify as a Charlie Brown tree like last year's but has some very significant issues of its own; we're trying to love it. I'm sure it will grow on us, and with a little help will even fulfill its Christmas purpose.
So, to sum up: two sweet Thanksgivings; fire in apartment but minimal damage; new puppies; a Christmas tree - life is good.
So much has happened in the past few days that Thanksgiving seems like weeks ago. However, to avoid being a respecter of holidays, I'll take some time to recall last Thursday; it was, in all actuality, a day worth recalling. The week itself was crazy busy, and I doubted at times whether I would be able to slow down enough to actually enjoy Thanksgiving, but given some extra time on Wednesday to do all my Thanksgiving cooking (a couple pecan pies, some ginger cookies, and rolls), I found myself on Thanksgiving day with relatively few things to do. Jess, Barry and I, having finished our Isaiah study the week before, began 1 Peter in the morning. After the study, we headed to Trent's school for our traditional game of touch football. We only had seven people this year - all foreigners - our smallest turnout yet, but we were not to be deterred by such small numbers. Trent, Barry, and Luke took on the Fabulous Four - Jessica, Finn, Kyle (from Danjiangkou) and me. It was fairly unevenly matched; when you have so few people, one extra person makes a huge difference. But it was fun, and we kept another personally favorite Thanksgiving tradition of my own - winning.
Dinner came at three o'clock (nearly on the dot). Cooking plans went beautifully. Our boys bought a turkey in Wuhan, and with Trent's sweet guanxi, we were able to fry it in the school's kitchen. It was really good. We had about fourteen people at our Thanksgiving and enough food (particularly desserts) to feed about forty. So, overeating ensued.
Saturday morning Jessica and I took a bus to Wuhan for a second Thanksgiving. It was definitely a smaller production than last year. Fewer foreigners and less food, but the regulars were all there. It was nice to spend time with old friends and meet new ones; worshiping with so many foreigners is always a treat for us too. Anyway, we didn't stay a really long time in Wuhan. We actually bought our return tickets for the following day. Jess and I were both feeling homesick for Shiyan. It seems like we always do a lot of traveling this time of the year, and as much as we like seeing other places, we like being home just as much. So our trip to Wuhan was what we wanted it to be - filled with spending time with our friends there and visiting a few foreign shops (Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Theatre).
Sunday morning before our meeting, I received a text message from Trent that said, "Bad news. You left your radiator on and caught your apt. on fire. It didn't burn much, you were very lucky. This is not a joke, sorry." Precisely because he said, "This is not a joke," and because of the brevity and bluntness of the text, I thought it might be a joke. I just replied, "Okay. Thanks," and went on with the day. Later Jess called Barry, and I took the opportunity to ask him about my apartment. As it turned out, Trent was serious. My space heater had malfunctioned somehow and completely melted (burning a hole in the floor) and caught the curtains on fire. Luckily (or by the hand of God, rather), the curtains barely burned, and the most damage that happened to my apartment came from the smoke. When I arrived Sunday night, my apartment smelled of melted plastic (still does), my walls and ceilings were brown, and there was soot in the nooks and crannies of nearly everything (including my toilet which is in another room!). I'm incredibly fortunate to have great friends who spent their Sunday afternoon cleaning my apartment. Before their hard work, my apartment was apparently rather BLACK from the soot. They spent hours wiping down everything, washing my dishes, sweeping my ceiling, mopping my floor - just so I didn't have to come home to such a wreck. I'm eternally grateful to Trent and Zoe who worked so hard so I wouldn't have to be overwhelmed by it all when I came home. Great friends! So I talked to Steven, our foreign affairs guy, and he said he'll get some workers to come repaint my walls white and do some other things to spruce up the place.
Mondays are always good days for me. First of all, I don't have any classes on Monday. Second, Jess, Barry, and I always have our morning study at nine, and then at ten thirty, we go to old man Mike's apartment for an hour of Mahjong. Third, we have our Finer Things Club meeting in the evenings. Today after Mahjong, I was upstairs trying to finish the allotted section of The Brothers Karamazov (our recent book club book) for tonight's discussion group, when I heard Jessica squeal. Shortly after, my phone rang. It was Jess; she said, "Get down here now!" When I entered her room, she was coddling a little puppy. Then she said, "Look what Christina and Lawrence gave us!" As she said that, Lawrence turned around with a second puppy in his hands and thrust it towards me as I, too, let out a squeal that only comes out of me when pets are involved. So, now, Jessica and I have two puppies. Sim Sim Bashful is the male puppy who is lazy and adorable and sleeps all the time. Trixie is female and is spunky, dominant, and rough at times. They are both so cute! I don't know what we're going to do with two puppies, but we have them, and we love them.
This afternoon Jessica, Trent, Barry, me and our two puppies trekked up the mountain behind our school in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We found one and the boys spent some time cutting it down with a tiny saw and two kitchen butcher knives. We didn't actually bring it back to our apartment while it was light out, but drug it semi-close to our apartment building for easy retrieval after darkness descended to cover our deed. Jess and I met Kat at Megan's for our FTC meeting of potato soup and Dostoesky, and while we were gone Barry and Trent brought the Christmas tree into Jessica's apartment. It needed some serious trimming and now needs some serious over-looking of some serious flaws. It doesn't quite qualify as a Charlie Brown tree like last year's but has some very significant issues of its own; we're trying to love it. I'm sure it will grow on us, and with a little help will even fulfill its Christmas purpose.
So, to sum up: two sweet Thanksgivings; fire in apartment but minimal damage; new puppies; a Christmas tree - life is good.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
A SATURDAY NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN
Last Friday Zoe offered me seven tickets to a 4-D movie. Being rather ignorant of the goings-on at theme parks these days, I, naturally, was rather curious about a film which included the fourth dimension. I mean, how did Shiyan manage to not only settle the muddy waters of what actually constitutes the fourth dimension, but also include this dimension in a movie-watching experience? I was intrigued until I found out that by fourth dimension, they meant combining a 3-D film with physical effects. Well, actually, I remained intrigued despite my mild disappointment (and my feeling that the term "4-D" should not be used to apply to something that clearly does NOT include the fourth dimension as we understand it). Anyway, what kind of physical effects, I wondered, would this little movie theater include in the 3-D viewing experience? In spite of all attempts to avoid getting my hopes up, I became pretty excited. John, Megan, Finn, Zoe, Zoe's friend and I decided to check out the Saturday night eight o'clock showing of this 4-D marathon of short films (four in all) that lasted a total of forty-five minutes. 3-D glasses in hand, we found our seats fairly close to the screen but off to the side enough that only some of the graphics were 3-D while the others were merely blurry. We figured that for the price of ten kuai (the cost of the glasses), we got about a 2 1/2-D experience, and about as close as we got to the physical effects supposedly added to the 3-D film was the feeling of trash crunching beneath our feet and Zoe clinging to my arm when demons jumped out at us. The movie projector was hooked up to a computer, and at the most climactic moment during each of the short films, someone minimized the screen, stopped the film, and opened up the next one. Despite being left without any resolution to three of the four films, it was quite an enjoyable experience.
After the movie, we decided to walk for awhile through town (mostly because there was nothing else to do). While walking we came upon a car wreck. It didn't appear too serious, but the cars were blocking two lanes of traffic. A crowd of gawkers had gathered around the wreck with the intention, so it would appear, of making traffic-flow even more congested and clean-up of the wreckage more difficult. We watched the scene for some time with Megan shouting frustrations at the chaos which came from inpatient drivers who saw an opening in traffic and went for it, only to make everything more convoluted and impossible.
After the wreck scene, we made our way to People's Square where we are always promised opportunities for good times and new experiences. Finn joined a game of Chinese hacky sack, while the rest of us did some people watching. There are always groups of people dancing in the square in the evenings, and we derive great joy from watching them. Of course, when you watch them, you always risk the chance of being pulled into a dancing routine with one or two bold dancers who think it might be fun to teach a foreigner how to dance. On this particular evening, an older man invited me to dance. I initially declined but have learned that in China there is no sense (or success!) in declining anything so I conceded and joined him in the middle of the dance floor. He was a good leader and patient with me. Toward the end of the song, I actually felt like I was doing a halfway decent job of following his lead. It reinforced my desire to take dance lessons in the future...when I have the right partner.
It was a good evening, and I was reminded of how much I genuinely enjoy being out in the evenings, especially in Shiyan. I love this city.
In closing, let me leave you with these words of wisdom from one of my students, "If you are bright, you needn't know so much." (I don't understand it either.)
Last Friday Zoe offered me seven tickets to a 4-D movie. Being rather ignorant of the goings-on at theme parks these days, I, naturally, was rather curious about a film which included the fourth dimension. I mean, how did Shiyan manage to not only settle the muddy waters of what actually constitutes the fourth dimension, but also include this dimension in a movie-watching experience? I was intrigued until I found out that by fourth dimension, they meant combining a 3-D film with physical effects. Well, actually, I remained intrigued despite my mild disappointment (and my feeling that the term "4-D" should not be used to apply to something that clearly does NOT include the fourth dimension as we understand it). Anyway, what kind of physical effects, I wondered, would this little movie theater include in the 3-D viewing experience? In spite of all attempts to avoid getting my hopes up, I became pretty excited. John, Megan, Finn, Zoe, Zoe's friend and I decided to check out the Saturday night eight o'clock showing of this 4-D marathon of short films (four in all) that lasted a total of forty-five minutes. 3-D glasses in hand, we found our seats fairly close to the screen but off to the side enough that only some of the graphics were 3-D while the others were merely blurry. We figured that for the price of ten kuai (the cost of the glasses), we got about a 2 1/2-D experience, and about as close as we got to the physical effects supposedly added to the 3-D film was the feeling of trash crunching beneath our feet and Zoe clinging to my arm when demons jumped out at us. The movie projector was hooked up to a computer, and at the most climactic moment during each of the short films, someone minimized the screen, stopped the film, and opened up the next one. Despite being left without any resolution to three of the four films, it was quite an enjoyable experience.
After the movie, we decided to walk for awhile through town (mostly because there was nothing else to do). While walking we came upon a car wreck. It didn't appear too serious, but the cars were blocking two lanes of traffic. A crowd of gawkers had gathered around the wreck with the intention, so it would appear, of making traffic-flow even more congested and clean-up of the wreckage more difficult. We watched the scene for some time with Megan shouting frustrations at the chaos which came from inpatient drivers who saw an opening in traffic and went for it, only to make everything more convoluted and impossible.
After the wreck scene, we made our way to People's Square where we are always promised opportunities for good times and new experiences. Finn joined a game of Chinese hacky sack, while the rest of us did some people watching. There are always groups of people dancing in the square in the evenings, and we derive great joy from watching them. Of course, when you watch them, you always risk the chance of being pulled into a dancing routine with one or two bold dancers who think it might be fun to teach a foreigner how to dance. On this particular evening, an older man invited me to dance. I initially declined but have learned that in China there is no sense (or success!) in declining anything so I conceded and joined him in the middle of the dance floor. He was a good leader and patient with me. Toward the end of the song, I actually felt like I was doing a halfway decent job of following his lead. It reinforced my desire to take dance lessons in the future...when I have the right partner.
It was a good evening, and I was reminded of how much I genuinely enjoy being out in the evenings, especially in Shiyan. I love this city.
In closing, let me leave you with these words of wisdom from one of my students, "If you are bright, you needn't know so much." (I don't understand it either.)
Monday, November 17, 2008
THROAT COAT AND OTHER ESSENTIALS
When foreigners first move to China, we witness many things that cause us bewilderment and trepidation. With time, however, we come to trust in this system of disorder as its own kind of order - one to not question and certainly one to not over-analyze. In our first weeks here, we hesitantly cross the street patting ourselves on the back each time we make it to the other side safely. After awhile, however, we realize that crossing the street is not something we do successfully, but something we are a part of - a mere leaf in a flowing river of traffic that looks chaotic and terrifying but is actually rather fluid and beautiful. Lots of little things make us think, in the beginning, how fortunate we are on a daily basis to avoid injury or embarrassment. Things that shouldn't work, do. Condemned theme parks are open for business, and everyone survives the dilapidated rides intact. Accidents occur directly in our path and we remain unscathed. Taking a walk down the street promises countless opportunities to find oneself in the line of a hawked loogie, a fountain of pee or a waterfall of dirty mop water tossed out from shop doors or off the roofs of buildings. After two years of avoiding anything other than apparent "close-calls," I had settled myself comfortably into a feeling of nothing less than a sincere trust in this system of living. When new foreigners commented on near run-ins with speeding taxis or defecating children, I internally smiled at their distrust and fear of this beautiful system that gives one the feeling of living dangerously without the chance of any real danger. My whole sense of how to function in China lies in my belief that becoming a player in this system rather than trying to react to it ("No hesitation" being my mantra as I cross the street) was brought crashing down last Friday. As Halley and I were standing outside Happy Guy's peer pressuring Zoe into skipping her weekend classes to come with us to the ladies' retreat in Xiangfan, a couple drops of water hit the top of my head. These weren't indicators of a rainy evening ahead but, rather, dire warnings of what was about to befall us - warnings we didn't heed, ignored warnings that would haunt me and shake my belief in this system of "close calls but no cigars" (haha In Chinglish this phrase rhymes.). A few seconds later, we were showered with dirty mop water containing no less than twenty five different strains of bacteria - a third of which remain unidentifiable to the modern world. I should insert here that we were, thankfully, not drenched by this water, having missed the greatest portion of it by a few feet. However, bullets of water hit me directly in my right eye as a result of poor reaction time on my part, and my eyesight became blurry for just long enough that I was sure I would be blind within the hour and spend the rest of my life explaining that my loss of eyesight was due to some dirty mop water thrown off the top of a building in a small city in China. Having believed beforehand that it was a part of the system to often be close enough to the water being thrown from a doorway to think "Yikes! Too close," but far enough to never actually be hit, I was, not surprisingly, a little shaken up after finally being hit. My whole faith in the system was brought down. I timidly crossed the street shortly after this incident and was slightly more wary of other potential disasters awaiting me. I have since had my faith restored in the system and count that one terrifying encounter as a fluke. The odds, I believe, are still in my favor.
Speaking of close calls, Jessica and I almost missed our train back from Xiangfan last night. Now this goes far beyond the inconvenience of having to wait for the next train to leave or the annoyance of paying for another ticket; our faces were on the line. Had we missed our train, we would have had to shamefully admit this to the very Xiangfanren who had two weeks prior missed the Shiyan stop (on their way to visit us and to participate in our sweet 80s Halloween party) and ended up in AN KANG (the worst, most demonic city in China and, perhaps, the world). Quite rightfully so, we have enjoyed giving the Xiangfan people a hard time about the fact that they missed our stop since it's only two stops from their city, and they've been here before multiple times. So, you can see, had Jessica and I missed our train home, we would have not only had to admit this to the Xiangfan folks, but we would have had our rights to continue mentioning their own train stop foible revoked, thereby taking away much future enjoyment for ourselves. This is what happened: we lost track of time at Carie's apartment and emerged into the busy intersection to catch a taxi right at shift change time. So as empty taxis whizzed past us waving us off, minutes whizzed by giving us twenty minutes until our train left when finally a good Samaritan picked us up. The taxi ride took fifteen minutes, the fight with the taxi driver over money took some additional precious seconds, and the distance to the train station on foot (because the taxi driver dropped us off too far from the front door, and our Chinese isn't sufficient enough in the heat of the moment to say, "You stop when we TELL you to stop.") added an anxiety filled half minute. When we got to the station, we had five minutes until the train departed. Since nearly all Xiangfan to Shiyan trains are late by half an hour or so, we thought we might fall into the good graces of what is on other occasions a frustrating delay. But all the information boards said our train was on time. At some point we began to run. We got to the small gate, and it was closed. All the passengers had boarded. We spotted some workers sitting over in a corner and did our friend Carie's famous arm-flailing, taxi driver-attention getter, and the workers rushed to our rescue. They asked a woman to see if the train was still here, and it was! They let us through the small gate, and we rushed down the hallway to a large locked gate where a worker majestically threw open the gigantic metal doors, and light from heaven shone glaringly through them as our salvation was waiting for us to board. We thrust our tickets into the faces of one of the workers asking for car 13, and he told us to just board! The stairs had been removed already so we hoisted ourselves into the car, trudged through a couple cars looking for ours, gave up on the search and, instead, found a couple empty seats where we were and collapsed into them heaving from exertion. So the end of this story is 1) we saved our schedule, 2) we saved some money, and 3) we saved our very precious faces.
We were in Xiangfan this weekend for our annual fall ladies' retreat. It was a great experience. We have such amazing sisters and "friends." I wish I could go into so much detail. I often feel this frustration that the things I most want to blog about, the people and the incredible things they say and do, are the very things I am unable to express. At any rate, the retreat was a blessing to all of us, and it was awesome to see our Father's hand in it all.
When we arrived in Shiyan last night around ten thirty, we took a taxi home. As we drove through campus, we noticed how eerily dark it was. There were no lights on anywhere - a sure sign that we would be roughing it when we got home. Indeed, the entire campus was without electricity and water and had been for the majority of the day. James was nice enough to welcome Jess and me home with a little flashlight shining through the stairway, and I was reminded of His Providence in even the smallest of affairs: earlier in the week I received care packages from loved ones back home who had sent me candles that proved essential last night. The electricity and water were both turned on mid-morning, and a long, hot shower is beckoning me.
This morning I awoke with a sore throat. Again, thanks to a care package, I've been drinking throat coat tea all morning and afternoon. It's great stuff. It's getting much colder here. I wore five layers of clothing this morning. I may have slightly overdone it (even the Chinese said it was too much, and that never happens), but I was warm and quite comfortable.
We were honored to have breakfast with one of our favorite former Shiyan people today. Since the girls went to Xiangfan this weekend, the boys in Xiangfan, Will and William, decided to come to Shiyan. We're happy they could afford the trip and that William stayed an extra day so we could get together and talk about the great qualities of our respective cities.
It's time for me to plan this week's classes. Mondays are my prep days, and this one has been interrupted by several oral English final exams I scheduled for the afternoon. My question for the day is why is the weather always nicest (the sky has just turned blue, and the sun has emerged - something I haven't seen in so long I can't remember the last time) when I can't go outside to enjoy it?
When foreigners first move to China, we witness many things that cause us bewilderment and trepidation. With time, however, we come to trust in this system of disorder as its own kind of order - one to not question and certainly one to not over-analyze. In our first weeks here, we hesitantly cross the street patting ourselves on the back each time we make it to the other side safely. After awhile, however, we realize that crossing the street is not something we do successfully, but something we are a part of - a mere leaf in a flowing river of traffic that looks chaotic and terrifying but is actually rather fluid and beautiful. Lots of little things make us think, in the beginning, how fortunate we are on a daily basis to avoid injury or embarrassment. Things that shouldn't work, do. Condemned theme parks are open for business, and everyone survives the dilapidated rides intact. Accidents occur directly in our path and we remain unscathed. Taking a walk down the street promises countless opportunities to find oneself in the line of a hawked loogie, a fountain of pee or a waterfall of dirty mop water tossed out from shop doors or off the roofs of buildings. After two years of avoiding anything other than apparent "close-calls," I had settled myself comfortably into a feeling of nothing less than a sincere trust in this system of living. When new foreigners commented on near run-ins with speeding taxis or defecating children, I internally smiled at their distrust and fear of this beautiful system that gives one the feeling of living dangerously without the chance of any real danger. My whole sense of how to function in China lies in my belief that becoming a player in this system rather than trying to react to it ("No hesitation" being my mantra as I cross the street) was brought crashing down last Friday. As Halley and I were standing outside Happy Guy's peer pressuring Zoe into skipping her weekend classes to come with us to the ladies' retreat in Xiangfan, a couple drops of water hit the top of my head. These weren't indicators of a rainy evening ahead but, rather, dire warnings of what was about to befall us - warnings we didn't heed, ignored warnings that would haunt me and shake my belief in this system of "close calls but no cigars" (haha In Chinglish this phrase rhymes.). A few seconds later, we were showered with dirty mop water containing no less than twenty five different strains of bacteria - a third of which remain unidentifiable to the modern world. I should insert here that we were, thankfully, not drenched by this water, having missed the greatest portion of it by a few feet. However, bullets of water hit me directly in my right eye as a result of poor reaction time on my part, and my eyesight became blurry for just long enough that I was sure I would be blind within the hour and spend the rest of my life explaining that my loss of eyesight was due to some dirty mop water thrown off the top of a building in a small city in China. Having believed beforehand that it was a part of the system to often be close enough to the water being thrown from a doorway to think "Yikes! Too close," but far enough to never actually be hit, I was, not surprisingly, a little shaken up after finally being hit. My whole faith in the system was brought down. I timidly crossed the street shortly after this incident and was slightly more wary of other potential disasters awaiting me. I have since had my faith restored in the system and count that one terrifying encounter as a fluke. The odds, I believe, are still in my favor.
Speaking of close calls, Jessica and I almost missed our train back from Xiangfan last night. Now this goes far beyond the inconvenience of having to wait for the next train to leave or the annoyance of paying for another ticket; our faces were on the line. Had we missed our train, we would have had to shamefully admit this to the very Xiangfanren who had two weeks prior missed the Shiyan stop (on their way to visit us and to participate in our sweet 80s Halloween party) and ended up in AN KANG (the worst, most demonic city in China and, perhaps, the world). Quite rightfully so, we have enjoyed giving the Xiangfan people a hard time about the fact that they missed our stop since it's only two stops from their city, and they've been here before multiple times. So, you can see, had Jessica and I missed our train home, we would have not only had to admit this to the Xiangfan folks, but we would have had our rights to continue mentioning their own train stop foible revoked, thereby taking away much future enjoyment for ourselves. This is what happened: we lost track of time at Carie's apartment and emerged into the busy intersection to catch a taxi right at shift change time. So as empty taxis whizzed past us waving us off, minutes whizzed by giving us twenty minutes until our train left when finally a good Samaritan picked us up. The taxi ride took fifteen minutes, the fight with the taxi driver over money took some additional precious seconds, and the distance to the train station on foot (because the taxi driver dropped us off too far from the front door, and our Chinese isn't sufficient enough in the heat of the moment to say, "You stop when we TELL you to stop.") added an anxiety filled half minute. When we got to the station, we had five minutes until the train departed. Since nearly all Xiangfan to Shiyan trains are late by half an hour or so, we thought we might fall into the good graces of what is on other occasions a frustrating delay. But all the information boards said our train was on time. At some point we began to run. We got to the small gate, and it was closed. All the passengers had boarded. We spotted some workers sitting over in a corner and did our friend Carie's famous arm-flailing, taxi driver-attention getter, and the workers rushed to our rescue. They asked a woman to see if the train was still here, and it was! They let us through the small gate, and we rushed down the hallway to a large locked gate where a worker majestically threw open the gigantic metal doors, and light from heaven shone glaringly through them as our salvation was waiting for us to board. We thrust our tickets into the faces of one of the workers asking for car 13, and he told us to just board! The stairs had been removed already so we hoisted ourselves into the car, trudged through a couple cars looking for ours, gave up on the search and, instead, found a couple empty seats where we were and collapsed into them heaving from exertion. So the end of this story is 1) we saved our schedule, 2) we saved some money, and 3) we saved our very precious faces.
We were in Xiangfan this weekend for our annual fall ladies' retreat. It was a great experience. We have such amazing sisters and "friends." I wish I could go into so much detail. I often feel this frustration that the things I most want to blog about, the people and the incredible things they say and do, are the very things I am unable to express. At any rate, the retreat was a blessing to all of us, and it was awesome to see our Father's hand in it all.
When we arrived in Shiyan last night around ten thirty, we took a taxi home. As we drove through campus, we noticed how eerily dark it was. There were no lights on anywhere - a sure sign that we would be roughing it when we got home. Indeed, the entire campus was without electricity and water and had been for the majority of the day. James was nice enough to welcome Jess and me home with a little flashlight shining through the stairway, and I was reminded of His Providence in even the smallest of affairs: earlier in the week I received care packages from loved ones back home who had sent me candles that proved essential last night. The electricity and water were both turned on mid-morning, and a long, hot shower is beckoning me.
This morning I awoke with a sore throat. Again, thanks to a care package, I've been drinking throat coat tea all morning and afternoon. It's great stuff. It's getting much colder here. I wore five layers of clothing this morning. I may have slightly overdone it (even the Chinese said it was too much, and that never happens), but I was warm and quite comfortable.
We were honored to have breakfast with one of our favorite former Shiyan people today. Since the girls went to Xiangfan this weekend, the boys in Xiangfan, Will and William, decided to come to Shiyan. We're happy they could afford the trip and that William stayed an extra day so we could get together and talk about the great qualities of our respective cities.
It's time for me to plan this week's classes. Mondays are my prep days, and this one has been interrupted by several oral English final exams I scheduled for the afternoon. My question for the day is why is the weather always nicest (the sky has just turned blue, and the sun has emerged - something I haven't seen in so long I can't remember the last time) when I can't go outside to enjoy it?
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
ELECTION FEVER
It's strange to be living outside the States during a presidential election. I definitely appreciate staying clear of all the nasty ads, comments, and tainted news reports and very much enjoy sifting through articles and positions independent of the overwhelming pressure of information overload. But there's a certain political energy lacking during this exciting time in American history, and I can't help but think how different my Tuesday in America would have looked compared to my Tuesday in China.
Tonight Jessica and I joined the Brelands at the medical school for a celebration of democracy in action. There were lots of good activities: watching Obama's 2004 DNC speech, the famous "Yes, We Can" speech, and today's acceptance speech; participating in a democratic voting process to decide among four activities which two we would like to do (though they were all good activities so we did three of the following four - Pin the Lips on the Pig, Obama trivia, Youtube your favorite George W quote, and play poker/nertz); and, finally, watching the movie Recount of the 2000 Florida fiasco.
I began a new sophomore non-English major class yesterday. The students are quiet but intelligent and interested. We spent the first part of class chatting about various things. At one point, I asked them, "Does anyone know what happens in America tomorrow?" After a long pause, a boy sitting in the front row whispered, "Change." Truer words were never spoken.
Our Finer Things Book Club has been reading Jesus for President this month. Although, I'm not impressed at all with Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's presentation of their beliefs in this book, their idea that mingling our faith with politics often leads to a compromised faith more often than a faith-filled political body is not far off. There is a problem when we depend on our worldly leaders to dictate faith. There is a problem when we think God's kingdom is dependent upon who leads a powerful earthly kingdom. I've been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and today I read the following passage which I thought fitting:
It's strange to be living outside the States during a presidential election. I definitely appreciate staying clear of all the nasty ads, comments, and tainted news reports and very much enjoy sifting through articles and positions independent of the overwhelming pressure of information overload. But there's a certain political energy lacking during this exciting time in American history, and I can't help but think how different my Tuesday in America would have looked compared to my Tuesday in China.
Tonight Jessica and I joined the Brelands at the medical school for a celebration of democracy in action. There were lots of good activities: watching Obama's 2004 DNC speech, the famous "Yes, We Can" speech, and today's acceptance speech; participating in a democratic voting process to decide among four activities which two we would like to do (though they were all good activities so we did three of the following four - Pin the Lips on the Pig, Obama trivia, Youtube your favorite George W quote, and play poker/nertz); and, finally, watching the movie Recount of the 2000 Florida fiasco.
I began a new sophomore non-English major class yesterday. The students are quiet but intelligent and interested. We spent the first part of class chatting about various things. At one point, I asked them, "Does anyone know what happens in America tomorrow?" After a long pause, a boy sitting in the front row whispered, "Change." Truer words were never spoken.
Our Finer Things Book Club has been reading Jesus for President this month. Although, I'm not impressed at all with Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's presentation of their beliefs in this book, their idea that mingling our faith with politics often leads to a compromised faith more often than a faith-filled political body is not far off. There is a problem when we depend on our worldly leaders to dictate faith. There is a problem when we think God's kingdom is dependent upon who leads a powerful earthly kingdom. I've been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and today I read the following passage which I thought fitting:
I think that if we are going to reform the world, and make it a better place to live in, the way to do it is not with talk about relationships of a political nature, which are inevitably dualistic, full of subjects and objects and their relationship to one another; or with programs full of things for other people to do. I think that kind of approach starts it at the end and presumes the end is the beginning. Programs of a political nature are important end products of social quality that can be effective only if the underlying structure of social values is right. The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.I'm thankful to be part of a spiritual kingdom whose leader is just and righteous, where there are no term limits and no swinging political pendulum. My allegiance lies in this kingdom not made with hands. How awesome that we serve such an amazing King who loves us and pleads with us to love others. May we bless our Father with praise and service!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
A HODGEPODGE
Activities are increasing, demands are growing, and life is generally more hectic right now. I recently finished two seven week classes and am beginning two more this week. The Third World Traditional Wushu Championship has finally descended on Shiyan, and the entire city will be heaving a big sigh of relief in a couple days when it is officially over and is officially declared a success. Halloween activities went off without a hitch, thus ringing in the ambiguous Holiday Season. Foreign friends from Wuhan and Xiangfan have graced our homes with their presence for the past two weekends, and the weather has suddenly turned warm. That's a small summary of recent life in Shiyan for those of you weary of my long entries. For the rest of you, here come the details...
THIRD WORLD TRADITIONAL WUSHU CHAMPIONSHIP
There aren't words to adequately express my feelings about this event. Imagine rumors of hundreds (if not thousands) of foreigners from around the world coming to Shiyan yet running across no more than four or five of them the entire duration of the competition. Picture a third of our English majors missing classes for three weeks for "Volunteer Training" only to hold signs for the foreign teams or to reel in frustration that no one on the foreign team they represent can speak English. And, finally, imagine walking down a familiar street and seeing an entire NEW block of buildings that couldn't have been there the week before. This is just the beginning. It's a strange feeling to always be regarded as a foreigner in a city you know better than, at the very least, the new students who come to Shiyan for college. But it's an even odder feeling when you are regarded as a very specific kind of foreigner - one who has undoubtedly come for a week to participate in the Wushu festival. People look at you differently as you walk by them on the street. They shout "Welcome to Our China" when you've been living here for years. They look at you with wonderment trying to figure out how you fit into the Wushu Competition, and you want to respond to everyone who gives you this look, "I'm a Shiyan People!!!" It's also a strange feeling to contribute to the success of the Wushu Championship in very tangible ways (correcting Chinglish signs, being human dictionaries for those involved in the event, teaching students Spanish because they happen to be representing a Spanish-speaking team, teaching Shiyan people English via TV, and being patient with our students who have missed tons of classes and activities to learn how to walk elegantly in front of a group of people) only to be royally snubbed by the powers that be who promised tickets to, if not the opening ceremony, at least a competition here or there. So, The Third World Traditional Wushu Championship is coming to an end, and our feelings of being under-appreciated will subside eventually. I'm happy for the honor it brought to MY little city. I'll claim HER even if she doesn't claim me.
WEEKEND VISITS
We've been blessed the last two weekends with foreign visitors from Wuhan (last week) and Xiangfan (this week). Carole and Daniel came first bringing joy and laughter into our homes, and Carie, Will and Brittany followed bringing music and kindred spirit moments.
SHOPPING
After two years of living in China, I have finally bought an article of clothing. I avoid shopping for clothes like the plague which is easier to do in a country where the size large in anything is too small for me. I've heard too many stories about the horrors of shopping (being told that there's nothing in the store that would fit you, being dressed by the shop assistants, being watched by other customers) that I have successfully boycotted clothing shopping for my entire stay here. But all things must come to an end, and with a big rip on Saturday, my jeans met the beginning of theirs. I had planned to buy some jeans Saturday anyway, but during our weekly girls brunch, I talked myself out of it. Then came the rip, and it just felt like kismet so we went shopping, and through the aid of my sisters, I found a pair of jeans that will work. Done and done.
HALLOWEEN
We planned an 80s theme party for Halloween this year. You'd be surprised how easy it is to buy 80s styles in China (or to dig through old clothes I brought to China and find appropriate clothing - which is sad, really). It was a fun party - lots of goodies, lots of family, lots of laughter. For my birthday this year, the foreigners in the city gave me the most amazing gift, and I'd like to share it with you all. I contemplated not posting the video because I don't want to put my friends on display, but what they did so touched me and is such an inspiration that I want to share it. I am so honored to work among these fine brothers and sisters and so blessed they are a part of my life.
Activities are increasing, demands are growing, and life is generally more hectic right now. I recently finished two seven week classes and am beginning two more this week. The Third World Traditional Wushu Championship has finally descended on Shiyan, and the entire city will be heaving a big sigh of relief in a couple days when it is officially over and is officially declared a success. Halloween activities went off without a hitch, thus ringing in the ambiguous Holiday Season. Foreign friends from Wuhan and Xiangfan have graced our homes with their presence for the past two weekends, and the weather has suddenly turned warm. That's a small summary of recent life in Shiyan for those of you weary of my long entries. For the rest of you, here come the details...
THIRD WORLD TRADITIONAL WUSHU CHAMPIONSHIP
There aren't words to adequately express my feelings about this event. Imagine rumors of hundreds (if not thousands) of foreigners from around the world coming to Shiyan yet running across no more than four or five of them the entire duration of the competition. Picture a third of our English majors missing classes for three weeks for "Volunteer Training" only to hold signs for the foreign teams or to reel in frustration that no one on the foreign team they represent can speak English. And, finally, imagine walking down a familiar street and seeing an entire NEW block of buildings that couldn't have been there the week before. This is just the beginning. It's a strange feeling to always be regarded as a foreigner in a city you know better than, at the very least, the new students who come to Shiyan for college. But it's an even odder feeling when you are regarded as a very specific kind of foreigner - one who has undoubtedly come for a week to participate in the Wushu festival. People look at you differently as you walk by them on the street. They shout "Welcome to Our China" when you've been living here for years. They look at you with wonderment trying to figure out how you fit into the Wushu Competition, and you want to respond to everyone who gives you this look, "I'm a Shiyan People!!!" It's also a strange feeling to contribute to the success of the Wushu Championship in very tangible ways (correcting Chinglish signs, being human dictionaries for those involved in the event, teaching students Spanish because they happen to be representing a Spanish-speaking team, teaching Shiyan people English via TV, and being patient with our students who have missed tons of classes and activities to learn how to walk elegantly in front of a group of people) only to be royally snubbed by the powers that be who promised tickets to, if not the opening ceremony, at least a competition here or there. So, The Third World Traditional Wushu Championship is coming to an end, and our feelings of being under-appreciated will subside eventually. I'm happy for the honor it brought to MY little city. I'll claim HER even if she doesn't claim me.
WEEKEND VISITS
We've been blessed the last two weekends with foreign visitors from Wuhan (last week) and Xiangfan (this week). Carole and Daniel came first bringing joy and laughter into our homes, and Carie, Will and Brittany followed bringing music and kindred spirit moments.
SHOPPING
After two years of living in China, I have finally bought an article of clothing. I avoid shopping for clothes like the plague which is easier to do in a country where the size large in anything is too small for me. I've heard too many stories about the horrors of shopping (being told that there's nothing in the store that would fit you, being dressed by the shop assistants, being watched by other customers) that I have successfully boycotted clothing shopping for my entire stay here. But all things must come to an end, and with a big rip on Saturday, my jeans met the beginning of theirs. I had planned to buy some jeans Saturday anyway, but during our weekly girls brunch, I talked myself out of it. Then came the rip, and it just felt like kismet so we went shopping, and through the aid of my sisters, I found a pair of jeans that will work. Done and done.
HALLOWEEN
We planned an 80s theme party for Halloween this year. You'd be surprised how easy it is to buy 80s styles in China (or to dig through old clothes I brought to China and find appropriate clothing - which is sad, really). It was a fun party - lots of goodies, lots of family, lots of laughter. For my birthday this year, the foreigners in the city gave me the most amazing gift, and I'd like to share it with you all. I contemplated not posting the video because I don't want to put my friends on display, but what they did so touched me and is such an inspiration that I want to share it. I am so honored to work among these fine brothers and sisters and so blessed they are a part of my life.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
I don't really have anything to say which should result in this being a short blog post. But, who am I kidding? I'm incapable of offering my readers a succinct post, and, as I learned in college, the less I have to say, the more I need to write.
Autumn has arrived in Shiyan. The past few days have been rainy, but promises of sunny weather have been made, and we're going to hold my Google weather forecast to its word. The rainy days are nice, but they make it hard to find any motivation to get excited about teaching. I have an oral English class this afternoon for non-English majors, and I'm currently trying to pep talk my way into getting excited about it.
Tonight I have a group of sophomore English majors coming over for our weekly discussion group. These guys are so full of energy and confidence. I don't have to worry about any lulls in the conversation with this group. They always ask so many questions and have so many stories to tell.
I think I may have mentioned a few blog posts ago that I helped the local TV station make a series of short English lessons teaching, in total, one hundred simple and useful English phrases. Well, those lessons have been airing on the Shiyan TV station for several weeks now, and I'm embarrassed to say that a LOT of people having been watching them. When I agreed to help my friend Romano out with this project, I hadn't anticipated that anyone I knew actually ever watched Shiyan TV. I was wrong. So many of my students have told me that they just happened to see me on TV. Even some of Finn's students, after looking at his October Holiday photos, recognized me in some of his pictures as the girl from TV. We ate at Happy Guy's today, and he told me he's been watching my English lessons too. He called me his English teacher. It was cute...but only because it came from Happy Guy, who is always cute. I'm actually rather embarrassed by it all.
I've been schizophrenic with my reading lately. I begin one book and then get distracted by another. I always finish every book I begin, with two exceptions (Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities and Jared Diamond's Collapse - both of which still haunt me), but my inability to complete one book causes me to feel overwhelmed when I get to the point I'm at right now. I'm in the middle of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and just began A Wrinkle in Time. We're also reading Jesus for President for our book club. In addition, I'm studying Isaiah, John, and Acts. The latter three are interesting to study simultaneously. I'm constantly shifting my mind from prophecy to fulfillment, and the before, after, and present applications of it all.
Jessica and I are planning to use our Spring Festival vacation time for a couple weeks of traveling France and Spain. We have some serious money-saving to do before we go, but we've lived our time in China thus far with that old adage "Go Big or Go Home" and we're not about to stop following it now. If any of you know people we can stay with along the way, we would be indebted for your good word on our behalf. Our goal is to not stay in a hostel or hotel ONCE while we're traveling. We like a good challenge.
Love to all!
I don't really have anything to say which should result in this being a short blog post. But, who am I kidding? I'm incapable of offering my readers a succinct post, and, as I learned in college, the less I have to say, the more I need to write.
Autumn has arrived in Shiyan. The past few days have been rainy, but promises of sunny weather have been made, and we're going to hold my Google weather forecast to its word. The rainy days are nice, but they make it hard to find any motivation to get excited about teaching. I have an oral English class this afternoon for non-English majors, and I'm currently trying to pep talk my way into getting excited about it.
Tonight I have a group of sophomore English majors coming over for our weekly discussion group. These guys are so full of energy and confidence. I don't have to worry about any lulls in the conversation with this group. They always ask so many questions and have so many stories to tell.
I think I may have mentioned a few blog posts ago that I helped the local TV station make a series of short English lessons teaching, in total, one hundred simple and useful English phrases. Well, those lessons have been airing on the Shiyan TV station for several weeks now, and I'm embarrassed to say that a LOT of people having been watching them. When I agreed to help my friend Romano out with this project, I hadn't anticipated that anyone I knew actually ever watched Shiyan TV. I was wrong. So many of my students have told me that they just happened to see me on TV. Even some of Finn's students, after looking at his October Holiday photos, recognized me in some of his pictures as the girl from TV. We ate at Happy Guy's today, and he told me he's been watching my English lessons too. He called me his English teacher. It was cute...but only because it came from Happy Guy, who is always cute. I'm actually rather embarrassed by it all.
I've been schizophrenic with my reading lately. I begin one book and then get distracted by another. I always finish every book I begin, with two exceptions (Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities and Jared Diamond's Collapse - both of which still haunt me), but my inability to complete one book causes me to feel overwhelmed when I get to the point I'm at right now. I'm in the middle of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and just began A Wrinkle in Time. We're also reading Jesus for President for our book club. In addition, I'm studying Isaiah, John, and Acts. The latter three are interesting to study simultaneously. I'm constantly shifting my mind from prophecy to fulfillment, and the before, after, and present applications of it all.
Jessica and I are planning to use our Spring Festival vacation time for a couple weeks of traveling France and Spain. We have some serious money-saving to do before we go, but we've lived our time in China thus far with that old adage "Go Big or Go Home" and we're not about to stop following it now. If any of you know people we can stay with along the way, we would be indebted for your good word on our behalf. Our goal is to not stay in a hostel or hotel ONCE while we're traveling. We like a good challenge.
Love to all!
Friday, October 10, 2008
AWKWARD TURTLE
I may just have had one of the most awkward discussion group nights in mi casa I've ever had. It all started with a simple misunderstanding. I teach two sophomore English major classes (both of which happen to be on Tuesday), and in both classes I have a girl named Becky. Because of October Holiday, I have to make up both classes and decided to meet with the students outside of class in a discussion group setting (with one of the classes) and in one-on-one meetings to discuss pronunciation (with the other). Tonight was dedicated to the one-on-one meetings, whereas, tomorrow night was allotted specifically for the discussion group. Yesterday I received a text message from Becky saying she wouldn't be able to come on the previously scheduled day for her one-on-one meeting. Later I received a text message from Becky (using a different number) asking if she could come Friday night instead. I said she could, and she replied that she and her roommates would come Friday at seven. I thought it was a little odd that she included her roommates, but I let it slide since the students usually come in packs even when only one of them is supposed to show up.
Around seven o'clock this evening as I was pouring banana bread batter into the pan, I got a phone call from Becky asking me what floor I lived on. I opened the door and before me huddled four girls from my discussion group class who weren't supposed to arrive until Saturday evening. I was a little startled, confused and dense enough to think that Becky (the one-on-one meeting student) was still wandering aimlessly about looking for my apartment. I hurriedly invited the girls in and then yelled Becky's name in the hallway to direct her to my floor. The response, "I'm Becky," came from one of the girls in my apartment, and thus the evening of awkwardness commenced.
I never again regained solid footing. Nearly as soon as I dealt with the fact that my evening would no longer be my own (discussion groups last much longer than the one-on-one meetings I had planned for the night), there was a rap at my door. I opened it, and there stood two of my one-on-one meeting students ready for their critiques. I couldn't do anything but invite them in and tell them we'd be doing their meeting discussion group style. A few minutes later, more students from the one-on-one meetings group trickled in until I had four student from one class and five students from the other. The division couldn't be any clearer either with the four girls from one class sitting on one couch, the five from the other class sitting on the other side of the room, and me smack dab in the middle. Conversation was awkward as I tried to ask each of the one-on-one students a question to which they could give an answer adequate enough for me to be able to pinpoint their personal pronunciation problems all the while including the students from the other class in the discussion. It was not going well.
Then, there was Leon. After I chatted gaily with Becky No. 2 from the discussion group class about Xinjiang Province (where she spent two years of her life and where I spent two weeks of mine), I asked Leon what he was thinking. I can always depend on Leon to add some flavor to any discussion, and he didn't hold anything back. He said, "I was just thinking how the minorities in Xinjiang have a high talent for causing problems with us." I just looked at him. Seriously? Are we going to discuss the terrorist attacks in Xinjiang Province and blame the minorities for their "high talent" in disrupting the peaceful Han existence whose existence has only been in Xinjiang in recent years? I love Leon and on any other occasion, I would be happy to discuss nearly anything with him, but this was not a particularly good time or place for politically heated topics so I segued away from Xinjiang to something else.
The one-on-one meeting students left fairly early. They were, after all, only supposed to have relinquished ten minutes of their time this evening and had already given me over an hour. So now, with one group gone, balance was restored, and I relaxed a little. Now I could grapple with what the purpose of our meeting was, and the girls, though still congregated on one couch and making my room seriously off-balanced, were freer to talk and laugh and share. These girls are new students for me, and I was enjoying getting to know them. We were just getting into a decent, comfortable exchange when one of the girls (after I asked her a "would you rather" type question) said, simply, "I'm sorry. I played badminton today, and now my hair bothers me. I think I will leave." I said, okay, and then another girl said, "I will follow." And finally the other two reluctantly joined the two leaving.
After I closed the door behind them, I stood there trying to figure out what had just taken place. I felt like I had been outside my body the entire evening watching this sad debacle, and there was no solution I could have conjured up to make things smoother or less painfully awkward. On top of all this, half of my banana bread was consumed by a group of students who could merely (and inadequately, I might add) describe it as "strange." Bu hao yisi!
I may just have had one of the most awkward discussion group nights in mi casa I've ever had. It all started with a simple misunderstanding. I teach two sophomore English major classes (both of which happen to be on Tuesday), and in both classes I have a girl named Becky. Because of October Holiday, I have to make up both classes and decided to meet with the students outside of class in a discussion group setting (with one of the classes) and in one-on-one meetings to discuss pronunciation (with the other). Tonight was dedicated to the one-on-one meetings, whereas, tomorrow night was allotted specifically for the discussion group. Yesterday I received a text message from Becky saying she wouldn't be able to come on the previously scheduled day for her one-on-one meeting. Later I received a text message from Becky (using a different number) asking if she could come Friday night instead. I said she could, and she replied that she and her roommates would come Friday at seven. I thought it was a little odd that she included her roommates, but I let it slide since the students usually come in packs even when only one of them is supposed to show up.
Around seven o'clock this evening as I was pouring banana bread batter into the pan, I got a phone call from Becky asking me what floor I lived on. I opened the door and before me huddled four girls from my discussion group class who weren't supposed to arrive until Saturday evening. I was a little startled, confused and dense enough to think that Becky (the one-on-one meeting student) was still wandering aimlessly about looking for my apartment. I hurriedly invited the girls in and then yelled Becky's name in the hallway to direct her to my floor. The response, "I'm Becky," came from one of the girls in my apartment, and thus the evening of awkwardness commenced.
I never again regained solid footing. Nearly as soon as I dealt with the fact that my evening would no longer be my own (discussion groups last much longer than the one-on-one meetings I had planned for the night), there was a rap at my door. I opened it, and there stood two of my one-on-one meeting students ready for their critiques. I couldn't do anything but invite them in and tell them we'd be doing their meeting discussion group style. A few minutes later, more students from the one-on-one meetings group trickled in until I had four student from one class and five students from the other. The division couldn't be any clearer either with the four girls from one class sitting on one couch, the five from the other class sitting on the other side of the room, and me smack dab in the middle. Conversation was awkward as I tried to ask each of the one-on-one students a question to which they could give an answer adequate enough for me to be able to pinpoint their personal pronunciation problems all the while including the students from the other class in the discussion. It was not going well.
Then, there was Leon. After I chatted gaily with Becky No. 2 from the discussion group class about Xinjiang Province (where she spent two years of her life and where I spent two weeks of mine), I asked Leon what he was thinking. I can always depend on Leon to add some flavor to any discussion, and he didn't hold anything back. He said, "I was just thinking how the minorities in Xinjiang have a high talent for causing problems with us." I just looked at him. Seriously? Are we going to discuss the terrorist attacks in Xinjiang Province and blame the minorities for their "high talent" in disrupting the peaceful Han existence whose existence has only been in Xinjiang in recent years? I love Leon and on any other occasion, I would be happy to discuss nearly anything with him, but this was not a particularly good time or place for politically heated topics so I segued away from Xinjiang to something else.
The one-on-one meeting students left fairly early. They were, after all, only supposed to have relinquished ten minutes of their time this evening and had already given me over an hour. So now, with one group gone, balance was restored, and I relaxed a little. Now I could grapple with what the purpose of our meeting was, and the girls, though still congregated on one couch and making my room seriously off-balanced, were freer to talk and laugh and share. These girls are new students for me, and I was enjoying getting to know them. We were just getting into a decent, comfortable exchange when one of the girls (after I asked her a "would you rather" type question) said, simply, "I'm sorry. I played badminton today, and now my hair bothers me. I think I will leave." I said, okay, and then another girl said, "I will follow." And finally the other two reluctantly joined the two leaving.
After I closed the door behind them, I stood there trying to figure out what had just taken place. I felt like I had been outside my body the entire evening watching this sad debacle, and there was no solution I could have conjured up to make things smoother or less painfully awkward. On top of all this, half of my banana bread was consumed by a group of students who could merely (and inadequately, I might add) describe it as "strange." Bu hao yisi!
Monday, October 06, 2008
OCTOBER HOLIDAY - BEIJING AND QINGDAO
Last week China celebrated its 59th National Day, and we took advantage of the nine days we had off to visit Beijing and Qingdao. October Holiday is one of China's two "Golden Weeks" and is characterized by an increased number of tourists jamming a traveling system that is made less accessible "just for the holiday." Beijing was listed as the top city to visit so, naturally, that was where we needed to be. I had been in China for two years already and had somehow failed to visit Beijing even once. That needed to change. So six of us Shiyaners (Jessica, John, Megan, Trent, Finn and I) left on Friday for the capital of China - along with 18 million other Chinese people. As there is no possible way to express just how smooth and fantasmagorical (thank you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) our time in Beijing was, I'm going to just list some personal highlights. It's a crudely insufficient way to relate our experience, but it's all I can do. Greatness can never be expressed adequately with words; it must be experienced. We arrived in Beijing on Saturday morning and left there for Qingdao on Tuesday afternoon. Qingdao is a coastal city south of Beijing. It's safe to say I was more excited about Qingdao than Beijing. Qingdao has been my "white whale" for the past two years. For a brief period of Chinese history, Qingdao (Tsingtao) was ruled by Germany whose western influence can still be seen today in its architecture, atmosphere and beer. Now, for the sake of simplicity and orderliness, I've compiled the following list of "top fives" about this vacation:
TOP FIVE BEIJING EXPERIENCES
1) Camping on the Great Wall of China - After doing some research, John had discovered that it was, indeed, possible to camp on the Great Wall of China. We could either book a trip through a tour guide OR we could just bring our camping gear and avoid anyone that would kick us off the wall until closing time and camp out then. We chose option number two. The six of us ascended that iconic man-made creation Sunday afternoon, spent several hours walking from tower to tower until we reached the last one, and then waited. Turns out no guards patrolled that area (or the entire wall, it would appear) so we had no opposition to setting up our tents on tower number 19. It was the greatest experience in the history of everything (or nearly). Although the rock wall hardly made for a comfortable bed, and the temperature lowered significantly after dark making for a chilly night for those not blessed with good sleeping bags or a hot sleeping buddy, it was arguably the best camping experience of my life.
2) Summer Palace - Minus the tense 30 minutes spent searching for John (who, incidentally, blames us for the separation), the Summer Palace was surprisingly more interesting than I had anticipated. The architecture was slightly different than the typical Chinese style (though still very "Chinese"), and it was quite possible to just wander about appreciating the tranquility of being lost while simultaneously avoiding the stream of people that we were later to encounter.
3) Temple of Heaven - We, appropriately, visited the Temple of Heaven on Sunday morning. After passing through the various tourist sites within this compound and contemplating on the difference between the gods they worshipped with their animal sacrifices and the God we worship with whom we enjoy a personal relationship, we plopped down at a small, closed entryway and worshipped our awesome Father. It was beautiful.
4) Mexican Food and Old Friends - Monday evening we met Andrew and Jaime Hill, former Shiyan teachers who recently moved to Beijing, for dinner at Peter's Tex Mex. Food, good. Atmosphere, good. Old friends, GOOOOD.
5) Tiananmen Square - While I don't have much personally invested in this location, it's fame incited me to at least appreciate the history wrapped up in it. Seeing Mao's portrait and gazing out over the square left me with strange competing feelings of awe and sadness. Then again, I often experience emotional dissonance when trying to contemplate China - then and now.
TOP FIVE "BU HAO YISI" (SHAMEFUL) MOMENTS
1) Me slapping the hand of a Chinese man who dared to infringe on our attempt (successful, I might add) to acquire subway tickets.
2) John sniffing a pleasant smelling teenage girl on the subway and then discovering that she could see him doing this in the reflection of the door's windows.
3) Jessica yelling at a taxi driver for starting the meter at a base price of 10 yuan, then jumping out of the taxi, yelling some more, and ultimately storming away from the cab (only to find out later that 10 yuan is the correct base price for ALL taxis in Beijing).
4) John, Jessica and Finn secretly eating at Papa John's while Megan, Trent and I trekked through Beijing to buy bus tickets for all of us (all the while starving from having no lunch and, yet, refusing to stop and eat while the others were "waiting" for us).
5) Us telling the suspicious nark of a van driver at the Great Wall that we would, indeed, return at 6 P.M. for him to take us back to Beijing all the while planning to spend the night on the Wall and not descend until the next morning.
TOP FIVE QINGDAO EXPERIENCES
1) Qingdao Christian Church - Qingdao has several European styled churches which are always fun to see in China. This particular one is known for its bell/clock tower. We decided to tour it for seven yuan (apparently, they don't offer discounts to Christians; we tried). After visiting the auditorium and the tower, John, Megan, the Xiangfan crew who we met up with while in Qingdao (Will, Brittany, and Carie), and I sat in the little room you must pass through to reach the bell tower and sang church songs for about an hour. It was such a blessing to be able to worship our Father so conspicuously and be met by appreciation and wonder from the other Chinese tourists.
2) Laissez-faire Wandering Through Qingdao - After our whirlwind trip through Beijing, it was nice to just wander through the streets of Qingdao with no specific plan or agenda. There were times when we felt as if we had entered the heart of Europe, and there were times that we were unmistakably in China, and it was frequent that we experienced this drastic change simply by moving from one street to another.
3) Swimming in the Yellow Sea - Slightly worried after our first beach experience in Qingdao where we saw more rocks and people than sand, we did finally find a beach that really is something to write home about. The sand was unique and sparkled in the sunlight, the water was warm and inviting, and the sunbathing was a welcome sensation on my embarrassingly white skin.
4) Napoli Italian Restaurant - Possibly one of the most enjoyable eating experiences of my life, I'd like to send out a HUGE thanks to Carie's mom for treating us to some fantastic Italian food and some sweet Liza Manelli serenading.
5) Good Talks - Traveling with people I don't know well allows for interesting conversations and ample opportunities for meaningful discussions. This trip was no different. I appreciated getting to know better the people from Xiangfan AND the people from Shiyan.
TOP FIVE "SAD DAY" MOMENTS
1) I lost my camera after descending the Great Wall. I hope it serves its next owner as well as it served me.
2) Trent's cellphone was pick-pocketed at the Feeling Club. No one blames him for not noticing that one of the many hands on his person had ulterior motives.
3) Kat's cellphone sadly fell into a squatty potty never to be reclaimed. So, she did only what a person can do in such a situation: she marked her territory and went on.
4) John left his awesome Old Navy jacket in a taxi cab and another shirt elsewhere.
5) Jessica and I lost three games of spades in a row to Trent and Finn. Loss of face.
I honestly can't remember a smoother China vacation than this one. Group dynamics were amazing, even when we grew from six people in Beijing to eleven people in Qingdao. It's hard to meet the needs, desires and agendas of so many people without suppressed annoyance or even open frustration at times. But there wasn't a single incident that I'm aware of in which personalities seriously conflicted. We also had no problems securing the train and bus tickets we needed to go from place to place. This is a feat indescribable to anyone who has never traveled in China during one of the "Golden Weeks." We give total and complete praise to our Father for his hand in everything we did. We saw Him so often during this trip making things a little easier for us, and we won't cease to remember Him when we talk about our October Holiday 2008.
Last week China celebrated its 59th National Day, and we took advantage of the nine days we had off to visit Beijing and Qingdao. October Holiday is one of China's two "Golden Weeks" and is characterized by an increased number of tourists jamming a traveling system that is made less accessible "just for the holiday." Beijing was listed as the top city to visit so, naturally, that was where we needed to be. I had been in China for two years already and had somehow failed to visit Beijing even once. That needed to change. So six of us Shiyaners (Jessica, John, Megan, Trent, Finn and I) left on Friday for the capital of China - along with 18 million other Chinese people. As there is no possible way to express just how smooth and fantasmagorical (thank you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) our time in Beijing was, I'm going to just list some personal highlights. It's a crudely insufficient way to relate our experience, but it's all I can do. Greatness can never be expressed adequately with words; it must be experienced. We arrived in Beijing on Saturday morning and left there for Qingdao on Tuesday afternoon. Qingdao is a coastal city south of Beijing. It's safe to say I was more excited about Qingdao than Beijing. Qingdao has been my "white whale" for the past two years. For a brief period of Chinese history, Qingdao (Tsingtao) was ruled by Germany whose western influence can still be seen today in its architecture, atmosphere and beer. Now, for the sake of simplicity and orderliness, I've compiled the following list of "top fives" about this vacation:
TOP FIVE BEIJING EXPERIENCES
1) Camping on the Great Wall of China - After doing some research, John had discovered that it was, indeed, possible to camp on the Great Wall of China. We could either book a trip through a tour guide OR we could just bring our camping gear and avoid anyone that would kick us off the wall until closing time and camp out then. We chose option number two. The six of us ascended that iconic man-made creation Sunday afternoon, spent several hours walking from tower to tower until we reached the last one, and then waited. Turns out no guards patrolled that area (or the entire wall, it would appear) so we had no opposition to setting up our tents on tower number 19. It was the greatest experience in the history of everything (or nearly). Although the rock wall hardly made for a comfortable bed, and the temperature lowered significantly after dark making for a chilly night for those not blessed with good sleeping bags or a hot sleeping buddy, it was arguably the best camping experience of my life.
2) Summer Palace - Minus the tense 30 minutes spent searching for John (who, incidentally, blames us for the separation), the Summer Palace was surprisingly more interesting than I had anticipated. The architecture was slightly different than the typical Chinese style (though still very "Chinese"), and it was quite possible to just wander about appreciating the tranquility of being lost while simultaneously avoiding the stream of people that we were later to encounter.
3) Temple of Heaven - We, appropriately, visited the Temple of Heaven on Sunday morning. After passing through the various tourist sites within this compound and contemplating on the difference between the gods they worshipped with their animal sacrifices and the God we worship with whom we enjoy a personal relationship, we plopped down at a small, closed entryway and worshipped our awesome Father. It was beautiful.
4) Mexican Food and Old Friends - Monday evening we met Andrew and Jaime Hill, former Shiyan teachers who recently moved to Beijing, for dinner at Peter's Tex Mex. Food, good. Atmosphere, good. Old friends, GOOOOD.
5) Tiananmen Square - While I don't have much personally invested in this location, it's fame incited me to at least appreciate the history wrapped up in it. Seeing Mao's portrait and gazing out over the square left me with strange competing feelings of awe and sadness. Then again, I often experience emotional dissonance when trying to contemplate China - then and now.
TOP FIVE "BU HAO YISI" (SHAMEFUL) MOMENTS
1) Me slapping the hand of a Chinese man who dared to infringe on our attempt (successful, I might add) to acquire subway tickets.
2) John sniffing a pleasant smelling teenage girl on the subway and then discovering that she could see him doing this in the reflection of the door's windows.
3) Jessica yelling at a taxi driver for starting the meter at a base price of 10 yuan, then jumping out of the taxi, yelling some more, and ultimately storming away from the cab (only to find out later that 10 yuan is the correct base price for ALL taxis in Beijing).
4) John, Jessica and Finn secretly eating at Papa John's while Megan, Trent and I trekked through Beijing to buy bus tickets for all of us (all the while starving from having no lunch and, yet, refusing to stop and eat while the others were "waiting" for us).
5) Us telling the suspicious nark of a van driver at the Great Wall that we would, indeed, return at 6 P.M. for him to take us back to Beijing all the while planning to spend the night on the Wall and not descend until the next morning.
TOP FIVE QINGDAO EXPERIENCES
1) Qingdao Christian Church - Qingdao has several European styled churches which are always fun to see in China. This particular one is known for its bell/clock tower. We decided to tour it for seven yuan (apparently, they don't offer discounts to Christians; we tried). After visiting the auditorium and the tower, John, Megan, the Xiangfan crew who we met up with while in Qingdao (Will, Brittany, and Carie), and I sat in the little room you must pass through to reach the bell tower and sang church songs for about an hour. It was such a blessing to be able to worship our Father so conspicuously and be met by appreciation and wonder from the other Chinese tourists.
2) Laissez-faire Wandering Through Qingdao - After our whirlwind trip through Beijing, it was nice to just wander through the streets of Qingdao with no specific plan or agenda. There were times when we felt as if we had entered the heart of Europe, and there were times that we were unmistakably in China, and it was frequent that we experienced this drastic change simply by moving from one street to another.
3) Swimming in the Yellow Sea - Slightly worried after our first beach experience in Qingdao where we saw more rocks and people than sand, we did finally find a beach that really is something to write home about. The sand was unique and sparkled in the sunlight, the water was warm and inviting, and the sunbathing was a welcome sensation on my embarrassingly white skin.
4) Napoli Italian Restaurant - Possibly one of the most enjoyable eating experiences of my life, I'd like to send out a HUGE thanks to Carie's mom for treating us to some fantastic Italian food and some sweet Liza Manelli serenading.
5) Good Talks - Traveling with people I don't know well allows for interesting conversations and ample opportunities for meaningful discussions. This trip was no different. I appreciated getting to know better the people from Xiangfan AND the people from Shiyan.
TOP FIVE "SAD DAY" MOMENTS
1) I lost my camera after descending the Great Wall. I hope it serves its next owner as well as it served me.
2) Trent's cellphone was pick-pocketed at the Feeling Club. No one blames him for not noticing that one of the many hands on his person had ulterior motives.
3) Kat's cellphone sadly fell into a squatty potty never to be reclaimed. So, she did only what a person can do in such a situation: she marked her territory and went on.
4) John left his awesome Old Navy jacket in a taxi cab and another shirt elsewhere.
5) Jessica and I lost three games of spades in a row to Trent and Finn. Loss of face.
I honestly can't remember a smoother China vacation than this one. Group dynamics were amazing, even when we grew from six people in Beijing to eleven people in Qingdao. It's hard to meet the needs, desires and agendas of so many people without suppressed annoyance or even open frustration at times. But there wasn't a single incident that I'm aware of in which personalities seriously conflicted. We also had no problems securing the train and bus tickets we needed to go from place to place. This is a feat indescribable to anyone who has never traveled in China during one of the "Golden Weeks." We give total and complete praise to our Father for his hand in everything we did. We saw Him so often during this trip making things a little easier for us, and we won't cease to remember Him when we talk about our October Holiday 2008.
Friday, September 26, 2008
"BEST DAY OF MY LIFE"
I'm an expressions copier. I always absorb other people's sayings. Some people have a knack for coming up with just the right words and just the right expressions for every occasion. I don't happen to be one of them. I have several friends who are always updating their expressions, and if I'm around them long enough, I quickly adopt their vernacular. My most recent appropriation comes courtesy of Barry. Ask him how he's doing at any given moment, and his response is always "best day of my life". It's amazing how powerfully motivational and attitude-changing that phrase can be.
The last two days have been the best days of my life. Wednesday began with an excellent study of Isaiah. Jessica, Barry and I meet three mornings a week for an enlightening and convicting discussion of what is becoming one of my favorite books (though I often find that whatever book I happen to be studying at the moment is my favorite). Isaiah's been a great study. This week each chapter we've read has been an in-your-face reminder that YHWH is YHWH and fear has no place in our lives because of that incontrovertible fact. Best day of my life!
I may have mentioned this before, but at the end of next month (in 32 days according to the city's official countdown calendar), Shiyan will be hosting the Third World Wudang Kungfu Festival (by Third World, they mean Third International). It's a big deal. Lots of people from around China and around the world will be descending on our remote city like its the Beijing of Kungfu Olympics. In preparation for so many foreigners visiting our fine city, countless numbers of students are going through rigorous training for tour guide positions. Only the students with the best English...and best looks...and decent physical health have been chosen to be translators and guides for the anticipated swarm of waiguoren (foreigners). But what, mind you, will happen when lost foreigners stumble into an average citizen's corner convenience store and no English-speaking student is to be found? It's a terrifying prospect, but one we've no need to worry about. The local TV station through government funding has created a simple English language program which began airing two days ago and will continue for several more episodes. By the end of the program's airing, the average citizen in Shiyan should be able to say 100 simple phrases such as "I'm a police officer," and "What color is your lost purse?" Peace and stability will reign in Shiyan as foreigners need not fear an inability to communicate in Chinese. The best part of all this is those Shiyaners who really follow this English language program can come away from it speaking English with a beautiful Oklahoma accent; that's right, yours truly was commissioned to read each of the 100 English sentences twice to provide a standard English pronunciation. It was a fun gig, and the TV personnel were wonderful in the filming of the series. My friend Romano works in the Advertising Department at the TV station, and he was the host of the program. He was decent enough to invite me to participate, and the rewards of that opportunity keep coming. Wednesday, after our awesome study, Romano and his colleagues invited Barry and me to join them for lunch at a special restaurant in the mountains. The restaurant is famous for serving up a whole goat barbecue style. It's rather expensive, but the restaurant is a patron of the TV station and invites them out for a meal a couple times a year. We were fortunate enough to join them on this occasion. The meat was delicious, and they served real bread which seemed to bring Barry nearly to tears. After eating what felt like pounds of meat, we were brought to a back room for a second meal of organ and blood soup. It was better than it sounds.
Wednesday only got better with a meat-induced nap, a game of volleyball, and a losing bout of poker.
Today was yet another awesome day: Isaiah study followed by the best post office experience of my life (I left the building smiling!), a delicious and recently improved (if one can improve upon perfection) crunchy taco, the first meeting of the Finer Things Club where we discussed One Hundred Years of Solitude and practiced our Spanish pronunciation of the same four names (for thirty some different characters), Muslim noodles for dinner, item after item checked off of my list of things to do, our weekly John study, China launches into space, sweet sisters (another Barry phrase!) watching Hairspray, and a full house to round out the day.
Tomorrow we leave for Beijing. It's already the best day of my life.
I'm an expressions copier. I always absorb other people's sayings. Some people have a knack for coming up with just the right words and just the right expressions for every occasion. I don't happen to be one of them. I have several friends who are always updating their expressions, and if I'm around them long enough, I quickly adopt their vernacular. My most recent appropriation comes courtesy of Barry. Ask him how he's doing at any given moment, and his response is always "best day of my life". It's amazing how powerfully motivational and attitude-changing that phrase can be.
The last two days have been the best days of my life. Wednesday began with an excellent study of Isaiah. Jessica, Barry and I meet three mornings a week for an enlightening and convicting discussion of what is becoming one of my favorite books (though I often find that whatever book I happen to be studying at the moment is my favorite). Isaiah's been a great study. This week each chapter we've read has been an in-your-face reminder that YHWH is YHWH and fear has no place in our lives because of that incontrovertible fact. Best day of my life!
I may have mentioned this before, but at the end of next month (in 32 days according to the city's official countdown calendar), Shiyan will be hosting the Third World Wudang Kungfu Festival (by Third World, they mean Third International). It's a big deal. Lots of people from around China and around the world will be descending on our remote city like its the Beijing of Kungfu Olympics. In preparation for so many foreigners visiting our fine city, countless numbers of students are going through rigorous training for tour guide positions. Only the students with the best English...and best looks...and decent physical health have been chosen to be translators and guides for the anticipated swarm of waiguoren (foreigners). But what, mind you, will happen when lost foreigners stumble into an average citizen's corner convenience store and no English-speaking student is to be found? It's a terrifying prospect, but one we've no need to worry about. The local TV station through government funding has created a simple English language program which began airing two days ago and will continue for several more episodes. By the end of the program's airing, the average citizen in Shiyan should be able to say 100 simple phrases such as "I'm a police officer," and "What color is your lost purse?" Peace and stability will reign in Shiyan as foreigners need not fear an inability to communicate in Chinese. The best part of all this is those Shiyaners who really follow this English language program can come away from it speaking English with a beautiful Oklahoma accent; that's right, yours truly was commissioned to read each of the 100 English sentences twice to provide a standard English pronunciation. It was a fun gig, and the TV personnel were wonderful in the filming of the series. My friend Romano works in the Advertising Department at the TV station, and he was the host of the program. He was decent enough to invite me to participate, and the rewards of that opportunity keep coming. Wednesday, after our awesome study, Romano and his colleagues invited Barry and me to join them for lunch at a special restaurant in the mountains. The restaurant is famous for serving up a whole goat barbecue style. It's rather expensive, but the restaurant is a patron of the TV station and invites them out for a meal a couple times a year. We were fortunate enough to join them on this occasion. The meat was delicious, and they served real bread which seemed to bring Barry nearly to tears. After eating what felt like pounds of meat, we were brought to a back room for a second meal of organ and blood soup. It was better than it sounds.
Wednesday only got better with a meat-induced nap, a game of volleyball, and a losing bout of poker.
Today was yet another awesome day: Isaiah study followed by the best post office experience of my life (I left the building smiling!), a delicious and recently improved (if one can improve upon perfection) crunchy taco, the first meeting of the Finer Things Club where we discussed One Hundred Years of Solitude and practiced our Spanish pronunciation of the same four names (for thirty some different characters), Muslim noodles for dinner, item after item checked off of my list of things to do, our weekly John study, China launches into space, sweet sisters (another Barry phrase!) watching Hairspray, and a full house to round out the day.
Tomorrow we leave for Beijing. It's already the best day of my life.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
LUCY
Our kitten hasn't eaten in eleven days (since we got her). We took her to the vet last week, and they said she had a cold. They gave us a four day supply of medicine which we force-fed her. She improved slightly but still refused to eat. This morning I took her back to the vet with the aid of Halley. She had a 41 degree temperature (105.8 degree Fahrenheit!). The vet said it was possible Lucy has some sickness which would be very expensive to treat. First, they would need to run a test to determine if she had the sickness, which I agreed to. It cost 80 yuan and took about five minutes to conclude that she has "viral gastroenteritis", also known as the stomach flu. The treatment for the stomach flu consists of taking Lucy to the vet everyday for four days to be given three shots each visit. The vet said there's only about a 30-40% chance that the treatment will be successful. If she doesn't show signs of improvement after two days, they will stop treatment, and we'll have to have Lucy put to sleep. They say it might cost about two hundred yuan (approximately $30) for the treatment and 50 yuan to have her put to sleep. I asked the vet if it were her cat, what she would do. She said most Chinese would give up and put the cat to sleep figuring that animals aren't worth the expense. Jessica and I, however, have become seriously attached to Lucy in the last eleven days so we decided rather quickly that we're going to fight the flu. Lucy had her first set of shots today. Now we play the waiting game.
Our kitten hasn't eaten in eleven days (since we got her). We took her to the vet last week, and they said she had a cold. They gave us a four day supply of medicine which we force-fed her. She improved slightly but still refused to eat. This morning I took her back to the vet with the aid of Halley. She had a 41 degree temperature (105.8 degree Fahrenheit!). The vet said it was possible Lucy has some sickness which would be very expensive to treat. First, they would need to run a test to determine if she had the sickness, which I agreed to. It cost 80 yuan and took about five minutes to conclude that she has "viral gastroenteritis", also known as the stomach flu. The treatment for the stomach flu consists of taking Lucy to the vet everyday for four days to be given three shots each visit. The vet said there's only about a 30-40% chance that the treatment will be successful. If she doesn't show signs of improvement after two days, they will stop treatment, and we'll have to have Lucy put to sleep. They say it might cost about two hundred yuan (approximately $30) for the treatment and 50 yuan to have her put to sleep. I asked the vet if it were her cat, what she would do. She said most Chinese would give up and put the cat to sleep figuring that animals aren't worth the expense. Jessica and I, however, have become seriously attached to Lucy in the last eleven days so we decided rather quickly that we're going to fight the flu. Lucy had her first set of shots today. Now we play the waiting game.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
IS THIS A GOOD ACTIVITY?
"I was just about to find another activity. That's not a good activity....That's what we were supposed to come up with. That's the language my mom used with us, you know. We're four years old - 'Come up with a good activity.' We're like sittin' in mud. 'Is this a good activity?'" - BRIAN REGAN
Yesterday eleven of my students missed class to take part in a "dizziness" test. These students will be acting as guides at the Wudang International Kung Fu Festival coming up in October. To make sure they will be able to handle the altitude of Mt. Wudang, they were tested yesterday so as to avoid a potentially embarrassing spectacle in front of countless foreigners during the festival. Actually, I don't really understand what they did yesterday (I filled in the blanks with personal assumptions as to the purpose of a so-called "dizziness" test); all I know is that eleven of my best students weren't in class. So, instead of following my lesson plans for the day with a third of my class missing, I decided to play OUTBURST with them. I gave each group a category, and they came up with ten words/phrases that fit into that category. One category was - ACTIVITIES I MIGHT DO AT PEOPLE'S PARK. The following is the list of activities the students came up with:
ACTIVITIES I MIGHT DO AT PEOPLE'S PARK
1) save the people who fall into the water
2) feed the monkeys
3) fly kates
4) go to WC
5) take photos
6) climbing
7) catching fish
8) eat
9) watching flowers
10) ??
This list gives new meaning to a "good" activity. I think my new favorite activity will be "saving the people who fall into the water." What's YOUR good activity?
MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
I currently have four mooncakes sitting on my kitchen table waiting for someone to consume them. It will not be me. I've tried for three years to love mooncakes - or to at least choke a whole one down. I just can't get my stomach to enjoy red bean, dried egg yolk, or strange, green pasty filling with unidentifiable nuts. I did have a fruit-filled one that was delectable. So, mooncakes - the bane of my Mid-Autumn Festival experience. All in all, though, I enjoy Mid-Autumn Festival. We have three days off for the holiday (except we don't because we never teach on Saturday and Sunday - two of the "free" days). We were blessed this weekend with visitors from Wuhan, Xiangfan and Danjiangkou. Saturday a few of us went to a reservoir nearby we just found out about - TouYan Reservoir. It has decent hiking (great scenery but not physically challenging) and plenty of places for swimming. Sunday we celebrated Zoe's 21st birthday. Monday we went to the large Yellow Dragon Reservoir that's about an hour or so from our end of town. We rented a boat, swam, ate, played games, socialized. Jessica, Barry and I swam a ways to these huge rocks where Barry led the way in jumping off of them. Not to be outdone (though we later were when Barry did a flip off of them), Jessica and I crawled shakily to the top of the rocks, regained some composure, jumped off mentally into the water and hit our heads mentally, stood shaking on the rocks awhile longer, regained composure, jumped off mentally again, froze on the rocks, then finally took the exhilarating plunge. Well, I don't know what was going through Jessica's head, but I assume her thoughts before the jump were about as schizophrenic as my own. It was great fun, and I'm so proud that Barry and Jessica are my fellow laborers and my fellow dare-devils.
Well, it's raining again. Aside from not wanting to descend the hill in the rain to acquire lunch (we're going to subsist on Jessica's stash of chicken nuggets if she isn't electrocuted by her temperamental oven first), my plans for the day lie unaffected by the weather. I have various tasks I need to complete that involve the Internet and our book of the month - One Hundred Years of Solitude - to get into. Cheers!
"I was just about to find another activity. That's not a good activity....That's what we were supposed to come up with. That's the language my mom used with us, you know. We're four years old - 'Come up with a good activity.' We're like sittin' in mud. 'Is this a good activity?'" - BRIAN REGAN
Yesterday eleven of my students missed class to take part in a "dizziness" test. These students will be acting as guides at the Wudang International Kung Fu Festival coming up in October. To make sure they will be able to handle the altitude of Mt. Wudang, they were tested yesterday so as to avoid a potentially embarrassing spectacle in front of countless foreigners during the festival. Actually, I don't really understand what they did yesterday (I filled in the blanks with personal assumptions as to the purpose of a so-called "dizziness" test); all I know is that eleven of my best students weren't in class. So, instead of following my lesson plans for the day with a third of my class missing, I decided to play OUTBURST with them. I gave each group a category, and they came up with ten words/phrases that fit into that category. One category was - ACTIVITIES I MIGHT DO AT PEOPLE'S PARK. The following is the list of activities the students came up with:
ACTIVITIES I MIGHT DO AT PEOPLE'S PARK
1) save the people who fall into the water
2) feed the monkeys
3) fly kates
4) go to WC
5) take photos
6) climbing
7) catching fish
8) eat
9) watching flowers
10) ??
This list gives new meaning to a "good" activity. I think my new favorite activity will be "saving the people who fall into the water." What's YOUR good activity?
MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
I currently have four mooncakes sitting on my kitchen table waiting for someone to consume them. It will not be me. I've tried for three years to love mooncakes - or to at least choke a whole one down. I just can't get my stomach to enjoy red bean, dried egg yolk, or strange, green pasty filling with unidentifiable nuts. I did have a fruit-filled one that was delectable. So, mooncakes - the bane of my Mid-Autumn Festival experience. All in all, though, I enjoy Mid-Autumn Festival. We have three days off for the holiday (except we don't because we never teach on Saturday and Sunday - two of the "free" days). We were blessed this weekend with visitors from Wuhan, Xiangfan and Danjiangkou. Saturday a few of us went to a reservoir nearby we just found out about - TouYan Reservoir. It has decent hiking (great scenery but not physically challenging) and plenty of places for swimming. Sunday we celebrated Zoe's 21st birthday. Monday we went to the large Yellow Dragon Reservoir that's about an hour or so from our end of town. We rented a boat, swam, ate, played games, socialized. Jessica, Barry and I swam a ways to these huge rocks where Barry led the way in jumping off of them. Not to be outdone (though we later were when Barry did a flip off of them), Jessica and I crawled shakily to the top of the rocks, regained some composure, jumped off mentally into the water and hit our heads mentally, stood shaking on the rocks awhile longer, regained composure, jumped off mentally again, froze on the rocks, then finally took the exhilarating plunge. Well, I don't know what was going through Jessica's head, but I assume her thoughts before the jump were about as schizophrenic as my own. It was great fun, and I'm so proud that Barry and Jessica are my fellow laborers and my fellow dare-devils.
Well, it's raining again. Aside from not wanting to descend the hill in the rain to acquire lunch (we're going to subsist on Jessica's stash of chicken nuggets if she isn't electrocuted by her temperamental oven first), my plans for the day lie unaffected by the weather. I have various tasks I need to complete that involve the Internet and our book of the month - One Hundred Years of Solitude - to get into. Cheers!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE PET MARKET
Classes began for me last week. I'm teaching two sophomore English major courses and two sophomore non-English major courses. I had grandiose ideas about making lesson plans for the entire semester but was foiled again. It's my experience that planning for several classes in advance tends to blow up in my face. Yesterday, for instance, I met with my non-English majors for the first time. I had no roll sheet which is typical so I didn't really know what to expect from this class. I had planned for us to get right into the book instead of just killing time on the first day. However, I was immediately hit by fifty students, half of which had no English name and three-fourths of which had never had a foreign teacher before. It took an entire period just giving names to be able to call roll. The majority of the students can barely function in English and speak to me in Chinese seemingly unaware that I barely understand them. They clearly were not ready to begin using the book today so I changed my lesson plans and will have to re-evaluate everything I had planned for them for the rest of the semester. Ah, a day in the life of an English teacher in China.
Ever since our stay in Chengdu last year when we realized that China does, in fact, have adorable dogs, Jessica and I have been planning to adopt a puppy. We figured the beginning of this year was the time to do it so on Sunday morning we arose early and with two of my students went to the local pet market feeling hopeful and excited. After falling in love time and time again with countless puppies of every shape, size and color, we reluctantly came to the conclusion that the puppy meant for us was not to be found that day and comforted ourselves with the determined solution of returning the following week. Before we left the pet market, however, Jessica found herself drawn to several cages of kittens. Most of the kittens were lying in a depressed stupor, but one was crying and clawing madly at the cage daring to restrict its freedom. When we saw the kitten's frantic efforts to obtain its independence, we looked at each other and came to the only rational conclusion: we must set this kitty free! So we bought the kitten and brought her home with us. She has already greatly increased the warmth of our homes and seriously decreased our productivity. We named her Lucille Ball - Lucy for short - because of her red hair, incessant crying, and endearing neediness.
Today is Teacher's Day in China. Text messages have been pouring in since the first one that woke me up this morning wishing me happy everyday. I happen to have the day off which makes me especially appreciate the life of a teacher, or at least the life of this teacher. Everyone is feeling a little puny today - complete with congestion and weariness. It could be the weather changes or the life changes, but I'm blessed today to be able to rest and watch movies and read.
Classes began for me last week. I'm teaching two sophomore English major courses and two sophomore non-English major courses. I had grandiose ideas about making lesson plans for the entire semester but was foiled again. It's my experience that planning for several classes in advance tends to blow up in my face. Yesterday, for instance, I met with my non-English majors for the first time. I had no roll sheet which is typical so I didn't really know what to expect from this class. I had planned for us to get right into the book instead of just killing time on the first day. However, I was immediately hit by fifty students, half of which had no English name and three-fourths of which had never had a foreign teacher before. It took an entire period just giving names to be able to call roll. The majority of the students can barely function in English and speak to me in Chinese seemingly unaware that I barely understand them. They clearly were not ready to begin using the book today so I changed my lesson plans and will have to re-evaluate everything I had planned for them for the rest of the semester. Ah, a day in the life of an English teacher in China.
Ever since our stay in Chengdu last year when we realized that China does, in fact, have adorable dogs, Jessica and I have been planning to adopt a puppy. We figured the beginning of this year was the time to do it so on Sunday morning we arose early and with two of my students went to the local pet market feeling hopeful and excited. After falling in love time and time again with countless puppies of every shape, size and color, we reluctantly came to the conclusion that the puppy meant for us was not to be found that day and comforted ourselves with the determined solution of returning the following week. Before we left the pet market, however, Jessica found herself drawn to several cages of kittens. Most of the kittens were lying in a depressed stupor, but one was crying and clawing madly at the cage daring to restrict its freedom. When we saw the kitten's frantic efforts to obtain its independence, we looked at each other and came to the only rational conclusion: we must set this kitty free! So we bought the kitten and brought her home with us. She has already greatly increased the warmth of our homes and seriously decreased our productivity. We named her Lucille Ball - Lucy for short - because of her red hair, incessant crying, and endearing neediness.
Today is Teacher's Day in China. Text messages have been pouring in since the first one that woke me up this morning wishing me happy everyday. I happen to have the day off which makes me especially appreciate the life of a teacher, or at least the life of this teacher. Everyone is feeling a little puny today - complete with congestion and weariness. It could be the weather changes or the life changes, but I'm blessed today to be able to rest and watch movies and read.
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