Savoring the China life

12 days until America...

I'm still trying to savor everything around me; realizing that I probably won't see it again. Even if I do happen to return to Nanchang in the future, it won't be the same as what I experience now. For example, we are seeing an alarming influx of foreigners in our area. I used to be able to go months without spotting a foreigner on our side of town. Now it is only weeks. It's an epidemic.

I hope Nanchang and China in general never loses its innocence and quirkiness. Yesterday I was walking around a little park with one of my students, Debbie. We were meandering along, when she suddenly came to a halt, and quickly covered her eyes with her hands. I looked all around us, feeling very perplexed. In answer to my questioning look, she pointed a finger to a couple in front of who were walking and hugging each other. She whispered, "We can't walk that way. I'm so embarrassed."

I assured her that THEY were the ones who should be embarrassed, and they certainly weren't going to ruin our walk in the park. I just told her not to look, and we kept walking.

This week I noted other strange things in my classes and around town; things that have become quite normal:

Like my student fainting at the podium during her final exam speech, because of her "stomach pain," and all the girls who carried her out of the room; how I gnaw on chicken and duck bones for lunch in the cafeteria nearly every day; how I actually enjoy gnawing on chicken and duck bones; how we spit the bones on the table; how I fit so well in the crowded 220 bus; how I never have to worry about violent criminals; how one student sits in the front of my class and always peels a random giant piece of fruit with a rather large knife; how my favorite old man in our neighborhood will pause as he's digging through trash cans to smile his toothless grin at me; how we have to walk around the children going to the bathroom on the side of the street; how we use umbrellas when it is sunny outside; how we are always mindful of wearing modest clothes; how we can't say whatever is on our mind whenever we want about politics or spiritual matters; how the Chinese language has seeped into my brain; how we haul our 5 gallon drinking water up four flights of stairs once a week; how firecrackers don't make me jump anymore; how my students shout in unison, "GOOD MORNING, MISS LAURA!!" at the beginning of class...

And the list goes on! Thanks for thinking of me. I'm really starting to feel a great sense of loss. For better or worse, this has been my home, and it will be difficult not returning.


When you look up, sometimes you can see a beautiful, flowering magnolia!


Baking apple bread while communicating only in Chinese with our friends, Hannah and Lisa.


A creepy doll Jodi and I were given as a present from our Chinese friends.

Pest control

Greetings from Nanchang, which is experiencing beautiful, non life-threatening weather. It is neither too scalding hot nor too freezing cold. It's just right, and I'm so thankful! We are now only affected by things like mold and clouds of dust, dirt, and smog that we can't control. Some days I'm glad that I'm leaving when I am! I'm just tired of coughing for the past 2 years.

Anyways, it's hard to believe that it's June! Exactly 2 weeks until I leave for Shanghai, and then to America the day after that. So now we just have 2 weeks of classes and final exams left.

I'm trying to soak in the cuteness/preciousness/bizarreness of my students while I can. Today, for example, there was a dying roach on the floor of the classroom. Later, I noticed that it was gone--and it was sitting on my student Vika's desk! I couldn't hide my horror very well. It was hilarious and terrible at the same time. She was happily sitting there, while a roach wiggled its legs right on her desk.

It was even crazier, because Vika had put the bug on her desk herself. She felt sorry for it. Noticing my shock, she wrapped it in a tissue and set it back on the floor. Another student jokingly told her, "respect your pet!" Later I noticed that she made a little box out of paper, placed the roach inside, and then set it on the windowsill.

I was also amazed at how calm and normal this seemed to everyone. One student said that they have so many roaches, mice, and mosquitoes in their dormitories that the insects are "like their friends." He said this only half jokingly.

I'm also getting to soak in speaking a lot of Chinese. Last blog post I mentioned how Jodi and I ate hot pot downtown with our Chinese friends who only speak Chinese. Tonight we're having those same two girls over to bake apple bread with us.

And yesterday the Father provided an awesome opportunity for Jodi and me to tag team a spiritual conversation in Chinese with one of our sweet friends Mikey, who also really only speaks Chinese. I was reading an Anne of Green Gables book in the office, of all things, and he asked me what kinds of books I like to read. I couldn't say "fiction" in Chinese, but I could say the "Word" in Chinese. Thus, Jodi, Mikey, and I discussed the Word, the Father, and the Son--all in Chinese for a long time. It was so amazing, and by far the best Chinese conversation I've ever been a part of! It only took nearly 2 years for it to happen...But I'm sure it was His perfect timing.

And despite these wonderful conversations, parts of me will also be happy to leave. I hope it's alright to admit it, but I'm excited about grad school. And I'm excited not to be stared at anymore! :) Today I was buying a watermelon on the back street. A guy was so shocked to see me that he literally stood in the middle of the street and screamed! His jaw was also just about scraping the pavement. It's hard to remind myself that nothing's wrong with me. I'm starting to wonder, though...