Look for the good

(My favorite cafeteria in China at its least busy time. This picture is from last week, but I ate there again today).


Happy end-of-April greetings!

Your Monday is probably just beginning, but my Monday is nearing its close. It was a rather uneventful day, but still blessed in little ways.

My first class this morning had a paltry 18 students--from a peak of 45 students. They have all left for recruiting. The class went well, though, because it was more laid-back and they had more opportunities to speak. I also let them sit down when they talk (usually students here stand up whenever they answer a question or speak).

Then at lunch I went with two students to the student cafeteria--one of my favorite haunts on campus. The food isn't really that good, but for some reason I get a lot of energy when I walk into the very crowded and chaotic place. And we don't have to spend 30 minutes trying to decide what to order.

I ate with Karen and Sarah. Karen is Wendy's roommate. Wendy is the girl whose hometown I'm visiting for the short May holiday. Karen told me how excited Wendy is to have me come. Apparently when I told Wendy I could visit with her for four days, Wendy spent the entire day talking about it with her friends. She also called her parents... and her grandparents, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and close friends. She told them about my visit, and that they should "prepare."

Oh, my goodness. I don't know what that means. Later my team and I were laughing that the whole town will probably turn out for the occasion. We envisioned a parade, people dancing, and banners declaring, "We warmly welcome you, white tofu-skinned woman!" It will be an adventure, I'm pretty sure.

Then my two sweet, well-meaning students once again declared how they are concerned about my marriage. People, why must we discuss this every day? I'm not exactly dead and buried yet. They insist I must find a nice Chinese man to marry. Today they suggested that I marry a "professor." I think most of my 190 students are much more concerned about my lack of a boyfriend than I am. Actually, I'm not concerned at all.

In other news, there were a mere 14 students in my second class this afternoon. These seem to be the ones who have held out against the head teacher, and somehow haven't left for recruiting. So I tried to make the class as meaningful as possible for them.

We talked about advertising, and they did mini-commercials for different products. My favorite was probably for toothpaste. Apparently there is a famous toothpaste in China, "Hei Ren," which translates into "Black man" toothpaste, that the students included in their commercials. I've seen rows of toothpaste boxes in the supermarket with a picture of a really crazy picture of a very dark black man with a top hat and gleaming white teeth, smiling cheesily. But I had no idea that the toothpaste was actually called "Black man." Wow, you learn something new every day here.

Then after classes today Shannon and I wanted to take a bread van back to old campus instead of cramming onto the city bus. We sat in the bread van waiting for the driver to find more passengers. We sat there and had to listen to his chit-chat, which were are getting to understand more. He went on a long description of how our noses are such much different and bigger than Chinese people. He pointed to his nose, our nose, his nose, our nose, and so on and so forth. We were like, "okay, dude, we get it." Actually one of the sort of outdated phrases for foreigners in China is "da bizi," which is "big nose." Then my roommate went to get a hair wash at the hair salon we sometimes go to. One of the guys there inquired about my whereabouts to her. He asked, "Where is the tall girl with the tall nose?"

Anyway, I think I've exhausted most of the stories from today. Enjoy your day! I leave you with a sentence from a book I'm reading. It helps me in adapting to this culture, which can still be very strange and different: "Look for the good and the beautiful, and when you see it you will see [His] grace." Words to live by in China...

Empty classrooms

(Eating dinner at our favorite restaurant with one of Jonathan's students and two of mine, who are on the right).


Weep, weep, weep. Today I walked into one of my classes, and there were only 20 students, down from a class size of 45! The rest have gone recruiting.

And now I also found out that my favorite, special student/best friend has been pressured so much to recruit that she will most likely leave very soon for the remainder of the term.

It just makes my blood boil in frustration and helplessness. I felt a lot of despair today. I was disappointed that more than half of my students are leaving, but this news was much more serious for me. She and I hang out several days a week, we study the book together, we study Chinese and English together, and we talk about life. And we can laugh about anything and everything. I don't know if I can handle it. She's one of my best friends I've ever had.

I can't and shouldn't say much about how these students are pressured to leave. But I will say that they must not lose face. In addition, if they don't leave to recruit, they will not be eligible for future scholarships. Can you spell "b-l-a-c-k-m-a-i-l?" It doesn't make any sense! They are here to learn.

Anyway, things are different here, and there's not much I can do about it. My classes may dwindle to 10 people by next week, and it's hard to be motivated to teach or write lessons if nobody will be there.

Okay, I'm finished venting...

Tonight one of my boy students will be studying the word with Jonathan. My special student also came to help out, because she is classmates with them. We ate dinner together, and my heart was so content, I thought it would bust. I love these students so much--I never thought I would feel this way. The rest of the problems and issues and strivings on earth really pale in comparison to loving these precious people, and helping point them to truth. Please continue to lift them up!

And one more thought... Last night our team was studying Stephen in the word, who died for him. It got me thinking about what it means to sacrifice everything for him, and then I thought it might be more challenging to live every day dedicated to him, than to die.

Anyway, now I leave you with some unique, random videos.

(This is for you, Andrea--here's some dancing at dinner. This is Rachael's birthday dinner on Monday, after we got back from Wuhu and hadn't slept in 2 days)

(Craving some cabbage and pig bladder? Help yourself in the teacher's cafeteria)

Nice to meet you, too, Wuhu!

(With a cute, sweaty baby who was our neighbor on the train).
(International relations at its finest. A baby from our organization greeting a Chinese baby in Wuhu).
(Woo-hoo for Wuhu on the choo-choo train).
(Making my students write on the board during class today).
(The infamous lake on campus has had most of its water drained)


First things first. We've arrived safely back in Nanchang after a great few days in Wuhu! Woo-hoo! Our train pulled into the Nanchang station at 5:30 a.m. on Monday. Although we hadn't slept on the train really, we were off and running for the rest of the day--teaching, etc.

Wuhu is a provincial city, like Nanchang, but slightly less chaotic and gritty. For some reason, I really enjoyed the city and university where we stayed. About 30 people from our organization met up to celebrate a belated Easter and hang out together. It was fun fellowshipping (is that a word?) with a wide variety of believers teaching in various cities in this region.

Saturday was the only good weather day. We walked the tree-lined city, which is all hilly and quaint. We also hung out with the other teams and ate good food. Somehow I also ended up at a frilly place with some other girls for an hour-and-a-half facial for 50 kuai ($7).

It was pure luxury. I've never had a facial before in my life, so I don't know if it's similar in America, but it was quite enjoyable. Perfect, porcelain-looking women poured us tea. Then they put us in an all pink room where they massaged our heads and arms and wiped gallon after gallon of face-stuff on us. I have no clue what they put on our faces, but it was still so relaxing and quiet!

I don't really remember what else we did. I mainly just remember the overnight train trips, which are always memorable. You're almost guaranteed that you won't sleep with the constant jerking of the train, the chatter, the smoke, the squatty potty smell, the people snoring all around you, people getting off and on the train at all hours of the night...

But it's rather humorous being on the overnight trains here. This is a snapshot of a night on a Chinese train (about my 10th time): First, you herd from the crowded waiting room of crumpled fellow travelers. Hundreds of people, including all the people precariously balancing gigantic bags on their shoulders with poles, are corraled through to the platform. The platform is filled with old-fashioned trains, with smoke and/or steam filling the usually very dimly lit area. We joke that it is the "troops coming home, World War I edition."

The uniformed attendants examine your ticket while everyone surges onto the train cars. Then you walk through the very narrow, stuffy, smoky cars to find your hard sleeper bunk in a car full of bunks, stacked 3 beds high. Your fellow passengers usually look curiously at the foreigners. They smoke, talk about these strange white people (talk which I can understand more each time), and smoke some more.

This time there was a woman across from me. She looked so weathered by life, but she had a precious 4 month old baby, who sat rather lethargically with sweaty hair. We got to hold the tiny baby, who had five layers of clothes on (see the pictures). Then the woman sang the little baby to sleep in her arms and sheltered her the rest of the night. They got off the train at about 3 a.m.

Periodically a woman would come with a broom made of twigs to sweep around the dirt on the floor. She also rearranged our shoes to tidy things up.

There was also a man near me who liked to take smoking breaks at 2 a.m. I woke up from a restless sleep to find this man sticking his head out of the train window, politely trying to keep the smoke from the car. It didn't help, though. The smoke just billowed back into the car...

Anyway, back to the news here. Some of my students have started to leave for recruiting. Recruiting is causing a lot of anxiety among most of my students. They are pressured so much to leave to recruit other schools, and most of them don't want to go. Thus, the students either give in and go, abandoning their studies for the rest of the school year, or they stay and feel quilty, spending many sleepless nights worrying about what their angry head teachers might do.

So depsite the beautiful weather, its sometimes easy to feel despair. For example, every day I look out the classroom window and have a great view of the small, pretty lake in the middle of campus. There is a pagoda, which is supposed to inspire the students every day to live wonderful lives dedicated to knowledge and their country. But it isn't inspiring or pretty to me anymore. I really can't look at it at all, without feeling sadness.

I just learned that this is apparently the place of choice for suicides on campus. During tomb-sweeping holiday alone, two students tried to drown themselves. One did drown, and the other was saved by somebody. I just think about how they most likely didn't know Him; how they have never been able to experience true life.

There have been several other drownings there this semester, but no one really talks about it or addresses it. Some people actually laugh about it, albeit in a nervous, uncomfortable way.

At the end of one of my classes yesterday, I was motivated (perhaps by Him) to momentarily address the issue, since nobody will really talk about it. I sincerely said that they don't have to be hopeless, and if they ever need to talk or need someone to listen, to please, please come talk with me. The students so often feel overwhelmed and empty. There is so much pressure on them from all angles of society that they don't think they can continue. And, ultimately, the answer to their purpose in life can't be answered by any boyfriend, girlfriend, studies, college degree, or country.

I didn't think anything more of it. Then after class, I was leaving the classroom. One girl who hardly ever talks, and seems withdrawn this semester, rushed up to me. She said, "Miss Laura! Please, what is your phone number? I might want to come talk to you." Hopefully she will.

Is that a heavy way to end this extremely long blog entry? Perhaps. Especially because my heart feels totally broken for these dear students. But... it's not going to be the end of the story. He redeems and restores. Please continue to think of these students--that they can come to know Him in the midst of their struggles.

But I'll leave you on a happy note. One of my students wrote me a note saying good-bye (I technically can't tell my students yet that I'm returning next year). Here's what he wrote:

"Four days later I will go home for a long long holiday, because our school is very specical in our country that you know... It difficult but I will try. I hear you will go back to America and never teach me, what a pity! I will miss our happy life during this years. I also rember the first lesson I take brave to take photo with you. I will miss you, a special one in my life. Best wishes for you!"

Tofu skin

(These are my rambunctious Business English kiddos--all 50 of them!)


Happy Thursday, faithful blog readers!

There hasn't been too much happening lately. We are just teaching, loving, eating, and sometimes sleeping. The weather has been pretty warm--about 80 or 85--but I'm not complaining, because at least my toes and hands aren't frozen anymore.

My students have been presenting about Chinese culture this whole week. It's been a good project for them, I think. They get to work with a partner and practice speaking English in front of the class, while trying to be creative. All of these aspects are challenging for them.

There have been some great topics--the Great Wall, Beijing Olympics, ancient writing, traditional paper-cutting, etc. Several of my students also sang songs. Even a really painfully shy boy in one of my classes sang a high-pitched rendition of "One night in Beijing." It seems like that is a mandatory song for every Chinese person to know. Toward the end of his singing, the whole class joined in.

My favorite presentation was probably about tofu, though. This group brought several soggy samples of tofu that were dripping all over my papers on the podium. They also brought "stinky tofu," which indeed smells awful, and all the students wanted to eat it.

However, the crowning moment came at the end of their presentation. They posed a peculiar question to the class: "Can you guess who has skin like tofu, tender and white? Miss Laura, of course."

Wow, I didn't see that coming--just like most things in China. Tender tofu skin? Words can't even explain... :)

In other news, yesterday Jonathan and I went to the new campus back gate to eat lunch with my student, John. He is fascinated with the Son and wants to read the word. So he will be studying the word with Jonathan! Please keep that in your thoughts!

Well, this is my last blog for a few days probably. My team and I are taking the slow train north to a city in Anhui Province, Wuhu. (Pronounced "Woo-hoo"). We will be there from Friday to Monday.

Thanks as always for your thoughts and love and encouragement. Have a great weekend!

Live from Blue Sky

Today was another beautiful day. It actually didn't rain, and the humidity was quite bearable. I taught a couple classes, and then came home at lunch-time, like every Tuesday.

I decided to take bus 231 and ride to Wal-mart, which is always a mini-adventure. When I got off the bus, there was a China Post, which is my bank here. It's actually difficult to find a China Post that will give you your money from your account, but this one did, so I took the chance.

It wasn't crowded at all. The lady withdrew money from my account and held onto it while I signed the receipt. I always just sign my English name, but this woman wasn't satisfied. In Chinese, she insisted that I sign my Chinese name in Chinese. I told her I didn't have a Chinese name. She insisted I did, and pointed to two characters on the printed receipt, which roughly sounds like, "Lao La."

The woman was slightly exasperated and wasn't going to give me my money. She called the bank guard over, who explained the same thing to me in Chinese. So, squinting at the incredibly tiny and smudged print, I tried my best to imitate the characters of my newly discovered Chinese name. I also tried my best to write the character strokes in the proper order. If they wanted me to write in Chinese, I wanted it to be quality. The guard was satisfied and assured me, "good, good." I, Lao La, was finally permitted to carry my kuai out of China Post. I had passed the test.

Then at Wal-mart I stopped to examine the unique specials on display. My favorite was a special on mosquito netting for your bed. It's that time of year again, folks! Are you tired of your old mosquito netting? Now for a limited time only, you can buy a beautiful set designed to look like hand-made lace! And it comes in a variety of colors--bright yellow, purple, and red, of course, to match any decor!

After examining the high-quality mosquito netting, I found a little piece of frozen chicken. I put it in a bag, and took it to the three ladies manning the scale. (Every job has about three people). I glanced at the scale to see how much it cost, and was slightly surprised because it was more expensive than usual. Another lady said to the other lady, "Oh, the foreigner doesn't understand." Then she looked at me and said, "Do you understand what we're saying?" I don't think she expected an answer. But I replied in my best Chinese, "Yes, I understand what you're saying." They all looked surprised, but I didn't wait around for them to ask me any other questions. I wanted to leave them under the illusion that I had amazing Chinese and was entirely fluent. :)

Anyway, I am indeed understanding more Chinese these days, and can communicate slightly better. I've been studying and practicing a lot more, which helps, of course!

In other news, a girl at the Blue Sky radio station has been asking my teammates and me to be on the Blue Sky radio station, which is blasted across the campus on loudspeakers to the 40,000 students. Jonathan took one for the team, and agreed to be on the station. Unfortunately I wasn't there to hear it, but I heard it was amazing and watched a video Jodi filmed. We listened to the part where students can call in and ask him questions. Only one student called, and it was one of his students "Jessica." Here is the conversation broadcast over the campus:

"Hello, Mr. Jonathan! This is your student, Jessica. Do you remember me?"

"Yes, Jessica. Hello."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jonathan, but I did not go to your class today. I'm very sorry."

"That's okay, Jessica, no big deal."

"I wish you happy everyday!"

"Thank you."

"I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you, too."

The End.

And now I leave you with a little video Jodi took on the city bus. These are the roads at their emptiest and calmest. Enjoy the ride and the sights.

Summertime

(With my Class 2. I particularly like the poster on the back wall with the communist party flag and rainbow. The two boys in front despise school, but now they sit very attentively in the front row of my class everyday!)
(Crazy picture, I suppose).


Well, summer's here, folks! We have been told that Nanchang has only two seasons: summer and winter. Winter has suddenly turned into summer overnight, it seems. It has been raining a lot, so now it is just hot and muggy. Everything is damp and smells like a shower. Even my watch has water under the glass.

I took a shower this morning, and I left for school with my hair nice and dry and puffy. Ten hours later, it is a limp little sponge. Oh, Nanchang!

This weekend was very blessed, since it was my first Easter in China. On Sunday we went to fellowship, and then ate lunch at a "fancy" Chinese restaurant all together. It ended up being 24 kuai per person, which is twice as much as most restaurants. It cost a whole $3.50.

Today was a good day. My students are giving presentations on Chinese culture. Many of the topics include Chinese clothes, traditional music, national dances, etc. One group did a Chinese version of "Oprah," which was clever. Another group sang Peking Opera at the top of their lungs. It was really intense. Another group discussed dumplings, or "jiaozi." Here is their recipe to make dumplings:

1.) Mix the flour and the water.
2.) Make into some round and thin shapes.
3.) Prepare some meat and make into mince.
4.) Put the meat in the middle of the shapes.
5.) Put the dumplings into the boiling water.
6.) Just wait, you'll eat the delicious food.

Doesn't that make your mouth water, dear readers?

Anyway, I also went to lunch at one of the cafeterias with two of my students I spend a lot of time with. We ate rice in little bamboo logs and greasy carrots and potatoes, which I managed to dump on my shirt. We also had good conversations. For example, they were very concerned about my "love life," which doesn't exist. Why, they inquired, do I not have a boyfriend? I am already 22 and don't have a guy. They are worried about this, and want to try to find me a suitable Chinese boyfriend. They think he must be "traditional," "wealthy," and at least "1.9 meters tall." I have no clue how tall 1.9 meters is, but it must be tall, because they suggested I should look in northern China for such a guy.

So I tried explaining that I'm not really very old, I can't date anybody right now, I probably couldn't marry a Chinese guy for millions of reasons, and I like to be independent. They were even more confused about this, and continue to insist that they will find me somebody.

Then one of the girls asked me to go with her to her hometown for May holiday soon. I said "yes" before I found out she has a brother my age, and that her parents own a restaurant specializing in German Shepherd meat. That will be an adventure!

Now I just got back from outside. I played catch with a football with some of my teammates and random Chinese people. Then I ran a mile. Now I'm coated in sweat. Time to take a shower, write some lessons, and forage for food. Have a great Monday!

Day of opportunities

(Class 1 this morning. My head is twice as big as everyone else's).
(Looking a lot like spring)

The past three days have been beautiful here in the 'Chang. When we have free time, we can skate, run, walk, and play badminton. I'm in heaven. And it actually got warm enough for shorts or a skirt, although it still doesn't seem to be the official "season" for that kind of attire yet. I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting for the second I can ditch these few winter clothes I've been wearing on repeat for the past 5 1/2 months.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of sorts. Nothing very exciting has happened, but I'm quite healthy (despite my allergies that go crazy because of the trees and pollution) and I've had a lot of energy during class. I feel like I'm really engaging my students again.

Yet as classes are getting better, I'm sad to report that about 1/4th of my students will be leaving soon! This university often operates like a business. In mid-April, the brightest students are pressured/strongly encouraged to return to their hometown to "recruit" more students. The students, in turn, get their grades and exam scores fixed, in addition to receiving money, for this endeavor. It's like a big pyramid scheme.

Anyway, that means about 10 people in each of my classes will be leaving very soon. They won't return until next semester. It will be nice that my classes will be smaller, but I'm losing some of my best and dearest students.

For lunch today I ate with my dear student Reborn. We walked the long way to the new campus back gate with Jodi and our friend Amy. We ate at a little restaurant on the back street, which looks sort of like a shanty town. All these little buildings and vending stands are haphazardly thrown together to serve the university's gigantic student population.

Then Reborn helped tutor me in Chinese during the lunch break back at my office. On our holiday this past Monday, she apparently went searching high and low for a Chinese textbook for me. So today she presented me with a small textbook that looks like Chinese for 10 year-old Chinese children. Somehow I have skipped straight from the most basic Chinese to intermediate-advanced Chinese.

I have no idea how I'll learn Chinese that way, but I'll try my best. Reborn doesn't seem to think it's impossible. That's what China's like. Everything can be accomplished through sheer will-power, no matter how difficult things seem. So I was just pleased that she went to all that trouble to find me a Chinese kid's textbook...

Today we were at new campus for a nearly 10 hour day. The day was completed at 5:15 with English corner. Half of English corner usually consists of my students. I think they think I'm a fine teacher, but I know they really enjoy talking to Jodi and Jonathan.

So today Jonathan and I were talking to a couple of boys from one of my classes. There is one boy who comes to my office hours every Monday to practice his English. He loved the Easter lesson, and has been trying to find everything he can about the Word. He straight out told us he wants to study it. It was amazing. So I'm going to give Jonathan his phone number, and hopefully they can have a study together. I'm also thankful that this one particular student won't be heading out for "recruiting" soon. Perhaps you can keep him in your thoughts!

Life is encouraging here. I always feel dead tired, but it is a good kind of tired.