More than Surviving

I don't feel like a very good blog writer lately. There's not a whole lot going on. We are just teaching classes, hanging out with students on a constant basis, and trying our best to survive. Okay, we certainly do more than survive, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it. :)

Since I don't have much to say lately, I'll share some words from somebody else. Remember how once and a while I talk about pollution and danger on the road, but you still feel really alive here? I was reading an article by a guy named James Fallows in "The Atlantic." You can find the whole story, "How I Survived China," at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/fallows-health-china. I'm surprised I can even access this website; so many other websites are blocked. Anyway, here are some excerpts that I laughed about, because I've written about almost the same things:

"...The health situation for ordinary Chinese people is obviously no joke. After stalling, the Chinese government recently accepted a World Bank estimate that some 750,000 of its people die prematurely each year just from air pollution. Alarming upsurges in birth defects and cancer rates are reported even in the state-controlled press..."

"..."I tell my patients, the most important ‘medical’ step you can take is to put on a seat belt in a car, wear a helmet on a bike, and run for your life in crosswalks," a Chinese doctor said. Road safety is that bad..."

"...The positive aspect is, there’s a lot to take your mind off your health. “I am amazed at how well people do here, considering,” another Western-trained doctor said. “It is an exciting place. It’s a historic time. People seem to feel alive.” That made sense when I heard it—in China I had felt terrible, but alive — and makes me say that foreigners who want to go should not be deterred. They could even work on the environmental problems affecting the billion-plus permanent residents."

I agree. Sometimes you can feel so terrible here. Then other times, you feel better and more alive than at any other point in your life. Sometimes you can feel so frustrated, and then other times you can feel so incredibly content and happy. Maybe that's just life, whether you live in China or not.

Anyway, life's good, especially with relationships. However, our province, Jiangxi, is in a record drought, meaning farmers and villages are suffering even more than usual. Hundreds of thousands of people don't have access to water right now. I guess water is being diverted from the Three Gorges Dam to our city, Nanchang, and other big cities. Can you lift this up? Jiangxi is usually a soggy, rainy place, making it a great place to grow rice. Now with a very long drought, these people who literally only survive day to day are really struggling. It puts my so-called "surviving" into perspective...

Maybe now's not the time to introduce this topic, but I'm going to visit one of my good friends in Sichuan province over Spring Festival. She lives in a city called Dujiangyan, serving on a "special project" with the same organization I'm with. The majority of the place was destroyed last year, because it was closest to the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake. Thousands of students died there. Wow. I don't know what else I can say about that. You can google it and see for yourself.

I didn't intend for this to be a depressing blog! It's not meant to be that way. Lastly, I've included one of the latest pictures from one of our open houses. Can you find me?

Beauty and Solitude

On this warm Sunday afternoon, I hopped on my little blue bike and pedaled wherever my legs and the little bike could take me. I was starting to feel suffocated by people. I don't think Kansans were meant to live in gigantic Chinese cities.

Anyway, I rolled out through the front gate, and merged into the stream of other bicyclists and mopeds. I passed lots of pigs, random goats, chickens, and cows along the way, as I headed to the outskirts of the city. I also slowly biked past countless miniature plots of land where families planted their vegetable gardens right up against new apartment buildings being built.

After about 15 or 20 minutes, I arrived at the long, narrow park that cuts across a huge lake. It's like a little oasis right in the midst of a frenzy of activity and development. As soon as my bike tires hit the park, all the city sounds began to fade. Today there were only a few children, some old fishermen, and young couples meandering about.

I just kept biking until my knees began to hurt. I found a perfect spot overlooking the lake. It was also down off the path enough that nobody could tell I was a foreigner. There I sat on a grassy patch, in the midst of tall, wispy trees. The city traffic was only a faint murmur, and I just heard an occasional person creak by on a rusty bicycle. The only other sounds were stillness and the water lapping near my feet.

The stillness and beauty overwhelmed me. I read that your heart kind of dries up when you are never around nature or never feel solitude. So I immediately felt my heart being revived. It was just me and the Father sitting under the bright blue sky and on the faded green grass.

I thought to Him for a little bit, but I mostly just listened and reveled in this rare opportunity in the middle of a heavily industrialized and developing Chinese city.

Here are some pictures from the park, just to give you a glimpse. Have a restful Sabbath!

Waking up to life

Remember the post about shoddily constructed buildings? Well, early Monday evening I went outside our building for a long walk around the track. Students and babies usually play right outside our apartment building door. When I walked out this time, there were two students playing badminton.

Less than three minutes later, I saw a small crowd gathering by the door. Out of curiosity, I walked back there to look. Our Japanese teacher neighbor, who lives across from us, had been opening one of her kitchen windows. Those windows aren't exactly Pella windows. They are about four feet tall, with huge steel frames and thick blue glass. They never close properly--we have to stuff towels in the cracks. Anyway, she opened the window...and it immediately plummeted four stories, crashing into a million pieces right outside the apartment door.

Thanks to Him, those students playing badminton had just left, and my favorite babies weren't running around. If they had been there, they would have been promptly killed. Or even if I had left to go on my walk three minutes later...

Anyways, one of the trash sweepers quickly hustled to the spot, brushing up the window pieces with his gigantic twig broom. The crowd dispersed and life went back to normal. Windows falling from tall buildings isn't all that unusual, just like it's not unusual to see horrific traffic accidents on a near weekly basis. It's part of life in China.

Even though incidents like these may not be unusual, it is a reminder for me that life is extremely short. In America we can try to predict and prevent emergencies, while insulating our lives. Sometimes life in America seems too...safe. Sometimes it's so safe you feel like you aren't actually alive.

Then in China, life is real and raw. It is the complete opposite of safe. I truly think that this country needs better safety and building standards (they are basically non-existent), but at least here you learn to count each day as a blessing. At every turn, you are reminded that He has given you today. We were never guaranteed long, happy, shatter-proof days. We were only guaranteed Him and His steadfastness.

In other news, we were talking about "milestones" in class. People talked about graduating from high school, being the top of their class, etc. For some reason He gave me a burst of boldness. I told them that I had graduated in the top place of my department in college. I was considered pretty successful and so on and so forth. Then I said that never fully satisfied me or gave me hope for life. Who honestly cares if you got the best grades or internships?

So then I discussed how I came to know and trust in Him - which was the biggest milestone of my life. I told my students how they always said I was so kind and patient, but that's not because I'm a "happy foreigner." It is because of Him. They actually paid complete attention, and I started thinking, "Oh, my goodness, I can't believe I'm saying this in a Chinese classroom." But I was quite thankful for this awesome opportunity.

Please think of my students - I feel like I am starting from complete scratch and it is difficult to continue to be patient. I am also sick again - thankfully just with a cold this time.

Enjoy the pictures - they are of an open house we had last week with some of my girl students. What a blessed time. :)

Have you eaten?

So I have buckled down once again in trying to learn Chinese. My Chinese friend Amy (the one I went to Jingdezhen with) helps me with Chinese every Friday. I am finally starting to improve - very slowly but surely.

When you get over how frustrating the different tones can be, and how every word has its own distinct written character, Chinese can be pretty logical. The grammar's not too complicated, and there aren't a lot of superfluous words. I will give you an example of some Chinese sentences in pinyin and the literal translations:

"Ni chi guo le ma?" Literally: You eat? (Have you eaten?)

"Hao bu hao?" Literally: Good not good? (Okay?)

"Ni you xiong di jie mei ma?" Literally: You have older brother, younger brother, older sister, little sister? (Do you have any siblings?)

"Zhe shi wode nan pengyou." Literally: This is my man friend. (This is my boyfriend).

"Ta you mei you shu?" Literally: He has not has book? (Does he have the book?)

"Ni shi mei guo ren ma?" Literally: You are beautiful country person? (Are you an American?)

"Wo shi zhong guo ren." Literally: I am middle country person. (I am Chinese).

Isn't that really interesting? And it gets more exciting, because each word has its own tone and written character. I am pretty sure if I had been living in Spain or Germany for all this time I would be completely fluent. But I have to remember He has placed me here, even if the language makes me want to run away sometimes. :)

Like I said above, "Ni chi guo le ma," means "Have you eaten?" This is my favorite, because it is the standard greeting across China. Instead of "How are you?" people ask, "Have you eaten?" That greeting alone can give you a glimpse into Chinese culture. In the past, food was quite scarce, and people were doing well if they had eaten a meal.

Today I happened to be reading on BBC how a new "global hunger index" had been published. China has accomplished a lot in pulling many of its people out of poverty, but the hunger situation is still "serious" in China. That is about on par with many African countries. I guess China still has a long ways to go. The greeting, "Have you eaten," isn't likely to fade away any time soon...

In other news, I have started coaching a junior student for the "CCTV Cup" coming up soon. The Foreign Affairs Office at our school sent him to me to work with him. CCTV is the state-controlled television network that has a monopoly in China. The CCTV cup is a prestigious English speech contest held every year. There are first provincial contests, and the winners move on to Beijing for the final.

So this student, "Justin," has probably the best English I've heard at our school. He is pretty intense, but I enjoyed speaking at a fairly normal pace, while using decent-sized vocabulary words. I'm actually really excited to help him. It is something different to do, and it is challenging.

Today he came during my office hours, and I looked over his speech he wrote about science and culture. I offered a lot of suggestions, and we even had lively discussions throughout - about things like nuclear weapons, the limitations of traditional Chinese education, and leaders who speak flowery, but meaningless words. This weekend he will memorize his speech and then we will practice how he delivers his speech. I'll let you know how it goes!

Enjoy your wonderful weekend!

Life on a firm foundation

A highlight of each week is when Jodi and I hold our open houses for students. We invite about 15 or 20 different students to our apartment once a week. They are usually deliriously excited to come. This past weekend we invited Jodi's students over (my old students). It was wonderful getting to hang out with my old baby students and it was great seeing Jodi interact with them. I think they have love in their hearts for both of us. As you can see by the pictures they still seem fond of their former teacher, Miss Laura. They practically suffocated and strangled me from excitement as we took pictures.

And as I learn to love my new students without forgetting my old ones, I've been thinking a lot about boldness. It seems like I suddenly woke up and realized my time is limited here. Yes, I have many more months here at Blue Sky, but then that's it - I'll most likely be going to another part of China next year. Every word and action should be pointing people to Him. Sure, most students seem in love with Miss Laura, but I want them to be in love with the Creator.

People's hearts have been set for eternity, and I don't know if they realize it. Chinese buildings sometime remind me of their mindset. Most buildings are built without enforced building codes. Huge highrises and department stores are hastily constructed from extremely iffy looking, crumbly brick and thin concrete. It is all done by hand.

But then they spend probably twice the amount of time working on the outside of the building, applying glossy paint and fake stone or flashy signs. On the outside it will be gleaming (at least for a few months). But on the inside, it is like a shell that begins to deteriorate almost immediately. Plaster falls down, walls leak, some buildings even collapse. Apparently buildings are built in China with a demolition date already in mind.

And that's somewhat like people. They live only for today, neglecting what's inside of them (their hearts and souls), while taking care of the outside, just trying to keep it all together and running after things that can never truly satisfy. Most of my students seem happy and stylish on the outside, but as I get to know them better, cracks are revealed in their facade. Many of them are discouraged, fearful, anxious, empty, and hopeless. You can't build a house or a life on shifting sand... If only they can know the Father, who is the only sturdy and lasting foundation!

In other news, I'm always fascinated by China's propaganda, which is usually displayed on the streets on red banners. Propaganda doesn't have a bad connotation here. One of the most popular slogans of late has been to build a "harmonious society." I've heard that from my students more times than I can count.

And I was browsing on NPR's website, I found some other slogans that the Communist Party is considering... Which ones do you think are the most catchy?

"Hail the great success of our country's reform and opening-up and socialist modernization!"

"Build a socialist harmonious society and promote social equity and justice!"

"Adhere to the independent foreign policy of peace and unswervingly pursue the road of peaceful development!"

"Adhering to and improving the system of regional autonomy by ethnic minorities, so as to consolidate and develop socialist relations among different ethnic groups based on equality, solidarity, mutual assistance and harmony."

Joining the Bicycle Population

The holiday has wrapped up and it's back to teaching! No more holidays for the next four months. And what a holiday! It was a lot better than last year, because this year I have friends and know my way around town. Since going to Jingdezhen, I've hung out with a few old students and friends.

On Wednesday, one of my old students (who is now Jodi's student), Brian, picked us up in a car. Several other old, sweet students came. Brian somehow convinced his 20 year old cousin to come to Nanchang to drive us around in his cousin's brand new bread van.

Bread vans are relatively inexpensive, thinly constructed "vans" that are popular in China. It is more like riding in a paper box. But, still, it was fun to ride around town with some of our students. The cousin, however, was extremely nervous and didn't know his way around Nanchang in holiday-rush traffic. He was almost shaking, and he forgot to shift gears many times. At one point he dropped us off under an overpass in the middle of the city to find parking, and we lost him for nearly an hour.

However, we finally made it to where we were going. We visited a 1,000 year old temple and pagoda in the middle of the city. The Buddhist temple was quite active, and people wanted us to burn incense. That was a great opportunity to explain why we wouldn't do that. We were respectful, but firm.

Afterwards, we wandered around the annual temple fair (see the "Where's Waldo" pictures of me in the thick of it that Jodi took). We went last year, and this time it didn't overwhelm me as much.

We parted with them in the afternoon and then my old student and friend, Wendy, came by after arriving back in Nanchang on the train. We took the bus downtown, where I had just come from, and we bargained for a bicycle. There was a whole street lined with bicycles for sale on the sidewalks. And there were so many choices - do you want this bike with one gear in gray, or this bike with one gear in black? Or how about this bike with one gear in dark blue?

Bicycles are more prevalent than cars, and they still look just about the same as they did in 1950. I ended up buying a bicycle which the shop owners claimed was made in America. I told them that was impossible, and they weren't too happy I said that. I still ended up buying it, though, because it was the biggest one I could find, although it was still too small. And they threw in a basket and bell. It also comes with only one gear and a rack on the back for a friend to sit on while I pedal. It is a very typical Chinese bike, but I am proud of it.

So we finished bargaining for it just as rush hour hit - in the middle of downtown. I had to figure out how to get it back to campus, which is a 25 minute bus ride away. My only choice was to ride it back. Let's just say that I was thinking to the Father most of the time. So I merged into the steady, thick stream of other bicyclists and mopeds with Wendy perched on the back.

I'm pretty sure I caused a nice spectacle. It's rather difficult to navigate a too-small, wobbly bicycle through crazy traffic in a city of 4 million people with a 110 pound girl sitting on the back of it. For several minutes, I was swerving around trying to get my balance and not run into other bicyclists. There was one point where I very narrowly missed running over a live duck, which was for sale on the curb. I don't know how Wendy didn't fall off because of my poor driving skills. I think Chinese people are born riding on the back of bikes. In addition, everybody was very amused, confused, or practically in shock seeing the giant foreigner pedaling right alongside them.

After about 10 minutes of this, I convinced Wendy to take the bus back to campus and I'd meet her there after a while. So I continued to pedal all the way back to old campus by myself. Maybe I should spare you all the details (especially my parents), but I traversed alongside the Chinese across countless jammed intersections and roundabouts, with buses and cars and motorbikes everywhere. It was pretty thrilling.

I actually ended up getting back to old campus before Wendy, because her bus was stuck in the traffic. And I was so thankful to be alive! So I've also included a picture of my new bicycle with this blog post. On Thursday, the last day of our holiday, Jodi and I pedaled to a nearby lake. Don't worry, I'm being careful!

Porcelain City

And the holiday continues! On Sunday I left on a bus very early in the morning with my Chinese friend, Amy. We headed northeast for a few hours to a small famous city, Jingdezhen. It is the center of the porcelain making industry in China and probably the world.

First, riding buses long distances aren't exactly what you think. Highways seem pretty scarce, because the majority of people still don't have personal cars. That means the narrow roads are filled with bicycles, running children, people playing basketball, oxen pulling old wooden carts, chickens, mopeds, and gigantic trucks hauling coal or rock or chemicals. Farmers also spread out their hay and berries on the side of the road to dry, so the bus also has to swerve around that. And there are always interesting things to look at as we only go about 40 miles per hour at the fastest. On the way back to Nanchang yesterday, there was a car totally engulfed in flames. People just stared at it.

Anyway, we finally reached Jingdezhen, which is surrounded by little mountains. It reminded me of a mini-Nanchang, although the people seemed a lot more polite and friendly. And the city's only industry is making pottery. In Jingdezhen you either make pottery or sell it. There were countless stores and workshops dedicated to porcelain. Even the bridges and streets were lined with porcelain lamp posts.

There are also many rich Chinese from all over China, who drive in to buy expensive porcelain to take back home to Beijing or Shanghai or wherever. Supposedly there are also foreigners who sometimes come in tourist groups, but I never saw any. And I didn't look like I could really afford any expensive fine China, since I came rolling into town with only the clothes on my back--shorts and a T-shirt, which I wore for two days to try to be more "Chinese." So people didn't seem to expect me to buy anything, which was nice.

The visit was pretty successful in huge part to Amy's friend, Chen Long, who is also a student at Blue Sky, but doesn't speak any English. We got to visit his uncle's store and his family's store that each specialize in selling... porcelain! He was a great host and easy going guy, although he seemed overly fond of walking. We seriously trekked for several miles a day. My feet were swollen, but I loved walking everywhere and seeing everything.

And we sure saw everything - museums for imperial porcelain from the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, most every store in Jingdezhen that sold ceramics, and the huge compound of workshops in the hills that is still active. We saw tons of men and women making pottery. There were also countless kilns for firing the clay.

We had a wonderful time visiting someplace different. It seemed to be a fairly cultured city, although it was still certainly Chinese. Our hotel was really seedy and dirty, and when we ate hot noodles and meat baozi for breakfast on the street, there were chickens running right underneath our feet. We also counted the rats in the bushes for fun while we ate.

Thanks for reading about this little adventure! I really enjoyed it, especially getting to hang out with Amy, and seeing something different. Enjoy the pictures!