China-American ties through my eyes

(Eating a fine American dinner with my friends on Sunday).

Thanks to Him, I'm finally starting to feel quite a bit better! Thanks also to you for your many thoughts! This past weekend was amazingly blessed with great studies of the Word and meals with students. I as starting to feel more like my chipper old self as I interact with my friends and students.

It's a fascinating time to be living in China as an outsider looking in. China is growing and developing at breakneck speed. Even in what the BBC calls "poor, inland" Jiangxi province (where we happen to live), life changes faster than you can blink. One day there is a street full of rickety old brick houses; the next day the street is rubble; the next month there are brand new concrete buildings. One day there is a farm on the outskirts of the city; the next day the farm is all plowed up; the next month there are 15 story apartment high-rises in its place.

It's also interesting to live in China when Americans make waves in the news here (about Google, defense weapons sales, currency appreciation etc). Do you want to know China's attitude toward America right now? It's "take the plank out of your own eye, before you criticize us." I try to avoid controversial statements on my blog, but America honestly isn't going to have any sway with China anymore. In fact, it is becoming the other way around. I respect and treasure America's freedoms and sense of justice. However, American leaders can't pretend that it can continue to lecture China. China holds much of America's economic future in its hands, especially with America's huge deficit (which just went $1 trillion deeper due to the new U.S. health care system). America literally owes China a ton of money, and it's fast losing its credibility and clout.

China and its people are losing patience, especially as it quickly develops into a world power that no one can ignore. Just because China is opening up and changing rapidly doesn't mean it will necessarily play by Western rules. In fact, it seems like they want to do the opposite. They are rightfully proud, and don't really want to head down the West's path. Whereas the key words in America tend to be "freedom," "openness," "individuality," and "rights," China functions quite well with its own key words of "harmony," "unity," and "stability."

So there's a little snapshot of how I view U.S.-China relations as a teacher in the middle of "poor, inland" China. Now I'm going to go search on Google, before it is permanently shut down here. :)

The fog is lifting

I realize that it's been a long while since I've written about anything. To be honest, I've been living in a foggy world, where I'm just trying to put one foot in front of the other. Making it to my classes is my biggest priority, and that's about all I'm able to accomplish. Some kind of virus is really hanging on to me, although I continue to feel better by the tiniest degree every day.

Oh, the weather has been gorgeous here lately! Although I haven't been able to exercise for the past week or so, it wouldn't really matter much. They have been refurbishing our old campus where we live for several months now. Everything has come under renovation, except for our apartments and the class buildings.

They are currently taking over the only possible place that we can get any form of exercise in our concrete jungle: the track. It is fenced off in a nice bright green fence now, and they are replacing the astro-turf by about an inch a day. At this rate it might be finished by summer.

Classes have been going well. This week my students created skits using new idioms we have learned, such as "eager beaver" and "pep talk." The majority of them were very creative, and you could understand most of their English.

On Friday I stayed in our office until 5 p.m., when I rode the teacher school bus back to old campus. As our bus was pulling out of the front gate, you could see a huge crowd gathering around a student who had been hit by a car. Glass was everywhere, as well as the student's shoes.

You could still see these items long after the crowds had cleared and the student had been taken away. Did that person survive? I don't know, but I'm hopeful! This is about the sixth or seventh body/injured person I've seen in the middle of the road since I've arrived in China, and it still makes me so incredibly sad.

Thanks for your thoughts! Studies and relationships are going well. Please think of my dear students' hearts!


(Hanging out with my friend and workers looking at us in curiosity).


(A lazy Saturday afternoon down on of our favorite back alleys).


(A nice little garden).


(A cute little puppy visiting us at lunchtime).

Blue eyes, why are you blue?

I'm feeling a little blue lately. I get so frustrated with my body in China. It's like it doesn't have an immune system. It comes into contact with one germ or virus and melts down. Or maybe my immune system still has to adjust to all these foreign germs.

Anyways, I have no clue what is wrong with me. I came down with a high fever and chills on Thursday night. I rested for most of Friday and the weekend. My fever is gone, but now I'm so exhausted. I feel like I got hit by a bus. I can barely lift my arms and legs to walk, let alone get to class. But somehow I've managed to get to classes... I've never felt so tired in my life. And I don't really feel any worse or better. Just the same. Oh, plus I have a headache and sore throat now. Your thoughts are always appreciated!

I taught my students the word "pep." I feel like I don't have an ounce of pep or energy. I don't mind being sick so much, but when it totally wipes you out for several plus days, I start to mind. I'm here to build relationships and teach engaging lessons. But I can barely make it to class, and can't bear to eat or talk very much. It's a little challenging...


(A little stuffed animal a student gave me. It makes me smile. It sort of looks like a germ. Maybe that's why I'm sick?)

Relying on Him

After nearly two months of being illness free, I'm sick again! Life was going pretty well here lately. I was content with my classes, hanging out with tons of students, and enjoying the increasingly warmer weather. But then last night I got a high fever and felt sick to my stomach. I had a cold, wet rag on my head the I burned through just about every 10 minutes; my head was on fire.

I slept for nearly 11 hours last night, which was great. Thankfully it is Friday, so I only had class for 2 hours today. I slept until the last possible moment, and woke up feeling slightly better. Somehow I managed to drag myself to the front gate, where I found a taxi. Class was okay, although I was half-collapsed on the podium the entire time. My students were pretty angelic today, which was helpful.

Usually I stay for lunch and office hours on Friday, but I decided it would be best to come home and rest. I usually eat lunch on Fridays with my friend Reborn. I sent her a message explaining why I couldn't come today. Her message in reply read, "What's happened with u? Why are u always sick? i'm worried about u! and pray to big father. hope u better soon!"

I guess I also have thought about why I'm often sick in China. Maybe it's so I can remember Who is in control? Maybe so I'll remember to rely on Him?

Oh, and Joelle and I were indeed on Jiangxi province's TV station. It's a little hard to believe that the following clip about the Women's Day banquet was actually considered "news," especially when most of it is just about random close-ups of Joelle and me. They show us laughing, smiling, and talking about nothing of any real value. Enjoy!

How to Buy a Chinese Newspaper

Today I was wandering around the back alleys, which is one of the my favorite past times. Everything's so earthy and colorful. Some of my favorite Chinese friends live along the alleys. I love waving at them, and then we ask each other the standard greeting in a country that has seen its share of famines in the past: "Ni chi guo le ma?" (Have you eaten?) Content that the other person has indeed eaten, we merrily part ways.

And this evening I had a different stop along my route: the newsstand. I was curious to see if Joelle and I had ended up in any of the local newspapers after yesterday's banquet. So I meandered up to the square box of a newsstand. I hoped to see one paper for Nanchang that I could buy. But I was dismayed; there were literally dozens and dozens of different newspapers to choose from. Some of the papers looked like they were from 1951. They had black-and-white pictures of soldiers or officials, and everything looked really faded. There was only one newspaper that had a colored picture on it. Some even had pictures that were sketched, not photographed.

The owner just looked at me in half curiosity, half amusement. He was probably wondering what I was looking for in his neatly stacked rows of papers. I didn't exactly want to flip through all of them, and I didn't want to say the only thing I could think of in Chinese: "Wo zhao wo." (I'm looking for me). I would sound really vain and bizarre.

In the end, I gave up, especially because I couldn't understand much of the words. And the cold wind was lashing at me, giving me wind burn. It was bitterly cold. So contrary to the title of this blog, I walked away empty handed.

Oh, and today in class we talked about jobs. When I asked about my students' parents' jobs, they also just say, "They're workers!" "Worker" is an all-encompassing term for just about every job. After I encouraged them to be more specific, I discovered that their parents had a wide-array of jobs (which were usually dangerous or extremely low-paying):

-Coal miner
-Factory worker
-Rice farmer (most of their parents fell into this category).
-Taxi driver
-Truck driver

Hopefully most of them will grow up to be teachers or translators. But I told them that there is nothing wrong with being a farmer, because a lot of them seemed ashamed. I reminded them that farmers are very important, so that we have food to eat. I think that was my Kansas background coming out in me. I have undying support for farmers worldwide.

Being a Woman on Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day!

I don't remember ever celebrating or knowing about this holiday in America, but it seems to be extra special in China. Joelle said it's probably because most every day is a "man's day" in China.

Anyways, today was the 100th anniversary since it began, ironically, to give the women the right to vote. In China men and women can't vote. So I'm not quite sure what we're celebrating here then.

Joelle and I were the only ones without Monday morning class, so we were basically required to go to a banquet organized by the province's "Women's Federation." Since it sounded so official and communist, I was very excited. Banquets are also good times to sit leisurely and eat a lot of fancy food. And it was held at the ritzy "Jiangxi Hotel," which is right next to where we have fellowship at the other "Jiangxi Hotel." It's a little confusing.

There were probably a couple hundred women there, with a bunch of reporters and a handful of foreign women mixed in. Most of the other several foreigners were from our fellowship. It's a small world for us in Nanchang. One of our friends, Connie, even gave a speech, and lots of cameras were in her face.

Cameras were also in our faces as we sat at the round banquet tables, listening to long speeches all in Chinese, and watching very flashy performances. Joelle and I happen to be particularly pale, which is the most beautiful trait you can have in China. So there were photographers literally snapping pictures right in our face whenever we smiled, moved, blinked, or sipped some tea. It was a little exhausting after three hours. It's interesting being a celebrity for no real reason.

At one point one of the Jiangxi TV stations pulled Joelle and me out in the hall to "interview" us on camera. Right then I realized I was wearing the exact same outfit as my CCTV debut last year in front of tens of millions of people. Do you think anyone realized that? ;)

The reporter first asked me a question in unintelligible English, with a mix of Chinese, as the cameraman and his bright light beamed right at me. They asked me the most boring, unoriginal question ever: "How do you like Jiangxi?" But I had to ask her to repeat the question about three times.

In my mind I was thinking, "Nobody really likes Jiangxi." But of course I couldn't say that to my host province. So I came up with an equally boring, unoriginal answer: "Um, Jiangxi is great! The people are so friendly." (In actuality, Jiangxi is famous for being poor and not very cool. The people are also renowned for being unfriendly.) So I was an unintentional liar on television. I'm not cut out for this business.

Joelle, on the other hand, gave a very poignant answer. She said something along the lines of this: "At first it was difficult coming here. But it has become my home and I think of the people as my family." Gosh, why couldn't I have said something halfway-clever? Oh, well.

And after this amazing banquet, we returned to school. I at least had a pretty decent story to tell my students and to post on my blog. :)


(With Joelle and a Chinese English teacher from our school. I don't know why I look so fake and waxy).


(A woman who received a medal for her "contributions to a village.")


(Our friend Connie from fellowship giving a speech).



(Here's a sampling of some singing we got to listen to. Warning: Turn your volume down! It's extremely loud!)

Long Time No Post

I've realized that living in China is a lot about extraordinary amounts of waiting--waiting in line, waiting for the bus, waiting in traffic, waiting for water to heat up; waiting for the power to be restored, waiting to start teaching again, waiting for the right moment to share truth...

You are pleasantly surprised when the bus comes, when the traffic moves, when classes begin, and when a student asks you a meaningful question. I just hope that He will fill my days of waiting with patience, perseverance, and fruit, instead of irritation and frustration. I never want to feel like I'm just wasting time or wasting life...

And now we are waiting for the Internet to return after it has been off for 2 weeks. It is a bit costly to go to a Chinese coffee shop to update my blog or to communicate with my family in America. I am currently sipping pricey jasmine tea just so I can be connected with people back home. Now I smell like a mixture of smoke and flowers. I am trying just to come here once every other week.

The Chinese New Year festivities ended last weekend with Lantern Festival. It seems like there's a "festival" every two weeks. Lantern Festival brings about the conclusion to the partying and holiday atmosphere that surrounds the Chinese New Year. Everyone sets off fireworks, which is impressive in the country that invented and mass produces fireworks.

On that day it was unusually warm. The smoke from the fireworks hung so thickly in the air, that it was like a blanket. My eyes and nose burned. Even the stores were draped with smoke inside from the abundance of fireworks. Thankfully it started raining the next day and hasn't stopped since.

And with the end of the holiday, teaching has finally begun in earnest once again! I feel quite glad to see my dear students, and to feel somewhat useful in life. My students look well, although some of them have super crazy hairstyles. Perms on boys have never appealed to me, but that is all the rage--especially poofy, permed, maroon-colored perms. One boy has a very curly mohawk that looks more like a bird's nest than anything.

One particular class was quite interesting, and made me realize how I loved being back in the quirky teaching environment here in Nanchang. In the middle of class, a man with a hammer and tool bag nonchalantly walked into the front of the classroom, just a few feet away from me. He started wrenching away wood on the door, sometimes hammering and chiseling in spurts. He also was carrying a pane of glass to put in the door since it was missing a window.

I just stared at him, like, "Are you serious?" Then when I started talking in English to my class after a pause, HE stopped to stare at me. I think he just realized at that moment that I was a foreigner. Then I stopped and stared at HIM again. My students thought this was hilarious. He finally finished up his carpentry/glass work and went on his merry way.

I have also been eating lunch and hanging out with students again. They light up my life. One girl told me, "You are much too tall and thin! But now your face is fatter." Having a round face is apparently beautiful in China, although I'm not convinced. All my muscles have melted away and have been replaced with lamb kebabs and rice.

Today it poured from dawn to dusk without stopping. Students were extremely wet, and we had to jump around puddles the size of lakes, since there isn't any drainage here. Then in our apartment kitchen we have bowls and towels trying to stop the leaking ceiling and windows. Everything seems to be spewing water. But for some reason I don't really care. Living in China helps you to be much more carefree about most everything. As long as I eat and sleep, I'm okay.

Thanks for everything!! I'm sorry I haven't been able to blog lately, but I'm sure you understand. I'm just so thankful for your thoughts! Oh, and please think of us this weekend as we have several studies going on...

P.S. My English is getting worse by the day! Today my students corrected me when I wrote "twelvth" on the board instead of "twelfth."