Feeling Fresh

It is Tuesday and we just had a day off on Monday for May holiday. I think it was in celebration of "International Labor Day." It is just another reason for the roads to get really crowded, and for people to go home. In class today I had many students wanting to sleep because they just returned this morning on the overnight train... My students were all exhausted, but I felt quite bright-eyed and bushy tailed!

One of the things we did was walk around and take pictures on new campus, where we teach, but don't live. The flowers were blooming, it was quite steamy and warm, and it was just a nice day to enjoy the sunshine. I also got to clean a lot, hang out with some friends, and get prepared for the month of May, which is going to go by so quickly!

And now that the temperature is in the upper 80s and lower 90s, that means I'm beginning to recall the interesting smells of summer in Nanchang. Our city doesn't have air-conditioning, and nobody knows what deodorant is. Thus, my students and people around me are quite fragrant in a very sweaty-smelling way...

Oh, and I thought I would share some wonderful Chinglish words I saw this morning for advertisements on newly constructed high rise apartments:
"Living here, softly reducing gold inflation."
"Living here, a wealth of ATM."
Wow, they convinced me!

And here's a few recent pictures from this weekend. Have a great week!




(More laughter with my friends).


(Skipping with Kesley, my Kazakh twin).


(Our favorite watermelon lady and man).

I'm in Love!

Please look at this picture. These are two my favorite, most special people in China. And since I'm increasing in age, my matchmaking desires are also increasing. Someday I hope these two young whippersnappers can be together. They just don't know that they like each other yet... :) Today I ate lunch with them.



And it's summer here suddenly! Today was in the low 80s. I was HOT! On the way to school this morning on the city bus, I was covered with sweat, and caked with all the dirt billowing in from the road. My body doesn't know how to react. However, I'm so thankful for the sunshine and no more long underwear! I think the warm/hot weather is finally here to stay.

Another interesting thing is that I was teaching in class yesterday when I glanced up... and noticed chunks of frosted cake on the ceiling! Apparently there had been a recent class party in that classroom. Cakes in China aren't meant for eating (they taste pretty bland), but they are great for cake fights. People fling it on each other, the walls, and the ceilings. I have seen the remains of cake in restaurants, but never in a classroom.

In closing, I thought I'd leave with a few more pictures that have brightened my week.


(A recent class picture).


(Spring flowers).


(Gathering the neighborhood chickens).


(Square head baby).

A Life Redeemed

I love the word "redeemed!" And I love the way the Father works! On Sunday, Jodi and I combined our last studies of the Word with our interested students. We have been studying for about 6 weeks now, and they had all the most important things they needed to know to make a decision.

This particular study stretched into 5 hours! It was exhausting, but great as we wrestled with a lot of questions they had on their hearts. I'm so thankful that He can use us even when we lack the "right" words. I'm also thankful for the Chinese sister who has been helping with the study. One of my students asked towards the end, "So if I wanted to become a believer, what should I do now?" So he made the commitment to follow Him! Thanks for your many thoughts! Please continue to think of this student, that he can be connected with a local fellowship and can steadily grow in his new relationship with the Father.

The other two students there yesterday didn't commit, but He has definitely worked on their hearts. I'm just thankful that they had open hearts and minds, and the seeds were planted. Now they've at least heard the truth!

In other less important news, I have yet another cold. I can pretty much expect to get a cold once a month. I'm not sure if that's very healthy. But at least the weather is getting nicer. And apparently I have only 51 days left in China! There's still so much to do and say!

Lastly, I'll leave you with some pictures of late.


(Making shadow hearts with Reborn and Kelsey).


(With Kelsey on the new campus playground. Kelsey had the peg-leg version).


(A wall being torn down while we were teaching... The workers resting).

My "Chiner" day

Wow, there's great things happening in people's hearts here! So many students are joining or finishing up studies of the Word. They are so open--please continue to think of them!

It continues to rain forever. At least I'm thankful that the temperature is quite a bit warmer than last week when I was wearing long underwear!

Yesterday I taught classes all morning, returned to old campus for a break, and then went back to new campus for another class at 4 p.m. Because of the detour, traffic is always crazy now, and it takes about 40 minutes to get to new campus. I got on a bus just after 3 p.m. in the pouring rain. I gave myself plenty of time to get to class. At 3:20, we got into a major traffic jam in one of the back streets. We couldn't budge, and that was the only road to get to new campus. There wasn't even an accident; the cars and trucks and mopeds and buses had all gotten in to one big, impossible knot.

We didn't move for a very, very long time. I was standing up the whole time, back to back, leg to leg, with many other very sweaty people in the quite humid, suffocating bus. I thought I would faint, and felt trapped, which isn't rare on Chinese transportation. An ambulance was also trapped in the mess behind us. The pitiful siren wailed the entire time. Somehow He helped me not go insane or broil alive. The bus finally started to move again nearly an hour later! I got to class at 4:30; half an hour after class had started. Thank goodness Jodi was there and could sub for me. Thanks, Jodi!

Then at 6 p.m., Jodi and I went to a nearby campus where some of our foreign and Chinese friends live for one of my friend's birthdays. We ate awesome food and danced. Then we had to make the journey back to old campus.

The buses had stopped running, and we stood on a dark, quiet street waiting for a taxi or little bread van. We flagged down a bread van, and it pulled over for us. We got into the pitch-black van with quite a few other people already in there. I sat backwards with my knees knocking Jodi's knees, and was face to face with the other strangers. I like how you can jump into a strange vehicle in the middle of the night in China and be safe.

We started to chat with the dark figures in the van, and we finally could start to see their faces. It was great fun talking and joking in our limited Chinese. They asked if I was Chinese, and I said that I was indeed. Then I asked them if they were Chinese, and they said, no, that they were foreigners. We all roared with laughter as if we had shared the greatest joke ever. I also like how total strangers in China can become your best friends in just minutes.

Then, in English, Jodi and I talked about how it was strange that one of the guys next to us had facial hair. (This is a little rare in China). In Chinese he said, "I do understand a little of what you're saying." So I smiled and told him in Chinese how his "hair face was handsome." Then I asked if the girl sitting next to him was his girlfriend. He said, "No! She's my student!" I just dug a lot of holes for myself with my Chinese. But great fun was had by all.

The crusty driver who didn't speak a word to us, dropped us off at the corner near old campus. We jumped out of the tiny silver vehicle, and said goodbye to our new friends, as they continued on to their destination down the road.

And that, my friends, was my interesting Tuesday...


(In a typical Chinese crowd)


(Crammed on a typical, humid bus).


(Swing dancing with some other foreigners and Chinese friends)

The Nanchang Wall

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the story of the Berlin Wall, but it first came about as a barrier of barbed wire. Then, with too many people fleeing west, the communists began to build a concrete wall nearly overnight in 1961. Berliners woke up one morning and found that they were being walled in by concrete.

I had a somewhat similar feeling when I woke up on Thursday morning. I slowly walked about 10 minutes to the main road to catch the city bus. I found that traffic was even more in a chaotic knot than usual. There was a huge blue barrier with a sign in Chinese informing people that this road would be closed until August 2011! I managed to find a different bus in the opposite direction. Then the bus joined all the mopeds, bicycles, fruit carts, trucks, and other buses on a detour. A 15 minute ride has now become 40 minutes. All the major traffic has been diverted through tiny neighborhood/countryside roads that aren't used to handling that amount of traffic.

Here are some of the interesting things I now see on my way to and from school everyday:
1.) 25 story-tall apartment complexes being built.
2.) Rice paddies and water buffalo.
3.) Lots and lots of rubble piled alongside the road for miles.
4.) Elderly people standing looking confused, wondering why all of a sudden a highway's worth of traffic is now going through their tranquil neighborhoods.

This little journey plunges us into a landscape which is a frenzy of construction and traffic. Then the next minute we have returned to the countryside of 1950s China. This afternoon I rode my bike along parts of this journey today, and took some interesting pictures for you to enjoy. And since I have a bicycle, I can still squeeze around parts of the barriers that have been put up along various points. The blue barrier is being quickly replaced by a million concrete blocks. They are literally building a wall. And for some reason it reminds me of the Berlin Wall. There aren't that many similarities between our "Nanchang Wall" and the "Berlin Wall," except that I'm disoriented by its sudden appearance, and the fact that we do live in a communist country, just like Eastern Germany used to be... And the similarities end there.


(Some of the many high-rise apartments being built).


(A tasty looking pond...)


(More houses).


(People cultivating their tiny gardens in view of a local government building).


(Little Laura at the original Berlin Wall five years ago!)

Showers of Blessings

(Enjoying the rain with my friends and my giant school bus rain boots).

Maybe it hasn't really been raining for 6,000 days straight, but it sure feels like it. It has been raining steadily for the past 4 weeks, with one day a week where it isn't raining. I've noticed that my students are getting a tad grumpier, a tad sadder, and a tad more despondent each passing day. People practically live in their rain boots, our clothes never dry on the line, and we have buckets permanently catching the leaks in our kitchen. And today it was so cold that I wore long underwear and my winter coat--in mid-April! Oh, sun, where are you??

Despite constant rain, we are continuing to count our blessings, which He showers down on us. Besides having shelter, food, water, etc., we also have our friends and students. We are safe and loved. And He isn't far away, although He can sometimes feel that way in such a crowded, rainy place.

In other news, do you remember the soldiers and snowstorms play I talked about last blog? Well, it turned out that our students were competing against other universities in a province- wide competition... And they got first place! This weekend is also the last time for one of my studies for interested students. They will have to make a decision to follow Him or not. Please think of their hearts!

Soldiers and Snowstorms

Contrary to the title of this post, the weather has been rather pleasant lately. Although Nanchang is famous for not having a spring, it sure has felt like spring for the past few days. It has been raining off and on for a good 3 weeks, although it seems to let up every Friday, just in time for playing frisbee.

Yesterday, I ate my usual Friday lunch with my friend Reborn. We ate noodles in the small "minority nationalities" (i.e. Muslim) canteen. I was a little disappointed not to see any exotic minority nationalities. On television and in the newspapers in China, all the minority nationalities are shown wearing extremely flashy costumes, covered in fur/sparkles/feathers. Everyone looked very normal in the cafeteria. Only the workers wore little white hats indicating that they were Muslim. And it took them approximately 3 minutes to notice that I was sitting in their canteen. About 10 of them stopped cleaning the tables they were cleaning, stretching out the uncooked noodles they were stretching, and scooping rice they were scooping. All motion ceased and they stopped to stare. "Finally," they were probably thinking, "a minority has come to our canteen."

Anyways, after lunch, Reborn and I wandered around new campus, which is totally opposite from old campus (where I live). There is actually a lot of greenery. We sat by the small lake and pagoda under the most beautiful tree, which was busting with pale pink flowers that looked like tissue paper. It smelled and looked like heaven.

New campus was actually just farmland a few years ago. Now the area surrounding it is turning into China's version of the suburbs. There are wide, open roads, and there is a frenzy of building activity as new projects and middle-class apartment high rises are being thrown up. They are even building a gigantic stadium nearby to host some sports event. Some of the huge lake in the area has been drained as they prepare to build a bridge to cut the drive around the lake from maybe 30 seconds to 15 seconds... It is a little overwhelming.

And finally we have arrived on the topic of soldiers and snowstorms. Jodi, Rachel, and I had the privilege to help my old students (Jodi's current students) rehearse an English drama that they will perform in a city-wide competition. I'm glad I had drama experience from high school (yes, I was in the Advanced Theater Ensemble). :) But, high school never had any dramas like these students'.

Chinese plays are primarily propaganda, which is not a bad word in China like it is in America. Usually plays or performances are based on one of five topics: 1.) The communist party 2.) Natural disasters and overcoming them 3.) The People's Liberation Army 4.) The previously mentioned minority nationalities who are so happy to be included in China 5.) Diligent students being good citizens. This particular drama fell in categories 2 and 3.

These dear students are great actors and actresses, especially because they performed with such heart-felt emotion. The drama was so... dramatic. The drama is supposedly based on the true story of a soldier who saved the life of a little girl during the 2008 "snow disaster" that caused chaos across China.

The soldier was visiting the girl's house. Only the little girl was home, but she let him in and gave him a drink of water. The the house collapsed under the weight of all the snow. The valiant soldier protected the girl and kept her alive while they waited to be rescued. The little girl's grandfather and mother went to the house and saw that it was destroyed. The grandfather died of grief right then. The mother collapsed and was carried away by a neighbor.

But, not to worry! All is not lost! The glorious People's Liberation Army appears on the scene and digs the girl and soldier out. The girl survives (thanks to the soldier), but the soldier unfortunately does not. However, no one ever tells the girl that he died. This whole story is called the "Lie of Love."

Then at the end, the whole cast comes out to sing "Edelweiss" with candles. Rachel was actually crying. I felt heartless. It was very sad, but I still have yet to shed my analytical, rational skin. Why does a 10 year old girl let a man into her house? Why are buildings built so poorly that they collapse under a foot of snow? Why don't they tell the girl that the soldier gave his life saving her? But I suppose it is China, and I will probably never understand these things.

I'm sorry I couldn't upload any videos from this heart-wrenching performance. They did a great job!


(My old students as the grandfather and little girl in their English drama).


(The People's Liberation Army saves the day).


(The soldiers and doctor find the little girl).