A good China day

This Sunday has been a great day. Everything has seemed sunny, despite my sore throat and runny nose. I've begun to relish the second I can step out of my quiet apartment into the hustle and bustle of the Nanchang streets. I think I'm becoming more of an extrovert instead of an introvert. I feel withdrawn and a little sad when I'm not out in the crazy, colorful world here.

Early this morning we went to fellowship downtown again. There were maybe 40 people there, which was amazing. Many of the people who had gone away for the holiday had returned. The simplicity and sort of haphazard way the service runs is starting to grow on me. The worship seems so much more powerful. The message seems more meaningful. The crumbled Chinese cookies used for communion seem so much more real. After fellowship ended at noon about 20 of us went out to eat at a restaurant. It was fun to be around other foreigners who weren't just my team, although I love my team dearly.

Then my roommate, Rachael, and I headed to Wal-mart to find contact solution. That is what outings to the store are like here. You really can only get a couple things at a time and usually takes a while to find them/ stand in line. We used charades to ask employees where contact solution was. They sent us to the eye cream aisle, the mascara aisle, and then the eye-drop aisle. We stumbled upon the contact solution in a very isolated corner of the "vision center." Just finding that one item made us feel victorious.

While at Wal-mart we also looked at cameras, because it wasn't as crowded as a few days ago. I wanted to replace my broken camera. We looked at several Kodaks, like my old camera, but the ones they sell in China aren't very good at all. They seemed a lot cheaper quality and so I had to pass on the Kodaks. I'm sorry, Grandpa! I know we all love Kodak and are loyal to Kodak, especially because you worked there...

Then we happened upon a whole street filled with camera shops! I went into several and ended up in a nice little shop. After much consideration, I bought a brand new Sony that was at a reasonable price. It also seemed pretty high quality after looking at a bunch of others. So I'm a proud new owner of a swanky camera. After finding contact solution AND a camera, it felt like our day was complete. We spoke some English and Chinese (Rachael speaks much more than I do) and we smiled a whole lot with the people around us.

As we were leaving the store we had to figure out how to get home on the bus. I'm ashamed to say I was thinking, "what's the catch?" The day had gone too smoothly. Well, we shoved our way onto Bus #231. Somebody's elbow was in my face and my bags were probably digging into people's legs. It was pretty crowded, but nothing new. We were ready to get off the bus near the old campus when it turned the exact opposite way at the last second. It drove for several minutes before coming to another stop and the end of the line.

We were deposited in what I'd like to think of as the Chinese suburbs. The wide streets and sidewalks, lined with palm trees and huge flowering bushes, were entirely deserted. It was the quietest I've ever heard China. So we started the long trek back to campus. It took 40 minutes to get to the gate, but we were still in a pretty good mood.

Tonight we had praise and request-sharing as a team, which is refreshing. I think we are all anticipating the start of a new week of teaching. Thanks for your thoughts as we start this week anew. Please let me know if I can be thinking of you!