Life's humming along

Today has been a pleasant day. This morning I woke up early, not knowing if I'd have to teach. It was another beautiful day, with wonderful sunshine. We thought that maybe they'd hold the sports meet today, because the weather was so nice. But, alas, that did not happen. We went to school.

I had office hours and then I taught one class. I have some of the most amazing students and I love them more every day. They are so sweet and eager, even when I'm not feeling well or enthusiastic.

At lunch time I came home and rested for about an hour. At 2 p.m. I headed over to the dance studio to warm up and practice my dance I'm choreographing. I arrived at the door and knew it was too easy and simple just to be able to walk in and begin dancing. I peered in through the locked doors and saw that there were desks and stools taking up half of the room. I sighed as I thought that this one dance studio in all of Nanchang had been converted into a classroom.

I found Rachael and her student, Vivian, and mentioned how I couldn't get in. Vivian went way out of her way to get some keys for the room. The keys didn't work, of course, so the English department dean and another lady got involved. They told me to "wait" and wandered off. I figured that meant it was hopeless so I hung out in Rachael's office. Then, unexpectedly, the dean came to say that the room was open and I could use it. So for the next hour and a half I danced in the little dirty studio as happy as can be.

Nearly every Chinese person who speaks English wants to chat with me about Obama. Yesterday, at the DVD shop, for example, a young man wanted to talk all about the election. He asked how happy I was about Obama getting elected. I said that I didn't vote because I was in China, but I probably would have voted for McCain. Then I added that I didn't really like either of them. He looked at me blankly. Then I said, "Oh, but Obama might be a change for the country." The guy shook his head enthusiastically and talked about Obama's inspiring personality.

That's what I've noticed about how the Chinese seem to view the election. They do not realize that both of the men stood for different values and viewpoints. All the Chinese can see are their personalities, like it is a popularity contest. It was a contest between an old white, boring man and a young black, charismatic man. So obviously I should have voted for Obama. Oh, it's so interesting.

Today in one of my classes we were talking about exercise and the benefits of exercise. The students offered obvious reasons, like staying fit, losing weight, etc. Then one girl said, "to grow taller." I asked her, "so you think you will grow taller when you exercise every morning?" She shook her head in agreement. I looked at the class and asked, "so you also think that you will grow taller by exercising?" They all said "yes!" in unison and looked at me like I was strange for asking such a question...

I'm so excited about some interactions with a few students lately. On Thursday, I'm going to hang out with a girl who is going to be the first person in my study of the Word. Then for Saturday, I invited another student, the homesick girl, to come to my apartment to watch a movie. Her reaction was priceless and made my heart swell. She thought it was the most wonderful thing on earth that I had invited her to hang out with her. Can you please be thinking of her? Of all the students, she is the one who is truly on my heart the most.