I love China

Rain for two or three days. Sunshine for one day. Repeat. That's the weather here in Nanchang lately! But today is a sunny day, and it's very welcome.

Yesterday I had one two-hour class and office hours. Afterward I ate lunch with one of my students I hang out with a lot. We ate in one of the cafeterias like usual, and had good conversations, especially about how I attend fellowship and why.

At one point I looked over my shoulder, because some people were shouting at each other really loudly. My student asked, "Does all the noise scare you?" I just replied, "No, sometimes I just can't tell if people are arguing or just talking." She nodded her head in agreement and told me her theory on why people are so loud in China. She said it is because there are so many people, they have to nearly scream to be heard over everybody else. Thus, everybody sounds like they are screaming--everyone is just trying to be heard.

After lunch I hopped on the city bus to ride back to old campus, which wasn't very crowded. I immediately noticed another foreigner. Because it is rare to see a foreigner, it is like they are wearing flashing lights. I recognized her as an older Australian woman from our international fellowship. So for about 20 minutes I got to sit and talk to her about a lot of things. She is in her early 60s perhaps, and she is one of the most confident, peaceful women I've ever met. It was just really encouraging getting to talk to her.

It was like a foreigner special the past two days. When I was standing at the Wal-mart meat counter waiting for them to make ground beef this morning, this white guy in his 30s from Canada came up. I was really shocked to see him, and the fact that I didn't know him and had never seen him. We chatted for a few minutes, and I figured out quickly why I had never seen him at fellowship.

There seems to be two types of foreigners in more remote cities like this. They are either believers who want to influence these people, or they are lost, disillusioned adventurers who just want to go someplace "exotic" to live for a bit. And he was a big flirt who seemed to despise this country. He went on and on about how backwards and low China was. I felt really defensive by these insults. I love China. Sure, it's still developing, so what do you expect? Then don't come here. I said good-bye, not leaving him a chance to say anything else. I just felt sorry for him, because he was clearly depressed, and probably didn't have any friends.

Then I grabbed the ground beef. I felt bad for the butchers, because we had a communication misunderstanding. I said I wanted one jin of ground, which is 500 grams. They ended up grinding up about 10 jin of beef. Chinese people won't buy it, I know, but I couldn't afford 200 kuai-worth of meat.

When I was leaving Wal-mart, there was a singing contest of some sort going on. There was a small crowd, with TV cameras. When I first arrived at Wal-mart, there was a young woman singing a pop song. When I left, there was an elderly man in a ragged, but starched old red blazer standing on a little makeshift platform. The crowd had enthusiasically gathered around him, and looking straight ahead with all seriousness, the man sang an old-fashioned song with his whole heart. I hoped he wins. I almost started crying, he was so sweet.

That's why I love China. These people are unique and innocent and traditional. I hope they never change and become Westernized.

Then this afternoon, after I had my study with my student, my team and I headed over to the new campus to go skating at the gigantic room used for skating. Jodi's whole huge, wonderful family also arrived today, so they came with us.

About eight of my students met me at the skating rink. And about seven of them can't skate at all. So for most of the next hour and a half, I just skated around with them, while they desperately clutched onto my hands or arms. I think my arms and hands got crushed and squeezed and ripped off one too many times today. But it was still such a great afternoon! I get so much energy just being around my dear little students, and a whole roomful of a million other young, enthusiastic Chinese people skating and falling and chatting and laughing.

Then we all walked the long way back to the new campus front gate. My students insisted on walking with us the whole way, because it is their way of walking me "home." When we got to the front gate, a guy and about five of his crazy friends jumped out of nowhere and nearly scared me to death. One of the guys practically screamed in my face, "YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL! CAN I TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU?!" You can tell nicer weather is here, because everyone in China gets a million times more energetic and forward.

Well, that's all to report for this busy and blessed day. I'm leaving you with a video I took at the skating rink. Wish you were here!