Skatin' and singin'

(With my students who fed me the horse meat).


What a beautiful couple of days it's been!! Sunshine and warmer weather here changes everyone's demeanor and outlook. People are happier, students are more enthusiastic, and people hang all their colorful quilts and clothes outside en masse. The Russian-built, but Chinese owned, MiG fighter jets also get a lot of energy during these days. They were flying so low and fast over this area all weekend. Sometimes I'm not sure what country or what era I'm in.

It's Tuesday, meaning I taught four hours of classes this morning and then got to head home at lunchtime. The temperature is at least 60, and it's as sunny as can be for this city. So this afternoon Joelle and I busted out the rollerblades and skated around the campus and back streets. It always makes me so happy, and I can't help but smile.

When we were skating back through the tiny back gate, we were going through the little door that was open. Only one person can go through at a time. We stopped and there were two guys who also had rollerblades on, trying to go through at the same time. They had nearly identical skates as we did, and we all laughed. Joelle and I were like, "Shoot, we got some competition in this 'hood!"

Anyway, the past couple of days of teaching have been pretty great. There are just some random little events that I wanted to write about.

My students were all in a singing contest on campus. All of the classes in the foreign language department had to prepare a rousing revolutionary song--all from the glory days of communism in China. Since I couldn't attend the contest, I asked if they could sing for me. They were super loud. I was afraid the other teachers would get upset. But then I thought, "No teacher is going to come in here and make them stop singing a patriotic song." (The video I've included is for your enjoyment).

Then after class, one of my students came up to me with a huge smile. She said, "Miss Laura, you are so beautiful today. We can see the sunshine through you!" It was an honor. I was thinking, can you also see the Son shine through me?

Yesterday I went to lunch with Shannon and two of my students. We went to a new cafeteria on campus, which was the shiniest, cleanest building I've been into in China. But the food isn't as great as the atmosphere. My students ordered something for me.

They handed me a big steaming bowl of big dumplings. I dug right into...nastiness! I was so hungry and just chomped down onto gigantic, squishy pieces of meat. It did not taste good. I curiously asked them, "what kind of meat is this?" One girl said, "Horse!" I immediately looked like I was going to be sick. Some days I can handle shocks better than others. That day wasn't one of them. I couldn't hide my look of disgust quickly enough. It really tasted and smelled like horse--like the ones I used to ride all the time when I was little. I pictured eating my favorite horse, "Popcorn."

The other girl piped up, "Oh, no, I think it is not horse. It must be horse... hair!" I looked even sicker; I couldn't help it. They quickly replied, "Oh, do you want something else?" I tried to recover myself, and just said, "No, thank you. It's just really different and I don't eat horse all the time." So I stuffed down the rest of that horse or donkey or whatever it was, feeling a bit queasy the rest of the day.

After our faculty meeting at 5 p.m. yesterday, Jonathan and I decided to go running. It was fun to run around the track, where there was a rip-roaring soccer game going on in the center. People in China don't actually sit on bleachers or seats to watch, it seems. The spectators stood all strung out along the sidelines. It was fun to see who attracted more attention: the soccer game, or the two tall, gangly foreigners jogging around the outside in short-sleeve shirts (they all had sweaters and jackets on, even though it was at least 65 degrees). It was a hard call.

I ended up running 1.5 miles, and I think Jonathan probably ran at least 3 miles. After I dropped out after the 1.5 mile mark, I saw a cameramen with a professional camera leap out in front of Jonathan as he jogged, snapping pictures. It doesn't even surprise me anymore. I just was thinking of a creative title for this newspaper headline: "Foreigners stretch their legs." "The white people go for a jog." Speaking of "white people," the beloved China Daily refers to them as "the White people," or "the White children." Not just regular white, but "white" with a capital "W."

There's probably more I could ramble on about, but that's all for today, folks. Enjoy your Tuesday!