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)