sleepover

Last night a few of my former students came over and we had a little sleepover. They really liked the eggplant curry i'd made a couple days before (they had the left overs), so i made it again last night and they made some sweet papaya soup (it was good) and we just talked. One of the "girls" brought over her son...he was cute...but quite a handful as well.

I had a little left of my Mary Kay "Satin Hands" set, so we did that...once they got over having to put goo on their hands, they realized that it really did make their hands smooth. Then we painted nails while watching the end of "Back to the Future III" (which S. was really into), and got into the 5 hour version of Pride and Prejudice. We made "bets" on who would konk out first...only one girl made it through the entire movie...which ended at about 4 a.m. this morning. I was in and out, and finally snuck into bed very tired.

This morning I woke up (S. was still sleeping) and made some oatmeal for the girls. We spent some time teasing one of the girls about a boy and just talked. It was really fun...but once they left, i konked out from sheer exhaustion... I had a horrible headache that still hasn't completely quit...

S. was lovely in putting up with all that estrogen around.

visit to a mosque

While L. was at her last two classes, I decided to check out a mosque I'd seen earlier. It's called the Huaisheng Mosque, reported to be one of the oldest in China. I asked to visit the mosque around 10:30 am, but I was not allowed. After walking around and getting a plate of noodles, I found the mosque open for Friday prayers. The mosque greeter allowed me to go through. In Muslim tradition, I took off my shoes and sat on a matted area off to the side near a wall. Men were streaming in throughout the service. A few women walked by, most in scarves, but some were not. Only one was in an abaya. The women would disappear into a W.C. (written in Chinese and Arabic) where they would wash up before going into a separate room behind the men to pray and listen to the service. Most of the worshippers were Chinese, but quite a number were of other ethnicities (Middle East, Africa, etc.). Many men wore white robes (mainly the non-Chinese) and white caps, but many also looked just like the average Chinese student or businessman on the street, dressed in slacks, polo shirts, jeans, t-shirts. The muezzin gave the call to prayer through a microphone and speaker. I couldn't see where the muezzin was, but it didn't appear to be coming from the minaret itself. At times during the call the muezzin would break up in tears. After that, an imam gave the sermon in mandarin Chinese, which some Arabic phrases sprinkled through. It lasted about 10-15 minutes. In my section of the compound, many were talking and even chatting on a cellphone, not paying much attention to the sermon. Given a significant portion present probably didn't understand Chinese well, that was understandable. I only understood parts that talked of Muslims being brothers and neighbors to one another. Then came another talk in Arabic. It sounded like a different person. People seemed more quiet and attentive during this time, although I'd moved to another part of the compound. I noticed one building, the largest one on the compound and presumably the mosque itself (it had a Chinese-temple design) filled with more worshippers than any other part. Signs by its door read, "Admission for Muslims Only". After the Arabic talk, the prayer was conducted. It went much like the ones in Seattle, except here they face west during prayer (they face north in Seattle). After the prayer, the congregants dismissed. I took a few pictures and walked outside.

Outside, many beggars gathered around the mosque entrance. They walked through the crowds of Muslims asking for money. These beggars were quite grossly deformed. I saw a few folks give, but most were ignored. One Muslim was handing out rather large bills...before he knew it, he was completely swarmed and had to make a dash for it, tossing the bills over his shoulder as he ran. I gave to a few. The beggars in this area are quite aggressive. It's interesting that they know to hang out by churches and mosques to get what little they need.

I was able to come back home for a couple hours before we headed out to a final international teacher dinner, hosted by the university. (L. was given a university umbrella as a farewell gift). We sat with two families - the C's, who are also a part of JHF and the G's - a family from Spain. L. and Mr. G. got into a spirited discussion about the merits of bull-fighting (something that Mr. G is very passionate about), adoption (Mr. G. believes one should have one's own children), and giving birth to boys over girls (which Mr. G. thinks is better). I think what shocked L. and I more than anything was our assumption that being from Spain and thereby Europe, Mr. G. would be more liberal in his opinions. We found quite the opposite. L. felt Mr. G. might do quite well in India.

best dishwasher yet

L. and I spent most of the afternoon preparing dinner. The C's came after a while, and we enjoyed an Indian dinner masterfully cooked by L. After they left around 10 pm, I took all the dishes (a lot of them) into the bathroom to wash them there. It's not as bad as it might sound, because we'd been dishwashing all along in a tiny sink tucked awkwardly in a moldy corner of our kitchen with nothing but cold water trickling out of a small faucet. It was hard on our backs, and the dishes were not being properly sanitized with only trickling cold water. But in our bathroom, with the movable sprayer, gas-heated hot water with temperatures we could control, and the ability to wash standing, sitting, or kneeling, dishwashing large loads became a LOT more comfortable, faster, and cleaner. A great idea which I wish I'd thought of earlier.

BTW, most bathrooms here aren't like in the U.S., where the bathtub/shower is separated from the rest of the bathroom and you don't dare get water outside or you ruin the linoleum. No, in our bathroom, the whole room is the shower. You can spray over the toilet, sink, etc. and the water just goes down a drain in the middle of the tile floor. The bathrooms in India are similar. Personally, I like that....very efficient. I wish I could remake our bathrooms back in the U.S. like the ones here in Asia.

adjusting grades

L. is on her last week of class. She struggled again with discomfort last night and actually threw up a bit. It didn't take the discomfort away completely, although we did learn that toast with a little butter is something she feels ok eating. I made some spaghetti, which she managed to hang on to.

One of L's former students (K) with a current student (G), visited us to talk about G's grades. She failed because she never attended class. She produced two letters written by her and signed by school administrators essentially exempting her from attending class, which she thought woudl convince L. to give her a passing grade. L. didn't budge. She and I talked later about making sense of an educational system that bases passing on standardized tests independent of what teachers give, yet is unsure of whether teacher's grades on students is required until near the end of the semester and is unclear how important they are for graduation.

GICF recently began posting audios of its Sunday sermons. I listened to a few. Check them out when you get a chance. Stuff still gets censored on the Net here in China (e.g. blogspot.com and geocities.com), but there's a lot that doesn't that one would think would. It's tough denying the great strides China's made over the past 30 years.

worst thunderstorm yet

We stayed home the whole day grading tests and watching "The Shawshank Redemption" on DVD. It rained and stormed something fierce today. Lightning and thunder tore through above us. The power kept surging out. At times, it went out completely. At least it didn't stay out for long periods of time like last Saturday (9 hours)...only a few minutes at a time at the most. Only time I ventured out was to get dinner at the cafeteria and some bread. Huge, cold puddles blanketed the sidewalks and soaked my flip-flops, while the rain beat up my little umbrella. L. had little appetite and a lot of nausea still. We finished up all the tests.

160 beats/minute

We went back to the doc today for another checkup before we leave. The appointment went well. L. and the baby are on track. We heard the heartbeat today! Wow! 160 beats per minute, which Dr. P. said was normal.

We then went to the Brazilian BBQ for lunch. The TV's were tuned into NBA finals game 5. Spurs won a close one! Woohoo! L. and I were yelping and hi-fiving the whole time, which turned a few heads and made the waitstaff smile. No one else seemed interested in the game except us.

On the way home, we dropped some money off for a beggar whose face was nearly burned away. We've seen him several times and have given him money each time. He would blow into a harmonica, trying to play it, as a way to get people to give to him. There are a lot of disfigured beggars in GZ, but this poor chap is by far the one I have had the most sympathy for.

The rest of the evening was spent correcting tests...L. needed a lot of help since she had so many to do...

western anything

At the usual Sunday afternoon study and discussion at the 3-self church, I and a couple ladies talked about "yang2 jiao4" (Western religion, as Christianity is looked upon). They said that many locals choose to believe because it is associated with the West. They see how it has made Western society successful and so they want to emulate it. I sought to clarify whether these two ladies accepted Christ for the same reasons...they didn't seem to deny that they did, which was a bit disconcerting. It almost seemed natural to do so. Much of Western culture is referred to this way, by placing "yang2" in front of whatever Chinese wished to distinguish as something with a unique, admired Western quality, be it cars, soap, clothes, religion, etc. I asked if I was considered a "yang ren"; they said no. Their enchantment with all things foreign amazed me.

"HL" and I later got into a lively discussion about the Iraq war. We had differing viewpoints on it, but it was amicable. It was especially nice to discover how I could actually communicate with someone in Chinese about these topics. I didn't think I had it in me, vocabulary-wise. It sure beats always limiting topics to just the weather and family.

This evening was also our last men's study on the main campus. We talked about Thomas, it was a good way to end our time together. A lot of sharing took place. We took pictures and exchanged email addresses.

orphanage and senior center

I went to meet "Y" at the main campus and we took the bus to an orphanage. "Y" goes to the 3-self church I've been attending. The orphanage we visited used to be a regular elementary school before the orphanage took over. The orphanage, I learned, used to be situated in the city center, but was moved when it got too crowded. "Y" thinks it's much better where it's at now, since it's cleaner, the air is fresher and there's more room.

The ride took almost an hour and it went through fairly rural territory. There weren't any bus stops in this area...you just told the driver where you wanted to get dropped off. Pickup was the same, just standing on the side of the road and waving for the bus.

The bus dropped us off right in front of the orphanage. "Y" and I were the first, but 3 other people showed up later. Other people from another group (not a fellowship) came to help towards the end. A guard let us in...the gate was kept locked otherwise.

We had 35 kids, about 2/3 of them girls. They were ages 5-7. About 1/3 of them were handicapped in some manner. About 6 of them had to be physically carried, they couldn't walk on their own. They all spoke mainly Cantonese, tho' I was able to converse a bit in Mandarin. We tried to sing a song "Y" made up, using the tune of "Father Abraham", but it didn't work well. The puzzles "Y" brought were a hit, however. They were colored drawings of Bible characters and stories. Later, we taught them another song ("We Are One In The Bond Of Love"). "Y" was careful not to sing songs that were overtly religious, as the orphanage does not allow this. The orphanage was overall fairly well-kept. The kids sleep in wooden beds, situated side by side, about 30 to a room. As we were leaving, we passed out toy fans and granola bars. I brought some candy and chips for the teachers (all female, it appears). At the end of our time there, the kids all gathered to eat lunch. It was pretty calm and quiet during lunch. The kids were quite well-mannered. The teacher would talk with the kids, asking them questions about lunch. The kids would respond back in unison. We weren't allowed to take pictures, which was understandable. The other group helping cleaned up the equipment, washed windows, and straightened out rooms while the kids ate.

Next stop was an elderly assisted-living facility. Once there, several elderly women came out to meet us. They were quite kind and friendly. Like the orphanage children, they all spoke mainly Cantonese. This is a Christian facility, started by the Shamian Christ Church. It is named after the physician (and apostle) Luke. Most of its residents are in the family. The facility was quite clean and modern. We met one man who was 104 years old. One wheelchair-bound woman could sing some songs in English. I chatted with a couple of the women, with help from one of the members of our group. One woman kept asking me questions, some off-the-wall. It was kind of cute. They also asked whether I followed Christ, which I answered affirmatively, an answer they appreciated hearing.

We later visited a seminary library on the same campus. It had very old books, most written in either Chinese or English. There were shelves of commentaries and Biblical encyclopedias. We also visited the Dongpin church and took some pictures there. The Luke Elderly Facility, Dongping church, seminary, and dorm are all located next to each other. They are considered part of the same campus. They've been there since 2002.

During our entire time out (which was several hours longer than I expected), I kept in touch with L. to let her know what we were doing. She had been enduring an entire day without power, which had gone out at 9:30 am and didn’t come back on until past 6 pm! Poor sweetie! So much for grading those finals!

cancelled concert

It started raining pretty hard this afternoon, and didn't quit until the middle of the night. It was apparent that the concert we'd been practising for, would be cancelled. After checking about the concert (which the music teacher said would be postponed), I decided to hop over to the supermarket for some groceries. L. was upset that it took me more than 2 hours to get back home. She thought I was only going for some Big Macs and it'd be only an hour or so. What makes L. anxious is that if something had happened to me out here, she wouldn't know where or how to find out about me. I felt bad. I'll have to remind myself to give her notice of where I'm at.

Finals

L: This week was finals week...i had informed them last week and hoped that it would help them study. However, instead of the usual 20 that show up in each class...practically all 45-50 came...which means more grading for me. It really doesn't matter, since they're going to fail anyway, but still...it really bugs me that they think they can come for the final and pass. I had to run to the copy room and ask for more finals, since i'm almost out of the ones i asked for. I am not a happy camper! I really don't want to grade all these tests...poor S, he has to deal with me in this mood.

S: I went to meet "V" to practice for the performance tomorrow. After practicing, we talked about XM, music, faith, and learning Marxism. Intrigued, I asked him about his courses. "V" is an English major. His major consists of 13 courses. All but one are English-related. The only one is that is not is Marxism. Every student has to take this class. Most of what is taught is already known to some degree by the students, since it's a philosophy they grow up with. When asked about it, "V" says that theoretically, a student can refrain from all classes, homework, and mid-terms....if they do well on the end-of-year examinations, the "gao1 kao3" (from elementary on through college) --- they could technically get their degree or certificate to move on to the next level. XM is not an "open college" that's open to just everyone. You have to have a score of somewhere around 400 on the entrance exam. You just have to score higher to get into other colleges. GW is something like 600. Zhong Da is like 700. And so on.

procedures...procedures...procedures...

Another hot and muggy day. :-P Hard to believe that just 3 months ago, we were all shivering and packing our beds with hot-water bottles!

I was on my way to the Garden Hotel to cash some travelers' checks and buy our plane tickets. The bus on the way there had some air-conditioning problems that the driver felt the need to stop and try to fix for about every 15 minutes. Should've known better than to jump on a bus spewing brown water out of one of its side panelings...

After picking up a number at the bank, I found the travel agency, where I signed an invoice confirming our reservations. Then I headed back to the bank, but the waiting line was still as long as when I'd left. I went back to the agency to borrow the phone and call L., then went back to wait until my number was called. Turned out I needed the receipts for the travelers's checks, which I didn't bring! Argh! They didn't request this the last couple tiems we'd changed travelers' checks. But I didn't argue...just went back home to collect the receipts.

After about an hour, L. and I took the shuttle to the main campus and then a taxi back to the hotel with the bank. We finally got the money exchanged, after what seemed a while as the bank staff were figuring out what to do with the travelers’ checks, then went back to the travel agency to pick up the tickets.

After a Starbucks break, we took a taxi to the "Lemon House Vietnamese Cuisine". The dinner was fantastic...probably the best-tasting meal I've had in GZ...and priced reasonably to boot! We even had leftovers, which made L. happy. She had been looking forward to eating here for a couple weeks...and for good reason.

Practise

We stayed home for most of the day, watching the Spurs and Pistons play during the morning. It was live, but the commentary was all in Chinese. Only later did we find that it was also being broadcast on a HK channel...in English! Arrgh! Spurs won big, BTW. Go Spurs!

L. and I worked together to get her class grades entered into the "grades calculator" spreadsheet I made for her last year. Later, one of her former students stopped by for help with her resume. I went to practise for the "concert" on the 16th with "V". A couple of "V's" friends came by to listen, including "O", who will be the other MC, along with "V". We talked about how our part of the program and more ideas for songs. "O" would like to add another song, more upbeat, possibly something the group can sing along with. I suggested "Do-Re-Mi", which they thought would be fun.

Somehow, we all got to talking about my faith. They asked if I was a Christian. It came about because of the choice of my solo "Great Is Thy Faithfulness". "V" said he'd like to know more about the book and hopes that I would tell him more. He also hopes that I can teach him some piano. "O", upon learning that L. was pregnant and about our initial/current anxieties, asked as Christians whether we would ever consider abortion. I told her that we wouldn't, considering that it is the taking of a life. Interesting that she would be tuned to the issue in such a way.

rainy Bible studies

I went to the 3-self church for afternoon Bible study. Not as many people were there (about 30), as there was a baptism at another 3-self church which many chose to attend. About 60 people were being baptized, I heard. I joined the same group as last week, with "L", "E", and "HL". I learned that "E" and "HL" have one child each, but each are divorced. They came to Christ after they got divorced. Their faith in God and fervor for reaching out to others, in spite of their past, is encouraging. One lesson "E" finds important in her marital experiences is to not focus on others' faults, but instead focus only on your own life and what areas you need to improve. Too much energy and time, she feels, is wasted sitting around waiting for others to compensate for wrongs they've done to you.

"E" went over the "wheel of the Christian's life", with Christ as the center, and witnessing, prayer, obedience, and God's word as spokes. We talked mainly about obedience (suen4 fu2) to God, how we please Him by obeying Him, and testifying of our obedience to God. This group goes through a lot of Bible verses in their studies.

Matthew 12:46-50

2 Corinthians 9:13, 8:9

Philemon 21

Mark 9:50, 12:29-31, 16:15, 14:8

John 9:31, 12:24

Acts 16:6-7

Psalm 106:15

Ezekiel 36:37

Luke 5:26

Acts 19:17-18

1 Corinthians 13

Philippians 2:16-17

Colossians 1:25

Isaiah 38:7

Judges 6:17, 36-40

Romans 12:1

Numbers 13:23

It started raining very heavily during our Bible study. Heaviest rain I've seen here yet. We finished our Bible study and then ate some meals that were left over. Apparently, the church bought several lunch boxes, but not many stayed to buy and eat.

I learned that a trip to the orphanage yesterday that I wanted to go to had been postponed for next week, due to the chamber concert. However, the chamber concert was cancelled by a last-minute schedule conflict on the performers' part. Unfortunately, 50 people who didn't receive the news in time showed up anyway for nothing.

As I left church, it wasn't raining as hard, but still coming down steadily. I went early to the evening BS, but no one was home. After walking through the rain to find out what was going on, I eventually learned it had been cancelled, since most people couldn't make it. It would've been nice to have had a cell phone then, I thought to myself.

reunion...

It was oppressively hot and humid today! Yuck. I went to the canteen to get some snacks, drinks, fruits, and sugar from the campus store. The "black river" was foamy today, so I took some pictures. L. called the "Greenpeace" office in Guangzhou regarding the "black river". Someone may come next week to inspect it.

L's students from last year dropped by. Seven of them showed up, including L's favorite, A. We watched the wedding DVD, played UNO (they had a blast with that and kept playing "one last one"), ate snacks and dinner. L. and I prepared an Indian dinner for our guests. We ended up a bit short, but everyone seemed to be okay with what we had. The students went out to look around their "alma mater" before returning with a watermelon and some Popsicles for us to enjoy. Most of them hadn't seen each other in the past year, so it was a nice gathering. L. really appreciated that they were willing to come so far out to see her, since she was not up to the travel into town. It really blessed her that they came (some from up to 2 hours away) just to hang out with us.

French Ballet

About a month ago, L. and I signed up attend a ballet, one of the many perks of being part of this university. But today, L. was not doing very well, and opted to give her ticket give her ticket to someone else. I went along, barely making it, but since the bus was having some difficulty getting started, so it was late. Lucky for me. :-)

The performance was a contemporary version of Bizet's "Carmen", using ballet and modern dance. It was a French production. Long, boring speeches were given by dignitaries from Guangzhou and France, using only Chinese and French (no English). The ballet was good, but at time risqué. I enjoyed the music a lot...love Bizet's "Carmen". There was a story line, but not easy to follow. Intermission allowed me time to get snacks. Cool thing is that you're allowed to eat in the auditorium, unlike American auditoriums. Also, there were large books given away detailing Guangzhou's sister-city relations around the world. Their sister city in France is Lyons.

last day at YLT

The morning was spent preparing for the YLT middle school class...we were told that today would be the last class, as next week, the students have tests to prepare for.

I taught them the song "Peace Like A River", which went okay in the 1st class, but middle-schoolers are the same all over...I think it was too uncool for them. More riddles, and then a demo on American football. We did the demo for both classes. N. told us after the first class that some of the kids know how to play American football. In fact, YLT formed a team that was coached by American coaches. L. had suggested while I was preparing the football presentation that I should also teach baseball. But I figured they already knew the sport, given that it was so popular in other countries out east. But lo and behold, N. said the kids know nothing about baseball! Yet ironically, they knew about American football. L. had a good laugh about that. The 2nd class, however, said they didn't know how it was played. It was fun explaining it to them, with L. playing defense and me playing offense. The matching games (from http://www.esl-games.com) were a hit. In the last class, I gave them points for their team for each match they made. In class 1, team 1 beat team 2, score 6-1 (I didn’t keep score for the match game until the 2nd class). In class 2, team 2 beat team 1, score 19-16.

After class, we took group photos with the senior faculty (headmaster) and class 2. The students were quite patient despite having to stay at school so late. Maybe they were just intimidated by the headmaster.

We were driven home in the van (L. was glad we won't have to ride in the bumpy van anymore) and stopped by the cafeteria for some food. We took some to go and spent the rest of the evening at home...where we had no power for a while. We waited in the growing darkness, talking about communicating and misunderstandings about asking each other when to/when not to do/take something). The power eventually came back on, one building at a time. L. finished her final exam, which she had been told, earlier in the semester, wouldn't have to be prepared...but then told again last week that she'd have to give one. Just another addition to her growing list of incentives to leave.

Fabric Market

L: Another teacher, L (M. and S's mom) took me to the fabric market. I considered having some maternity clothes made here since they would be much cheaper. She also wanted to make a few outfits here for her summer in the States.

The fabric "market" is actually a few buildings, several stories high, clustered in the space of a few blocks. One day is not close to sufficient to see everything available. Since I wasn't sure how "big" i was going to get, we decided against buying fabric for me, instead i wanted to make a couple baby slings with a model given by a Russian lady at the university. This place is huge...stories of little stalled packed right next to each other, stuffed with bolts and bolts of fabric...anything and everything you could ever imagine. We barely made it up to the second floor. This would be every designer and decorator (and women who like to sew)'s dream. We looked through several little stalls and then i saw it...the cutest fabric...not too froo-froo, in case we have a boy. I liked it so much, i bought whatever was left on the bolt...6.5 meters. This was the first time i'd really been excited about the pregnancy. Uptil now, the nausea and discomfort have kept any enthusiasm and excitement at bay. S. of course, patiently put up with my rantings about the fabric market, although i'm pretty sure he was glad he wasn't there. I did find another great bargain of some really fun material and made an order for two baby slings...can't wait to see how they'll turn out.

S: On the way to grab dinner at the cafeteria, I watched a boy's basketball game. It appeared to be a championship game of a intramural tournament. They had student refs and scorekeepers. The game was played on concrete and outdoors. The hoop rims had no nets. A large crowd of students watched and rooted. The game was close, 58-57. Basketball is a pretty popular campus activity, along with badminton. People play basketball on the concrete top, even in the rain or if it's puddle-strewn. We seen young men wearing NBA jerseys, many of them unofficial, almost homemade-looking. Yao Ming and televised NBA games have had a tremendous impact.

lively discussion at church

After the retreat, I went to the 3-self church for afternoon Bible study. About 45 others were there in separate groups. Our group's leader "E" went over the "wheel of the Christian's life", with Christ as the center, and witnessing, prayer, obedience, and God's word as spokes.

It was a lively, talkative group, which got us sidetracked easily. One fellow, "D" asked some good questions in challenge to some of what's shared. He had a hard time understanding how God speaks His will to people, how He makes it known. He also disputed some people's experiences of God blessing them materially as a response to obeying Him, based on the premise that he's never experienced it himself before. "D" also challenged whether God works miracles today, or is just natural processes at work. Also discussed were validations in the Bible of Jesus being God's Son and the Trinity. I was able to share some of my thoughts, using a combination of English and Chinese. Some of the verses we all shared ---

Exodus 28:36

Acts 25:32; 5:29

John 4:38

Matthew 4:19; 3:17

John 21:4-6, 11; 20:29; 1:7-8; 5:36-39; 8:12-19; 15:26-27

Mark 16:15

Luke 8:21

Ephesians 5:21

1 Samuel 15:22

Romans 7:25

Isaiah 30:21; 42:1-7

Philemon 16

Acts 1:8

Psalm 2:7

Haggai 2:8; 1:5-11

Zechariah 4:6

Mark 16:18

Happy Hippo

We've been on a retreat this weekend. Yesterday, L. was feeling pretty bad today. Nevertheless, we went to the retreat that was organized by our local study group. We had to wait first until a torrential thunderstorm had passed. We took a taxi to Nanhu Hotel (right next to the Happy Hippo water park) where we checked into our room on the fourth floor. It was a bit unkempt, with peeling wallpaper, old carpet, and crayon markings on the wall. But it was air-conditioned and it had a nice view.

We watched M. and S. (the boys I teach piano) take up fishing for a while. Then L. and I on a paddleboat for an hour...It was a pretty calm, humid day. They had motorboats for rent as well. Afterwards, we had dinner at the hotel with the fellowship group.

At 7:00 pm, M. and S's mother led a study in Chinese. Her husband and L. weren't there, since they're not familiar with the language. I attended and was able to follow most of what was shared. Not everyone believed, but those that didn't asked good questions. At times, it got emotional, as people shared some personal feelings. S. and his wife, J, spirited discussion between each other about different approaches people have developing their faith. J. was anxious for S. to believe and S. feels he needs to think it through. I shared a bit about Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well...sharing mainly in English.

L. had a hard time sleeping...We went to bed amidst thunder and lightning and she didn't sleep at all. It's pretty difficult for her to sleep in a comfortable position these days...from what we've been told...it's only the beginning...

This morning, L. was not doing well at all. The thunder kept her up most of the night, so she finally went to sleep around 8 this morning. I let her sleep while I went downstairs to get some breakfast. L. and I had a good talk about ourselves and the baby. She wasn't feeling well, so we checked out. There were no taxis available (being as remote as this place was), but a bus did go by. We caught it and went a little ways out to catch another bus. L. got off at the main campus, while I went ahead to the three-self for the afternoon study.

Arriving back home, I learned that the power was out the entire day, which made things quite miserable for L...who was looking forward to catching up on sleep with air conditioning. This had not been a good weekend for her.

mexican with no guacamole?

L. brought back 3 girls from class who wanted to learn more English and find books that were easier to read. These girls were the same ones my sis and I talked with back on April 22. The book they need to study (which they marked copiously with notes) contained complex essays by Aldous Huxley and folks...more appropriate for college level poly-sci or philosophy. It was stunning. They said they had to memorize blocks of the text, as the test involved fill-in-the-blanks. It's almost like being asked to memorize a newspaper editorial and take a test on how it was worded, not what it communicated. There is much to be desired in the goals of some schools in China. One of the girls asked to see the Bible. I gave her my English-Chinese one that I bought at church, which she asked to borrow. They also borrowed some Reader's Digest books. We encouraged them to come back again.

L. has been craving Mexican food, so we hopped a taxi to an "American" restaurant that had been recommended to us. Unfortunately, after an hour and a half wait, the burritos they served weren't very good at all. L. only ate half of one (there were 3 altogether). I had a club sandwich. We both had nachos...with corn? We weren't very impressed with the food. Looks like we're going to be visiting Taco Bell a bit when we get back to the States.

English corner...or lobby, rather...

L. wasn't feeling well, but managed to make herself come along with me to YLT, even after she taught her class today. I really appreciate her help. Her presence and help with the computer at the class frees things up a lot for me.

The 1st class started off late, as we had trouble copying our diskette to the class computer. A virus writing a "winfile.exe" folder kept writing itself to the diskette whenever we tried to copy to the class computer. The head teacher, "N", said it shouldn't affect the copying, but I wasn't sure. We tried another disk he gave us, which worked.

We showed more "English Signs in Guangzhou" photos. I taught them the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes" with the motions, but I think they thought it was a little silly. We went through more riddles --- they respond well to those. We're keeping score, having split the class into two teams.....right now, in the first class: Team 1 has 5 points and Team 2 has 1 point. The second class: Both Team 1 has 5 points and Team 2 has 4 points.

In the evening, I checked out a English corner that was supposed to be held around 7 pm in the XM school building. Other students were looking for it as well. But the room was being used for something else. We looked around, but didn't find the gathering. A senior administrator came by and told us it had probably been cancelled. I suggested having an impromptu English corner somewhere with the students. We checked various rooms, but they were all occupied or locked. The tables in the store outside were too wet and the other store's tables (on the other side of campus) were too loud with people watching TV. So we had it in the lobby of the building, pulling up some loose chairs. Mosquitoes gave us some fits, but we had a good discussion, going over things like what we like to do in our spare time, post-grad hopes, one-child policy (all the students I talked, around 20 years old, with have siblings), thoughts on school, and sports, among other things. We started out with four women. Later, 2-3 more came by to join us. They enjoy going to English corners. They all went to one held yesterday and one we had at E's café weeks ago. They hope to have more English corners in the future.

Only here...

While L. was at class, I went to pick up some food at the nearby cafeteria. On my way out, I saw a truck that passed by me earlier tipped at an angle. It had backed up onto a construction site next to the cafeteria, but the pavement dropped off abruptly, causing it to scrunch up painfully. It certainly did damage to the frame, axles, chassis, and body. I'd never seen a truck bend that way. The truck didn't seem to be made of the sturdiest metal...almost like aluminum. The strangest accidents I've seen, I've seen here in China...

I also went to the music teacher's room. "V", a student and beginning violinist, and I will be playing for the graduation celebration on June 16. We practiced "Auld Lang Syne" and "Edelweiss". We first practiced on the music teacher's electric organ, but later went to the school building and used the piano there. It felt good to play the piano again! "V" also wanted to interview me in front of the audience and also have me play a song (I chose "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and explained what it meant to me). "V" speaks pretty good English and Japanese. A pretty talented guy for one so young.

A heartbeat

Well, all the signs were there before these past few weeks, but now it's official and without doubt -- L. and I are expecting a baby!

L. and I took a taxi to an international medical center. We saw Dr. P. who gave us great advice on what to expect. She did a brief exam on L. and sent her to have an ultrasound. That was a truly amazing and emotional experience. To see the tiny, millimeters-long fetus pulse with a heartbeat that shook its whole tiny frame...wow...

We went to McDonalds to get L. that Big Mac she'd been craving for. I found myself unable to finish saying grace...as as soon as I began thanking God for the miracle we'd witnessed, I broke down. L. was great in finishing.

We stayed at home for the afternoon (boy, it's hot and humid today). We talked to the family since they were all at Mom and Dad's for Labor day, celebrating a couple May b'days. We told them the news of the pregnancy and the doctor's visit. The nieces are looking forward to a cousin and H. wondered what the baby would look like...."brown with yellow spots?" (Apparently, we're expecting a leopard or tiger sometime the beginning of January =D)

We talked to L. parents later. Turns out they might be in the U.S. till the end of August...that changes our plans a bit.

Chinese "Fish"

L. and I went to GICF today. The speaker spoke on the parable of the four soils from Mark 4:1-20. After lunch, I left on my own to fellowship at the 3-self church.

I spent the afternoon Bible study talking with "G" and another man. "G" is originally from Malaysia. Her Chinese is fairly easy to follow. I enjoyed listening to their conversation. No sign of the Angolan brothers from last week. One woman asked about Dad and whether he'd gone home yet. Several folks have asked about Dad since he left. He seems to have made quite an impression.

"G" shared about fellowship life. Some verses she went over ---

Ephesians 4:11-16

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Hebrews 10:24-25

Proverbs 27:17

John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:24

On my usual ride with "J" back home from the three-self church, I mentioned GICF. He became quietly agitated when hearing about it. I asked him why. He said he feels having a church only for internationals here is humiliating to the locals. It'd be like a church in America or Australia only for non-Americans or non-Australians, which made sense. He feels the rules of checking passports and letting only internationals in are lies. "J" says that the church should just not check passports; he believes the local authority won't do anything. He backs this by the Christmas program that was recently held at a public venue, put on by the international fellowship, where Chinese were allowed to attend unchecked. He feels offended by what he considers to be a perpetual colonial mentality, continuing from when other places were off-limits to the nationals before the 1900's.

He also thinks the church should be more loving. He talked about how foreigners talked with him about Christ before he was a believer. He became friends with one, but later met another foreigner who had denominational differences. Once the 1st friend found out about his interactions with the 2nd one, the 1st friend and his friends cut off ties with "J". Needless to say, "J" felt very hurt and confused by this. I said little, listening to him. He was pretty upset by it.

"J" also expressed dismay at what he felt when foreign Christians believed they were exercising great, brave faith for daring to come to China. He thinks a lot of it is just sensationalistic hype that's not based in reality, but more motivated to bolster one's image and possibly fatten one's donations. I told him that I had long felt some western Christians exploit this country's history with religion and project that onto today's China, even though it has no relevancy and China has long abandoned the old ways. It pays (literally) for foreigners being here to have others believe China is that way than it really is. Right now, I’m reading a website (http://www.fzhxjt.com.cn) of the Fuzhou fellowship we were a part of in April. It has, among many things, the entire Bible in English and Chinese in it. And there are links to many other China Christian websites from it as well. So much for religious "downtrodding".

On another bus, I noticed the woman sitting next to me reading a Bible (we weren't able to sit next to each other). I asked her if she was a sister. She said yes. She ("H") and her husband live in Australia and are visiting her parents out here. Ironically, "H's" dad is a faculty member of our university and "J" knew him. It was a pleasant encounter, made all the more amazing by its randomness. "J" and "H" walked back home together, having lots to talk about, I'm sure.

When i got home, L. and I talked about "J's" perspective of the international fellowship and what is permitted by local authorities. L felt quite strongly about this since she's had the "international" experience in the States as well. Her argument was that nationals in their own countries really have no idea what internationals have to go through to be in their country. Being an international in the U.S. she had to deal with the side of imm. that most nationals know nothing about, but are bent on giving her "advice" since they, of course, "know" their own country. It's the same with any country, she argued. Locals here don't know how much we have to pay for visas here, or the fact that we cannot just live anywhere, there are areas that are allocated to "foreigners", or that some of us have to leave the country once a month to keep our visa valid or get another visa...It was a rather lively discussion and I could see her point.

I later went to GICF's website and discovered all sorts of pages on the rules they follow to be allowed to congregate, as set forth by the Chinese gov't. It's pretty comprehensive and they're pretty open about it. I hope "J" will look at it sometime, if only to have a better understanding of the limitations GICF does have in having nationals at their gatherings. There may be some things that foreigners do that rub Chinese nationals the wrong, condescending way, but GICF's policy of restricting nationals to their meetings shouldn't be considered one.

clarifying Christianity in China

Weather is overcast and humid, as it's been pretty much for a while.

Two of L.'s students, "Y" and "C", came by. They all made Western-style sandwiches. They watched "Finding Neverland" as they ate them, while I played "househusband", cleaning the room and washing the dishes.

I had a chance to email someone who made what I considered one common misperception about Christianity in China --- she thought "you can be killed for having a Bible in China" and "how dangerous it is to be a Christian there". Here's what I wrote in response to her --

Here in China, there are actually plenty of Bibles to be had. There's no law here against having them. It may have been so 30-40 years ago, but not today. You can buy them for less than $2 USD a piece at your local TSPM-registered church. And it's complete....nothing added or taken out (contrary to what some think). Just bought one last week, an English-Chinese one, for rmb 28 (less than $4 USD). Still alive and kickin'....plan to stay that way for the rest of my time here! :-)

Personally, I believe [many] Christians are operating on information about China that's 30-40 years old. China's changing fast....not just economically and politically, but religiously as well. True, there is an underground element of Catholics, Protestants, etc. But the above-ground element is pretty spiritually sound, from what I've seen (and I've been to rural and urban registered churches in the north and south). You can find a list of them here. They're not a whole lot different than Western churches. There are definitely restrictions (e.g. you can only meet on church premises; home meetings are not allowed; no proselytizing outside of church; the gov't, not adherents, regulates the building of new churches)...these are some of the things that the underground church hopes to change. And true, those who push hard for these changes aren't well-liked by the gov't, and the gov't lets them know that. In this regards, it's not freedom by Western standards. But the mere belief and worship of God isn't restricted here. People pray, sing hymns, read/study the Bible, take communion, give sermons/testimonies in the registered churches. I've even been allowed to take video and pictures of church services here without any problems (I once tried that in an American church and got turned away; how 'bout that?).

I don't know much about the Catholic situation, but I know that China was no fan of Pope JP2....his funeral wasn't broadcasted in my area, no surprise. But there is a Catholic church here that's being renovated. Quite beautiful too.

It often frustrates me when I hear western Christians (and I say this as a western Christian myself) spin the tensions between Chinese Christians and the Chinese gov't as a struggle for the right to believe and worship, when in actuality, it's more of a struggle for rights that are more administrative or political in nature. I don't fault the Chinese gov't entirely for behaving this way, for as we all know there are kooks out there who radically politicize their religion to the detriment of society. I think because of 9/11, the US can understand this somewhat. It's turned me into a strong proponent of separating church activities from politics.

Frankly, I think some western Christians (not your friends :-) have ulterior motives in sustaining the image of a religiously ultra-repressive China, even if it isn't true. Why? I think it's because it tugs at heart-strings and, ultimately, purse-strings, if you know what I mean. This upsets me. As a Christian, I feel a strong urge to counter this in the western Christian community whenever I get the chance, with the things I've seen and heard here.

Spicy!!!

I went to lunch with the other teachers of the same course I was teaching, on the main campus. It was sort of an appreciation dinner for us by the department - where we also got paid.

The classes at the middle school went well. We started out with "20 Questions", dividing the class into 2 teams, using the rows they were sitting in. We also showed riddles for them to solve. Some were able to translate chunks of it, which was a good exercise. Since it was such a big hit, it'll probably be more of the same from here on out.

L. was getting really ill from the bumpiness of the ride back home. We got off and headed directly for a restaurant. We picked up some tofu and some kind of beef dish. Both were REALLY spicy, however, even for L.! We could barely finish them. Our waiter, named "Mouse", wanted to chat with us. He seemed eager to try his English with us. After dinner, we went for some ice cream, if nothing else, just to cool our tongues, and walked around the campus for a little while, just enjoying the respite from the rain.

home school

L. brought her afternoon class over, since there were only 10, all girls. They went through the text book lessons for the day. We later showed them our wedding DVD and our wedding pictures. They all seemed interested in them. One girl asked where in the Bible was her name (Leah). Another girl leafed through the English-Chinese Bible I bought Sunday. The wedding DVD has been great for showing people what a slice of Christian culture looks like.

chat with "J"

I met "J" at the canteen today. We walked back to his home, where we talked about Scripture and the church in China. "J" believes in God's Word as spirit that impacts people and souls when it's "breathed" out of the mouth. He's written a manuscript, collaborating with 4 other people, on the book of Revelation. I saw it as essentially a verse-by-verse commentary on Revelation using other Bible verses to explain what each verse means. I directed our conversation in a different way, sharing my views on constructing theology via scattered pieces of Scripture. I asked him how he'd respond to others who pieced verses together differently from him to raise up alternate theologies (e.g. the Church of Christ, Maranatha, etc.). I also talked about languages of Scripture and about Muslims' claims about the authenticity of the Bible and the Quran, things that have challenged me over the years. It became apparent that what we emphasized in our faith walks were a bit different, but I enjoyed sharing with him overall. I was very interested in the church in China and how difficult it was to be a Christian, citing perceptions (misperceptions) on the part of Westerners about this issue. "J" said in response to some questions I had:

He hadn't known personally of any extreme persecutions of Christians and believes much of it is exaggerated.

Having lived 3 years in Australia, he feels that China's restrictions in sharing the Gospel aren't a whole lot different in restrictions found in the USA or Australia. For example, open-air preaching in the West is regulated by social expectations, political correctness, and noise ordinances.

The incident I saw of a plenary session at a Christian conference showing a handwritten Bible carefully being handled with surgical gloves may have been the writings of someone who was simply studying the Bible by writing out verses, not necessarily for copying due to scarce Bibles (as it was being depicted at the conference).

Every Christian in China who wants a Bible could buy one if they wanted.

Obviously, the Bible in China is quite complete.

Having commentary and study guides inside Bibles strikes John as a bit odd, almost against the doctrine that speaks against adding things to God's Word. He prefers the Bible to be unencumbered by wordy footnotes and commentary.

L. and I went to Beijing Lu for pizza at Pizza Hut. We walked back in the heat, past the busy stores, crowds, wristwatch hawkers, and displays in the ground of the old GZ roads of centuries past. We waited a while for a bus, took 108 to Huang Shi Lu and then a taxi back home.

The U.S. National Cheerleading and Dance Team Championships were on GZ Sports. It was taken from ESPN. If I could only get a copy of it, it'd be nice to show to the YLT middle school kids as an example of American culture.

last class

This evening, as usual, I went to my "Beginning English" class for university faculty early to work on the "English Signs in Guangzhou" PPT presentation, before the students filed in. The class had more people in it than I've seen in a while. Turns out that it was because students had to turn in their attendance forms. I was told that if they attend more than 2/3 (6 out of 9 classes), then they would get their money back. A bit strange, but didn't question it.

The class went quite well. The last lesson was "thank yous" and "closing a conversation" (appropriate). One of the students got the Internet to work on the computer, which was nice. I showed them http://www.eslgold.com. Taking an idea from the YLT middle school, we played "20 Questions" which went over well. I showed the remainder of "English Signs in Guangzhou" PPT and took some group pictures (too bad half the class left during the break). It was a bit hard to accept it was our last class together in some ways. I've enjoyed them.

sharing with brothers

Lima wasn't feeling well, so I went to the 3-self church alone. The service started with prayer and then singing 3 praise songs (2 Chinese, 1 English). The sermon focused on Isaiah 62. I recorded most of the service, using L's tape recorder. A surprise came when a friend of L's got up to give her testimony about her struggles and about how God lifted her through it using L. and other people in her life, along with some books. I snuck away to buy an English-Chinese TSPM Bible (rmb 28), since the bookstore only opened from 11am - 12 noon. I noticed that among some of the things for sale was a DVD of the "Jesus" film put out by Inspiration Films and the Genesis Project.

I met "J", "S", "D", and some new brothers, "N", "C", and "Gs" (who wasn't yet a believer). Also met "A" and "Y" from Angola. Had some lunch at the fellowship hall, then gathered with the Angolan brothers, "C", "Gs", and another Chinese-citizen brother visiting from New Orleans (he has a US green card).

Some of us shared how we all came to Christ. "C" shared how he met some Christians three years ago when he was a student at a university. He wasn't open at all first, but later became so. "C's" now very fervent about sharing his faith. He admits he was so much so at first that police took him to detention for a day for his activities. He says he was not wise and maybe a bit out of control in his zeal. "C" feels he is now more mature and wise about it.

"A" grew up in a Christian family and was a pastor and a teacher at one time in the Congo. He didn't do that much in Angola, as Angola was in the midst of a 27-year civil war which ended only 6 years ago or so. "A" says that the church in Angola is doing well there now. He and his friends are looking for possible import-export business opportunities in China. They've been in China for 2 months so far and hopes to be here for another 2 years. I gave him info about GICF, which he would check into.

There's a chamber concert taking place at the church on June 11. Might be kind of interesting to check it out.

I took bus with "J". "J" shared a lot of Bible verses with me. It almost seemed every other sentence he spoke was a Bible verse. It was interesting at first, but later got somewhat repetitive and tedious. Overall, "J" seems like a good guy with a head filled with knowledge about the Bible.

The evening Bible study, which I arrived late, was on John 13:1-17.

"make-up" day...grrrr!!!

I am exhausted! I had to teach the entire day today, i.e. 8 a.m. - 5:20 p.m. straight with the lunch break. (Big chip on my shoulder about this: normally, i have only two classes on Friday morning - 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. - which are still pretty tiring, consindering you're on your feet for three straight hours. But today, i had to make up for the classes i didn't teach during the May holiday. Classes that i didn't know i was supposed to teach since there were no notices/signs in English informing me and other foreign teachers. So, basically, they don't tell you what you have to do, but make you make up for not doing it...grrrr!!! My frustration about this is rather daunting and my only salvation is that we're leaving in a little more than a month and i won't have to deal with an incompetent administration after this) Sorry for the vent!

Plus, we had lunch with one of my classes from last year. This was the only time they could meet and unfortunately, it was on a day that i was teaching all day. Soon after my 11:30 class we walked to the front entrance of the school, where a former student A. met us. She had a car (auto-transmission, first time seen for us!) and was going to take us to a restaurant. Her class is graduating this semester and is treating all their (loved) teachers to a lunch. Another teacher named N. joined us in the car. He lives in our building and teaches English literature. He speaks pretty good English and knows a lot of poetry by heart. He enjoys Keats, Browning, Poe, Shakespeare, among others. He's never studied abroad and all that he's learned was picked up in China. S. was quite impressed with him, not only for his literature, but N. is also a big "Matrix" fan. Once i heard that, i knew we had pretty much lost S. for the rest of the ride. A very animated discussion followed the rest of the way there.

S from now on: The restaurant was a delightful, half-outdoors buffet, filled with various Chinese foods. Other than a big cockroach that flew by the buffet line, it was a nice place. Wish Dad and Mom could've come. The students were happy to see L. Lots of hugging and picture-taking. The students, about 30 present, were quite gregarious. It was easy to see why L. liked them. They liked her a lot too, it was apparent. Talking with some of the students, they weren't sure what they were going to do once they left. One student said that XM told them the certificate they were earning would be recognized around the world, but it wasn't turning out to be as important as they thought it would be.

After lunch, A. drove us back. It started pouring rain along the way. L. dashed off to her afternoon, make-up classes. I went back home, on the way borrowing "Matrix I" and "Matrix II" from N. I spent the afternoon watching them and then L. and I watched "Matrix II" later at night.

new ideas for middle schoolers

The classes at YLT middle school went fine. The kids were pretty well-behaved, compared to last week. L. assisted me at the computer and DVD player, doing no teaching. We played "20 Questions" in both classes, which is quite well-received with the kids. They became more open to asking questions as time wore on. We gave the ones who guessed the item candy prizes. Next week, we'll try to guess things on the outside and also create two teams, pitting them against each other, and asking questions alternately. Competition is a good educational motivator.

The showing of "Monsters, Inc." captivated the students. We showed it in English, with Chinese subtitles, in case they hadn't seen it and needed to understand the plot (I kinda wished we'd used English subtitles anyway). I stopped the DVD at certain parts to go over phrases and captions in English. The DVD player was flaky during the first class, but it didn't have any problems in the 2nd class....must've needed warming up. Overall, it seemed to go well. However, N the head teacher asked us not to show the movie next week, since he said most of the students had seen it already and other teachers use movies as well as teaching tools. He preferred that we focus on games, songs, and cultural things like MTV. I didn't agree with making MTV a teaching tool (I wouldn't teach my own kids anything about MTV and besides, where would I find any material on it here in China?). I tried to argue with N. that watching the movies in English using English subtitles might be helpful. The students in the 2nd class confirmed that they'd seen it, but only in Chinese. N. was okay with other movies that the kids may not have seen. However, I got the feeling that he didn't want the school paying money to have us just show movies in class. It was a bit frustrating, but I gradually understood. Back to the drawing board on this.

At home, we decided to go out for some KFC. We loaded up on a couple of meals and a bucket to go. We ended up eating most of the bucket as well, while watching the NBA playoffs. Fried chicken and NBA b-ball....a nice way to spend the evening!

Four guests and a wedding video

This evening, 3 female students and 1 male student from L.'s classes last year came by for a visit. The boy called himself "Sonic", but I can't quite recall the girls' names. We had lots of snacks. The kids brought over a small watermelon, which we dropped on the floor, but we managed to salvage most of it. Sonic left early, while the girls continued to look over wedding photos. We watched our wedding DVD that Auntie and Uncle made for us. The wedding video has been the most watched piece of video we have in our whole collection, not to mention what a witness it's been, filled with Scripture reading, inspirational singing, testimonies, communion, prayers, sermons, etc.

Today's the 25th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. (Well, writing that sentence's about all the celebration you'll find here in China on it.)

it's good to be an american

We woke up to the heat and humidity we fell asleep to yesterday. No big bugs in the room this time, save the occasional cockroach. I went to teach piano. M. figured out how to play inversions while changing chords in "Ode To Joy" on his own, which was a welcomed surprise.

After I dropped L. off at home, I went to the U.S. consulate to check a few things out. When I got there, I was able to bypass a long line of Chinese waiting for visas, as citizens get a pass right in. The process getting through was quite smooth. There was hardly anyone at the embassy counter, so I was able to get forms, registered, and extra pages in my passport without waiting long at all. Only about 4-5 other people came through during the 45 minutes I was there. A much more pleasant experience here than the U.S. immigration office back home in the States.

TV shows for tonight: "24", "Insects from Hell", and a National Geographic on Egyptian kings. Ironic about "Insects from Hell", considering the one we encountered yesterday.

Rats and spiders and critters...oh my!

The power went out this morning. Great! The heat and humidity was sweltering!

L. was having a hankering for fried chicken, so we stopped by KFC for lunch and then went to the main campus early, just to get out of our stuff apartment. After unloading our stuff, playing badminton, and taking a shower, I went to class. The heat bothered many in class, so we ended 10 minutes early.

L. met me outside. Another teacher, K. was with her - they had just been to dinner at a local restaurant. While we were walking back, they told me about how while they were paying for their meal, the waitress behind the counter screamed and a few seconds after a giant rat ran out into the restaurant. Two other guys grabbed a mop and a broom and started chasing and beating this rat as it tried to go up the stairs. Everytime it went up one step, they would beat it and it would fall to the step below...this happened repeatedly. Finally, the two guys just followed the rat upstairs, but L. and K. aren't sure whether they actually killed it, or just let it go upstairs. In either case, neither of them is going to go there again anytime soon. This got us talking about various other creepy, crawlies, including spiders. K. talked about big spiders she had to deal with in her room, and how she was ok with them, as long as they weren't rats. (Although China is quickly curing her from her fear of them). While we were watching TV that night, we noticed a very large spider, similar to the ones K. had mentioned, crawl into our bedroom. It took a while to get the thing, as I was being a wuss about smashing it. It was fast and flexible. Its leg span was almost the size of my hand. It hid behind our bed, the bookcase, and climbed high on the walls and ceiling. I tried throwing hot water on it, but hit the light bulb, which exploded. Glass fell everywhere. Another hit with hot water brought it down on the ground. It crawled into the bathroom, stunned by the water and me trying to smack it in between the cracks of the door. Finally, I killed it after discovering it in a corner of the door, using hot spraying water from the shower. It took us a good half-hour to get it dead. We went to bed with the mosquito net in place and with the willies after the spider encounter. There are quite a number of bugs at GW, more than XM. I'll take XM over the spiders at GW any day.

Sunday fellowshipping

At GICF. A young man gave a sermon on loving Jesus. One of the church officers gave a talk about renewing the church's application to worship in the hotel and to urge everyone to abide by the rules of not bringing local Chinese into the fellowship (a big no-no). After lunch, I went to the 3-self church for the men’s fellowship, while L. headed back home.

G. led a Bible study on the "Romans Road" with me and another woman. I might consider coming to this gathering more. It's more personal, offering an easier environment to share and listen. About 40 people, broken up in 6-7 groups, conducted Bible studies, based on the "Romans Road" and other like material. Each group was at different chapters/levels. The room was air-conditioned, an added bonus.

Once through, I joined the men's fellowship in progress. J. was leading it, in Chinese. I didn't catch much of the theme, but heard them discuss the differences between the old and new covenant. J. was quoting all sorts of Scripture from memory, which was impressive. Some of the Scripture that we went over....

Revelations 19:11-19

Romans 8:30-32, 10:14-15

Luke 12:4-8

John 3:34, 14:27, 16:33

Matthew 16:21-23

2 Kings 22:13

2 Timothy 1:7

Matthew 9:35-38

Hebrews 8:8-12

1 Peter 1:19-21

2 Peter 1:21

J. and I prayed together. It's always a blessing to share prayer with a brother in China.

I later went to evening Bible study, which I helped facilitate. It'd been a long time since I'd been to it. I've missed it. We went over John 11 today, about Lazarus raised from the dead.

"A Walk In Your Shoes"

Ever seen the show "A Walk In Your Shoes"? It's fascinating. We saw it today on one of the HK channels. Today's episode focused on two girls, one Jewish and one Catholic, who spent a week at each other's religious camps. We were surprised to see the show broadcasted in China.

back to normal...

Now that the family's all gone...it's been pretty much back to normal for us. Nothing particularly exciting. Classes have been the usual...with fewer students since many of them are starting to go for job interviews, etc.

The middle-schoolers, whom we take on every Thursday, finally showed that they really were middle-schoolers. I had to get a bit tough with a couple of the boys, but they seemed to "calm" down after my little "talk."

I'm really looking forward to the summer and being done here and going to India. It'll be nice to be with my parents again for a longer period of time.

This is going to be a "take-it-easy" weekend.

evening of sports TV

L. went to her 3 classes today. I took the 509 to Carrefour to buy some groceries and lunch. I took the 523 on the way back, which was packed. Curious as to how so many get on, but few get off until the very end of the route. One of L.'s students recognized me. She was coming back from an interview at an Arab garment company.

We spent the evening relaxing, watching soccer, NBA playoffs (the Sonics lost to San Antonio again, 2nd game). The soccer game featured Shandong against a Japanese team, a game that had 15,000 police patrolling the stadium premises, amid concerns of anti-Japanese violence. One small fight broke out in the game. CCTV 5 did an interesting thing in panning out to a full-stadium camera shot during the scuffle and not following the skirmishes close-up, like American cameras do. The U.S. could do well to learn from giving unnecessary attention to stupid pro-player antics.

weekend in HK

The ache in my chest is much better...still a bit sore though. Maybe delayed exhaustion from the heat.

L. and I spent the weekend in Hong Kong. The train transportation between GZ and HK rocks! It was a very comfortable ride, to and from.

Once in, we breezed through customs and took public transportation (another easy mode of transportation around HK) to the JHF office to pick up information about staying at the flat. We shared it with another JHF associate, B., who, with his family, lives in Xiamen. He's lived here since 1988 with his wife and two sons. His sons are teens and speak Chinese fluently. He is very enthusiastic about Xiamen and welcomed us over numerous times.

The first day (i.e. Friday) - we walked to a sandwich shop for dinner. I wasn't too hungry, opting for a bowl of clam chowder (which wasn't that great), and L. for a toasted turkey sandwich. (You don't get turkey on the mainland - well, not cheap anyway).

Saturday - starting early this afternoon, L. and I went through all the places that we went to the first time we met each other over a year ago. It was fun to reminisce about that day. We took a ferry ride to the HK island, went to Taco Loco for lunch, visited Starbucks and HMV, and took the ferry ride back to Kowloon. We rode the moving sidewalks up to Taco Loco and walked back down, like we did last year. We stopped by to buy a few groceries (just a few...very expensive here) before heading back to the transit flat to rest. Hong Kong is a busy, dense, crowded city with a rhythm that tends to drain me as well as intrigue me. L. likes it because it is a change of pace from the mainland. We later went to Yoshinoya's for dinner.

Sunday - the rain really poured this morning! L. and I ran through it to catch a bus for church. After the service, a couple folks, B. L. and I went to a nearby buffet for lunch. We just relaxed in the flat (due to the rain) till dinner and then went to a nearby mall, which served Indian food. It is about a 30-story office building with a pretty amazing mall inside. It contained a high ceiling and the 2 longest escalators I'd ever ridden on. Stairs and stores wound around the escalators in a "spiral" fashion. The whole place was very non-symmetrical, very 21st century. The ceiling was lit up sky-blue with wispy white cloud-like images, like the ceilings in some of the hotel-malls in Las Vegas. Large TV screens played bright commercial images. We bought food at the food court there (L. didn't approve of the "indian" food, so she had some Thai, I got the Indian) and took it home to eat.

Monday - we headed back home today, since I have my class this evening. The train ride took us through a violent rainstorm, which we later learned killed a couple of people in HK. We were served a cool drink on board and slept most of the way. Upon getting to the station, I picked up a few blank entry cards, since it had Chinese and English on it, thinking it'd be a good learning tool for the English class.

On my way to class (L. was feeling a bit out of it, so she stayed home), I dropped by a nearby barber shop to give the promised Bible and Dad's letter to "C". He was there, along with most of his family in their shop. They were very friendly and invited me to sit and chat. I didn't say too much, not knowing what to say. I did notice that 5-6 people gathered intently around the Bible, looking through it and reading Dad's letter. They seemed quite curious about it. I asked if they wanted more copies, but they said it was enough to share. I wish I could follow up with them somehow to see if they had any questions. I left wondering if it'd be a good idea to drop by again.

Bon Voyage

We woke around 5 pm to get ready to go with Mom, Dad, J. and the kids to the airport. We took two taxis. Mom, H, P, and I rode in one, the rest rode in the other. We packed a suitcase filled with things we wouldn't be using in India or China. It was a good thing we called for two taxis (originally, L. and I weren't sure we'd be going), because they ended up needing the space to pack everything.

We thought we'd be able to spend some time with them before saying goodbye, but we no sooner got off the taxi and rolled into the airport when we said goodbye, gave hugs/kisses, and saw our family set off through the no-visitors gate to international check-in, which was right by the entrance into the airport. It was pretty fast. We left our place around 6:00 a.m., arrived at the airport by 6:30 and said goodbye before 6:45...

We hoped to take the airport express back into the city, but it wouldn't start running until 7 a.m., so L. and I wandered around the relatively quiet terminal before catching the (as usual) delayed express. It was 8:30 am by the time we got back - at least we saved money?

I wasn't feeling that good, achy in my chest and sleepy, so I took a nap. L. was more productive, using the time to clean the apartments (ours and the one the family stayed in), do laundry, etc. I woke up 7 hours later, still a bit groggy, but stable. I'm still reeling from the fever, it appears. We passed the time finishing up the laundry and watching "Finding Nemo" on DVD. By then, a fierce thunderstorm had rolled in. It rained something hard around midnight. It amazed me to see that some restaurants below us were still open for business, weathering the storm. No one appeared to be patronizing them during that late, wet night during school break and few students around, so it puzzled me why they stayed open. Who knows, maybe there were folks crazy enough to venture out in the madness for a bite to eat. We went to bed, still amazed that I could still sleep.

Last full day...

I felt a little better today. I spent the morning with Dad to visit the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen memorial. Dad really looks up to Dr. Sun, which made the trip there worthwhile to be spending a morning and part of the afternoon learning about his inspiration. It was warm, overcast, and raining slightly towards the end. We also stopped by a park. The kids would've enjoyed the paddleboats and the fishes. We went to the Five-Goat Statue and the Five-Fairy Statue (there's a legend in GZ that these celestial goats and fairies promised the people of GZ good crops 2000 years ago, which is why they are honored). Lots of folks gathered to do exercises, tai-chi, ballroom dancing, and kicking around a Chinese hacky-sack with feathers ("jin-zhi", I hear they're called).

Mom and J. and the girls went shopping for some last minute bargains before doing the final packing. (L. stayed home and rested). We'd hoped to watch "Mary Poppins" with the kids, but as soon as we found the DVD, the power went out. It remained out for about 3 hours this evening. We also wanted to have an early b'day celebration for R. (since she's to turn 3 in a few days), but due to the power cut, we blew out the candles in the dark. It was fun for the kids...just had a bit of a challenge with the cameras.

another nasty day

Both of us had a 101 temperature this morning and felt pretty lousy with colds, plus L. still has her nasty cough. We stayed at home pretty much the whole day, drinking liquids and cooling down the fever, which for me had gotten back to normal by the afternoon, but L's went up to 102. H. and P. are much better today as well as mom and dad and surprisingly J. and R. have not caught whatever bug is going around.

Not a good start to a "holiday" but perhaps it's better than working for L.

finally...a break

We woke up to the sound of heavy rain and loud thunder. It cleared the smog so much that we could see Bai Yun Mountain range in the distance for the first time. The sun also shone amid patches of blue sky. However, the unsettled weather was enough to keep us all at home during the day. L. has a 100.2 fever. She's been coughing rather violently the past couple of days.

The rain and thunder came back. H. and P. are running pretty high fevers. R. and J. have been okay. Mom and Dad are back to normal. I'm sniffling and sneezing myself, so it's going to be an early night. Some way to start a holiday...

Praise Him in a taxi...

Dad's feeling a little better, but not well enough for church. The rest of us walked to Guang Hua Yi Lu to take a taxi to GICF. It was a woman driver, which is kinda rare. We sang praise songs all the way to church.

A speaker from the US came to speak. He spoke on Deut. 4 and 6, on training children. "I Surrender All" was the last song we sang.

We ate at the hotel buffet with another family before going to Starbucks to pick up the tumbler we lost on the bus last week. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing. The heat and travel may be starting to take its toll on us....

28 bucks for what?!?!?!?!?

We decided to go to Baiyun Mountain. Dad decided not to due to allergies. As we were walking to the city bus stop (outside our campus), we were told by another teacher that the shuttle would be available, since it was a school day (this Thursday and Friday are off, but not officially national holidays. Schools give an extra couple days off to make it a full week of holiday - including the weekend. HOWEVER, they make us make up for those two days off by asking us to teach on another weekend. So, apparently, we had to teach the Thursday schedule today and Friday's schedule some Sunday. We didn't know about it, since the notice announcing it was in Chinese). I say, forget the couple extra days off and give us back our weekend...

By the time we got to the Baiyun Mountain, it was around lunch time and everyone was pretty hungry, so we decided to grab a bite before exploring the delights of the mountain. We ate lunch at a fairly expensive restaurant - a big rip off!!! - and we didn't even get much of a view. Following lunch we went to a nearby garden, where we were charged to get in, despite the fee we had to pay at the entrance of the mountain. (Man, they really milk you for everything little thing here). The youngest two were free and H. had to pay half price. They don't measure "children" by age here, but by height. So, if you have a tall parent and are unusually tall for your age, you're out of luck. However, if you're a "little person" this country is the cheapest vacation you'll get anywhere. There were wading pools with tadpoles, ponds with coy and gold fish, fun paths around the garden, flowers, trees, and ponds. The girls played in a giant jungle gym, while I explored other parts of the garden to see what else they could enjoy. Then everyone (except mom) took our shoes off and waded in the pools provided. The water was glorious and was very refreshing in that humidity. We fed the fish, had ice cream, and walked around. We pretty much enjoyed the garden to ourselves, right until the last half hour or so when a group of roudy, unsupervised, middle schoolers found their way in.

We ate dinner and spent the evening playing games on the computer and watching TV. The kids really like watching Chinese opera. S. thinks that it IS a bit entertaining, especially the dance/fight scenes, but I don't like it at all.

"Sa!"

The last couple days I has brought my class to the flat because there have been so few people (most of the kids have gone home early for the upcoming week long break). I taught a couple chapters, rather briefly, and then S. and the rest of the family joined in to teach them a game or two ("sa", which means "kill", and "King Elephant"). The students enjoyed their time immensely, and the kids, as always, were entertaining.

Uncle N's package finally arrived and H. has proper pajamas now...no more excuses about not being able to get her pajamas on *smile*

(very ready for this week long break ourselves)

The nieces take center stage

Weather: rainy and overcast. Rained most of the day. Cool.

More and more, it looks like our nieces are quite the draw. I took them to visit L.'s class today. The students asked them a few questions. All the classes have taken a liking to them.

We brought them along to the middle school we've teaching at. J. came along as well. Both classes went fairly well. We read some dialogue out of their text book, had Q & A with the nieces, played a "clump"-style game where they stood up whenever questions on possessing certain physical characteristics applied to them. We played another guessing game called "cahoots", where L. and the class would pick an item in the room w/o me knowing what it was and I would try to guess it. There's a trick to this, but I won't tell what it is in case we want to play it on you!

Mom was pretty sick and stayed in bed most of the day. Dad was up and around, feeling a bit better.

Three of L.'s former students all stopped by for a visit later this evening to chat and play Chinese checkers. And of course, they took to the nieces, who also enjoyed their company.

last minute indian food

We stayed home most of the day because of the rain. Mom and Dad were sick as well, due to exhaustion. Mom stayed in bed the whole day. I hope nothing serious is the matter with her.

L. had two classes in the morning and then one in the afternoon. I took the nieces to the afternoon class, while the rest rested. They answered some questions as well as asked a few of their own, tho' for the most part, they were shy. They opened up more when they talked with a smaller group of 5-6 that had gathered around them.

Since Mom was mandated to rest for the next couple days, I (L.) decided to cook dinner (which she hasn't done since mom took over *smile*). We went to Carrefour and Trust-mart to pick up some groceries for dinner. There was some traffic jam on the way back that kept us from going to XM via the usual (and shortest) route and the police waved us away from the intersection. The taxi driver cut across a parking lot to get around the mess.

The day before the girlfriend of a friend (J. from England who came to the Boston wedding) met the girls and thought they were adorable. She wanted to come up and spend some time with them, which she did after dinner...bearing gifts. She's quite fond of them.

tourists

Today was a touristy day. We visited the Chen Ancestral Lineage Hall, a temple-like museum that contained various artworks. It was 10 kuai a person to enter, kind of steep, I thought, for the amount of exhibits they had. We then took the Subway to Shamian Island and grabbed some lunch before shopping around for some souvenirs and such. Got home fairly late, completely "knackered" - L's word.

Thunderstorms galore...

Today started out pleasant enough, we just bummed around the house until it was time to take the shuttle to GW. We were all invited for dinner, but had to go a bit early since S. had class this evening. S. left lunch a bit early for his piano class. They had a good lesson. M. has really improved. It was evident he'd been practicing. They played a duet together, which the mom really enjoyed.

The rest of us were going to join him at the house later, but soon after we started walking over it started to drizzle a little and then downright poured. We waited for about 15-20 minutes till the rain subsided to a drizzle again and ventured to the post office and to the veggie market for some fruit. But we were stuck there again by a downpour. This lasted a while, so all the girls decided to get our hair cut. We were going to do later that evening, but since we were right by the salon and stuck in the rain, we went for it. My hair was cut waaaaayyy shorter than I wanted...was nervous about what S. would say - he liked my long hair. The rain went on for about an hour and a half...and at the next break, we ventured out again, only to have to find a nearest shelter soon after. There we waited for another ten minutes and although it wasn't pelting down, we got pretty wet as we walked to another building. Stopped there for a bathroom break. The rain was very soft by now, so we decided to go for it. We were able to walk for about five minutes before it started again. Fortunately, we found an office that had a little sunshade which we huddled under. The folks inside had a fish tank and were gracious enough to allow the kids to watch the fish while we waited for the downpour to subside. I was just about to check the rain when I saw S. walking past with some umbrellas. Apparently, they were waiting for us to come and after the downpour, our hostess guessed correctly that we were stranded somewhere because of the rain and sent S. with some umbrellas in search of us. Of course, Murphy is always at work and it stopped raining once S. showed up with the umbrellas - figures, doesn't it?

Dinner was great (home made pizza - which is a real treat out here) and the kids got along really well. Our hosts have two boys a little older than the girls, but I think both sets of kids missed playing with folks their own age.

S. left early to prepare for class, the rest of us hung around a bit and chatted while the kids played their hearts out. We left with the intention of visiting S' class, however, the minute we walked downstairs from their apartment it started pouring again. We decided to wait and then venture on, but, the kids started falling asleep and Mom and Dad were probably feeling a bit of fatigue. So, we called a cab, which were hard to come by today since the demand was pretty high, and headed home...with a pitstop to let S. know that we wouldn't be coming to class. I was soaked running to and from the taxi to the classroom - I couldn't believe how much it'd been raining and it didn't look like it was slowing down anytime soon. You could see clumps of people gathered together under any kind of shelter they could find. When we got to our campus, the guard mercifully allowed the taxi to take us to our building, rather than making us get off at the gate and walk. Due to construction, a vent in the ground had been blocked, so the rain had formed a small pool at the bottom of our building, right where our taxi drove up...it was hilarious. All three girls, who had fallen asleep during the cab ride, woke up to giant drops of water pelting their faces. The rest of us got quite a shower just walking around the taxi into the building.

Another adventure to remember...

PS: By the time S' class was over the rain was done and he had quite a pleasant ride home...of course.

follow that bus...

Dad and I went to the 3-self church while the rest went to GICF. We got there as the service began singing "This Is The Day" using an accompaniment half-live, half-sequenced. A beautiful "Hallelujah" song using pinyin and Chinese followed next, afterwards the praise songs "Above All Powers" and "As The Deer".

Two women (one translating) shared exhortations to the congregation. Then a young man in a plain white shirt gave a sermon on Isaiah 58. A bespectacled young man in a plaid yellow, untucked, short-sleeve dress shirt translates into English for him. The sermon is a continuation in the study on Isaiah. Some things mentioned ---

• True fasting is a matter of your heart.


• Genesis 2:1-3 suggests the Sabbath as a "fast" from work.


• Work not for yourself, but for God.


• Deuteronomy 28:1-11: The blessings of God.

An invitation was made to those who wished to follow Christ, followed by applause from the congregation. Later, a woman gave a personal testimony in Cantonese.

After service, we went to the bookshop to buy a Bible for the fellow Dad met at the barber shop a few days ago, but it was closed. During lunch, Dad started talking about his life and the Bible. Those who were sitting with us were very interested in his knowledge. Dad ended up talking himself hoarse for 3 hours. His group grew to about 10, with everyone eating up his words. Other groups formed at separate tables and even one outside. Two became "siblings", led by Dad.

By the time we got home it was around 7:00 p.m., having been through one of the worst traffic jams I’d ever been in during our time in GZ. Turned out to be a severely jackknifed flatbed truck just before the XM bus station. Because we’d got home so late, I didn’t make it to Bible study tonight. While eating dinner, we talked about our day and found out that the girls had their own adventure today.

L's story: Fellowship was fine as was lunch. Mom and J. and the girls met the C's (another family we have fellowship with at our university), and we all had lunch together. On our way home, we stopped by a Starbucks and bought a GZ tumbler as a souvenir. We took the subway to a bus stop, which would take us to the main campus with the intention of catching a cab from there. Everything was okay up until we got off the bus. The youngest two girls had fallen asleep on the bus, and in the rush to get them off at our stop, Mom forgot the Starbucks bag. She realized this just as the bus pulled away and started running after it. I had no idea my mother-in-law was such a fast runner. She was really booking it. J. and I had the three girls, one of whom was still sleeping. We decided to catch a cab and wait for mom....who finally gave up the chase. However, we had the brilliant idea of following the bus and seeing if we could catch up with it at the next stop and retrieve the tumbler. Mom sat in the front to explain to the taxi driver our mission....it was very much a "follow that bus" scenario. However, by the time we had explained to the taxi driver what we wanted to do, we lost the bus. We followed a path that I thought might be where the bus went, but after five minutes, still couldn't find it. Acknowledging defeat, we turned the taxi around and headed home. However, just as we took a turn, we saw another bus of the same number (76) come up and decided to follow it, since it would take us the route of our bus. So, we asked the driver to turn around again and "follow that bus" - which we did for a while. (No way could we have figured out that route on our own). As we were driving, we noticed several 76's going back and kept looking for the bag in their back windows, but we were sure they weren't "our" bus, since we weren't that far behind. Eventually, the driver got close enough to the bus to read the name of the end station and asked if he could go ahead and catch up to "our" bus. Before the words "no problem" were fully out of our mouths, he stepped on the gas and we were off. I don't think I've even driven this fast in a Chinese car....the girls (still only two) and all of us got into the chase and started looking for any 76 ahead of us. In a few minutes, we caught up with ours....and mom asked the bus driver through the window if she could climb aboard and get her bag. He was gracious enough to agree....so she jumped out and looked and couldn't find it. Encouraged by the bus driver, she looked again, but to no avail....it was gone! Someone had felt they needed it more. A bit discouraged, but with another adventure under our belts, we headed home. I'm not sure how much the taxi ride cost, but it was definitely way more than if we had just taken a taxi from the fellowship straight home. But if we had done that, there wouldn't have been the adventure and we'd have nothing to tell you - so, aren't you glad we didn't.... :-)

in memory of...

Today was Mr. W's funeral, I told L. that I'd help teach her Friday classes so that she could attend. Mom went with L. to help translate - I felt it was important that she go.

Classes went well. After we did the "inventions," we used the remaining time to have a Q&A session with the students. This was most interesting. Many had good questions, but a few asked us if we were Christians and went to church, to which we said yes. The spirited discussion then turned towards science and the existence of God with a few of the students. They spoke pretty good English and had keen interest in these matters. They felt that people created God in their minds, that the mind can make the fake become real. We suggested that the mind can also make the real become fake, and that scientists can have as much of an anti-God bias cloud their research as those who have a God bias cloud theirs. We talked about intelligent design and "design inference" that point to the evidence for God or some kind of cosmic intelligence or deity. (L. and Mom returned toward the end of the second class)

We talked about the funeral while we had our lunch. Mom had never been to a secular, much less "Party" funeral. About 200-300 people went and packed themselves standing up in a small room in a rather lavish funeral home. A few people gave some words of tribute. Most everyone bowed before the closed, with the glass top, casket, but Mom and L. didn't.

One of L's former students came up to talk with her privately. She was at the funeral, so it was thought that she might want to talk about it. We spent some time talking and thinking about her before she came up. It turned out that she was burdened by a relationship she had with a former XM English teacher, a colleague of L.'s from last year. He'd taken advantage of her, apparently, leading her to believe that he was interested in maintaining a relationship. L. counseled against it, since he was known to have a "relationship" with several other coeds and possibly was one of the reasons he was not asked back to teach this year. In any case, L. was able to spend some time encouraging her and praying with her. Hopefully, this will open up opportunites for more discussion in the future.

make sure you have the right batteries

S. and I woke up at 5 am to find a taxi to the airport for J. and D. We had to walk to the big intersection (about 20 minutes) and bargained with one driver for 90 bucks, although, he still got way more than he should have. The streets were deserted for the most part and it was still quite dark. We were able to get the driver to drive directly to our doorstep, where we were hoping to meet J. and D. But when S. ran up to get them, he learned that they had already left. He ran back down and started looking for them. I didn't know what to do with the taxi, so I hopped in and asked him to drive in the direction S. Except, when we turned the corner, we couldn't seen him anywhere, so I just directed the taxi to the main gate, where we found J. and D., but no sign of S. anywhere. We (Dad was waiting with them) put them in the taxi and sent them off, and then walked back, only to meet S. still running around looking for J. and D. He sure got his exercise that morning. If only the walkie-talkies we had worked, we would've avoided missing each other.

Later that day, we noticed that an apartment two floors below us had its door opened. Many people were coming in and out and occasionally we'd hear someone wailing. A woman burned incense at a small desk in the living room. Some were burning paper "money" using a pot in the fire extinguisher container. It appeared that someone in that room may have died, but we didn't know who.

For lunch, Mom and S. went to E. old café (the one we were hoping to help out with). It's now a restaurant with about 6-7 men and women working together. Gone were the couches and short tables; in their place, eating tables, chairs, and new decorations. It was kind of sad to see the place changed so fast and S. knew I would feel likewise.

We went to the middle school for the first lesson. We tried the "name game", but it was apparent rather quickly that pronunciation was not their forte. We had them write their names on their cards, typed them on the screen, and had them recite them. We also gave them simple questions (e.g. how old are you, what's your favorite xyz, etc.) for them to write answers to in order to know where their English listening proficiency was. They seemed quite well-behaved, almost shy, although I still think that their "middle-school-ness" will surface pretty soon. Maybe because their teachers were there watching them? Also, the teachers don't teach speaking and listening, as they don't do it that well themselves. That may be where S. and I can contribute the most.

On the way back to the flat, we met another teacher, who upon asking, told me that last year's dean of the college had passed away yesterday of a heart attack. He was 63 and lived two floors below us. He was truly loved by not only staff, but students as well. I was very shocked by the news. There will be a funeral service tomorrow.