5 children...all born overseas

On the way to catch the bus for church, we encountered several of my students from last year. It was so good to see them again (and I even remembered most of their names). It was one of those warm fuzzy moments, when someone who you’ve had minimal interaction with (considering your entire lifetime) welcomes the opportunity for further interaction. It was a blessing to see the excitement on their faces as they ran across a lawn for just a few words with me. Makes you feel like you’ve made some impact. Last year was so worth it!!! I almost pondered staying back and catching up with them, but they hadn’t seen each other in a while, and I wanted to give them time with each other, without a teacher hanging around asking for translation every two minutes. But the warmth I felt from them solidified the bond we shared.

We got to the 3-self church about 45 minutes after it started, just in time to catch some of the sermon and the singing at the end. We got there in the middle of the sermon and sat on chairs in the aisle. It was pretty full today. The sermon was about Isaiah 54 and Revelations, talking about the new Jerusalem.

After the service, we walked to a nearby hotel for lunch. Due to a lack of space, we were invited to share a table with an American couple living in Germany. She is a federal engineer and he is a stay-at-home dad. They just adopted an 18-month Chinese baby girl, to add to their brood of 4, ranging from ages 6-12. All were born in different countries (Guam, England, Australia - and now China). They've done a lot of traveling with the children and have enjoyed doing so, despite most people feeling like they can't do so until the kids grow up. S. and M. said their kids were pretty well-rounded and really enjoy living in other countries with the added advantage of having a global perspective much earlier than most children. We were amazed and impressed, thinking that maybe we'd enjoy a similar type of lifestyle.....maybe.

News that Pope John Paul II died last night. News on his death dominated HK news, but some of it was censored from the mainland. JP2, being from Poland and credited with bringing down the "party", was not favored by the higher-ups here.

Call 713-623-DUNK for Rockets tickets!

The Rockets played the Hornets on TV. Hornets came back to win, 76-73. The broadcast said to be sure to call 713-623-DUNK to get my tickets for the next Rockets game! Actually, Chinese NBA TV is actually satellite-broadcasted FSN....the Chinese commentators merely speak over the American commentators and add in their own observations; no direct translations. So they can't control what's broadcasted and have no way to anticipate what replays, camera angles, spots, etc. will occur. They just go with the flow of what FSN provides.

April Fool's

I gave tests today in class and had to convince the students that this wasn't a joke. Right at the end of my last class, just after i dismissed the students, S. walked in the door with a cake. The students were stunned (so was I), until he explained who he was and that it was my b'day. He brought a candle and lit it and then led the students in the b'day song. It was so sweet - what a man!!!

A couple hours later, we headed downtown to try and find an Indian restaurant. A magazine had listed about five in the city, so we were bound to find at least one. The first one we found had three men watching television and none of them even stood up when we walked in. We walked right back out...

The second one near the center of town, but we had to walk down one winding alley after another, finding it later in a basement type setting. The place was very plush and nice...and very expensive. So, once again, we were outside trying to find whatever restaurant having canned the idea of eating Indian. I checked out the magazine and found that there was another restaurant around there, so we decided since we were in the area, we might as well check it out. It had the ambience of a cafe/fast food restaurant type place. But the prices were reasonable enough and the food looked pretty good. However, our appetite for Indian was gone.

So, two and a half hours after we left home, we found ourselves back at our favorite Brazilian restaurant. The food, as usual, was great and the band, lively. It had been pouring on and off all day and whenever it wasn't, there was always a misty drizzle...welcoming April, i guess. After dinner, we just took a taxi home...i didn't feel like wrestling with wet people on public transportation. Prince of Egypt was the blockbuster of the evening...it was fun singing along.

Several people called with their greetings - it was very nice talking to mom and dad and mom. I also heard from some former students who had remembered...that was very affirming! This is both of our first b'days being married. I don't know about S., but for me, it was wonderful (and a bit weird).

Thank you, honey!

You're welcome, sweetie....I did have a great time. Happy day to you!

Monopoly

We went to E's cafe again for the English Corner, but it was closed. So, we called and he asked us to come again in an hour - which we did. There were just a few boys there, so we opened up our Chinese monopoly game and taught it to them. They got into the spirit of things and i think we've found a hit. There weren't nearly as many people there as last week. I'm not sure that they understood that we'd be doing this every week. Hopefully word will get around next week.

We haven't yet talked to him about renting his cafe, although we've thought about it quite a bit. If we do this, we might be doing it solo and we would like to be in partnership with someone. However, because we're so far away from the main campus and the city, that might not be a viable option for others. S. and i are still trying to sort through all the ramifications if we do this...

Grocery shopping in China

While L. was in class today, I went out shopping. The Carrefour, Trust-Mart, and Jusco markets are pretty neat. They're all 2-3 stories tall and have moving sidewalks that slant upwards. Shopping carts stick to these sidewalks without sliding back....done with magnets. Tissue packs, batteries, and drinks line the sides of the moving sidewalk, leaving no space unused for selling. Things are quite cheap in places; a bunch of fresh, leafy veggies cost less than 1 rmb (12 US cents)!

One drawback to shopping here is the transportation. I have to go by bus or taxi. Carrefour and Trust-Mart send out free buses all over the area, including our XM campus, to pick people up every hour. But I can only buy what I can carry in one trip. There's no filling up my car trunk to unload in multiple trips from the home driveway, since I have no car. Even if I did, it's a six-flight stairway walk to our flat. Here, I make sure I don't overbuy to where that I can't carry it all. Hmmm....maybe that's not such a bad thing after all....

News has been reporting about the KMT's visits to China. A significant development in cross-strait relations with Taiwan that has this country's media riveted.

Where did Spring go?

Yesterday was quite warm and very humid, which made it quite uncomfortable. (I will never understand, tho', how so many people feel the need to wear long sleeves and jackets.) Today is much better, not as humid, but still warm.

We picked up our tickets for Shanghai yesterday. Our family is coming over in two weeks and we'll be meeting them there and all of us coming back to GZ after a few days.

Last night's class went well. More students than last week, including a new student. We went through lessons 3-6. I tried playing the mp3's that I downloaded from "ESL Gold" on my computer, but it wasn't loud enough and we couldn't get the classroom sound system to work. Students asked to go over long, hard-to-pronounce words more thoroughly, like "photographer" and “secretary". The "ch" in "mechanic", "cherry", and "machine" threw them a bit --- my only explanation to this: "It's English". We took 5-10 minute breaks every hour....good thing, since my voice gets hoarse fast. Fortunately, a student was gracious enough to fetch me water. We played Hangman again, but this time on my computer. It was a little tough, since the categories were limited, and countries was about the only thing we could do. Maybe we'll try bingo next week.

The university has given us a room on the main campus for the nights that I teach and (if we call ahead) any other nights that there might be events on the main campus (i.e. Jazz Concerts, etc.) since there is no shuttle after 5:30 p.m. So, we stayed here last night.

This morning, L. did some laundry (they have a dryer here, very exciting for her) and I taught piano to the boys (M and S) of the other JHF family here.

We went to the library later to read some mags. They had "U.S. News and World Report" as well as "Time" magazine on their shelves. It's probably the only place in Guangzhou that carries them. It was nice to be able to read them.

Easter

Not surprisingly, L. and I woke up this morning not feeling all that great (thanks to last night's hot pot). We barely stumbled into fellowship at GICF. Lots of singing, lots of praise choruses and hymns giving honor to Christ's resurrection. The speaker gave a sermon on Matthew 28. We later had lunch with the church, sharing a table with some Nigerian and Congolese brothers. We watched a play and song performance put on by the Sunday School children...but we left early, the quesiness in our stomachs just too much.

The taxi took us a long, but faster, way back. The driver said there was a couple of conventions and didn't want to get caught in traffic. We were too sick to contest his advice, so we let him. He took a toll bridge to get there. It was indeed faster, but the ride cost rmb 70. A usual ride is around RMB 40-50. He came across more pleasant and friendly than most drivers we encounter, even trying to make conversation with us. But we couldn't help but feel a bit snookered by him. Of course, we had no way to disbelieve him, but even if we did, we weren't in any shape to argue, so we paid the 70 and went home. And as if things couldn't get worse, the power was out when we got back.

After a 4-hour nap, I felt better. By then, the power had come back on. L., however, felt worse after her nap. Not only was her stomach not fully functional, but her cold and sinus infection still hadn't subsided. After watching "David Letterman" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" (L. enjoys this show, but it's not for me), we went back to bed.

Hoping this was just a weekend bug...

Hot pot too hot for our pots

Yesterday, our friend from England, J., and his girlfriend, C., stopped by for a visit. We watched "Trading Places" and then went into town for dinner. They took us to a hot-pot restaurant that they enjoyed. It was quite spicy, with Szechuan peppers and the like, but quite tasty overall. Fortunately, we also ordered some yogurt to act as extinguishers.

On the way home, it became apparent to me that something wasn't agreeing with my stomach. Same with L. Let's just say we frequented the bathroom throughout that night. It was probably some meat that wasn't fully cooked. Sleep that night was difficult to come by.

Our 6th month anniversary

L. had to teach this morning, but we celebrated by going to the same Brazilian restaurant we went to for my b'day. This was dinner, so we had a live music played by a 3-person Brazilian bandgroup.

After dinner we walked to the subway station and went to a 3-self church for the Good Friday service. It was in progress when we arrived, around 7:30 pm. The church was dark, save a few dim lights. We sang several hymns, including "The Wondrous Cross". The Chinese hymns were very beautiful. The congregation's voices echoed warmly throughout the old church's walls. A couple of young women prayed, at times choking back tears, leading the church in confessional prayers, remembering and praising Jesus for his various sufferings, and quoting John 3:16. A man, presumably a pastor, encouraged everyone to be lights to the world in their faith. A choir later left, carrying lit candles. The church was full, tho' not overflowing. Not a bad turnout, tho', for a service on a weekday right after work for most people. It was mostly filled with young people in their 20's, I'd say. Both of us were touched by the sincerity of the service. It was entirely in Chinese, but hearts can be stirred despite the language barrier.

English Corner at the cafe

One of L's students from last year bought a space behind our campus and turned it into a coffee shop. However, business has been floundering since most Chinese don't believe in having coffee at night, so most of the students are eager for alcohol rather than coffee. L. believes it's a great place for folks to study as well as hang out, especially since there is absolutely nothing around here by way of recreational activity for these students. She was hoping to do something like that this year, and after hearing about E's cafe, was ecstatic. We've agreed to help him by basically being his PR. Folks will come in droves if that gives them an opportunity to speak to a native English speaker in order to improve their English. Today was the first "English Corner" to see how we'd do. L. agreed to make a few "western" snacks to give them the idea of how a coffee house in America is set up. It was actually for yesterday, but there was a conflicting event and we decided to move it to "Thursday" from "Wednesday"

So, this afternoon E. called and said he advertised an English corner for tonight. For tonight! We ended up scrambling to fix snacks to sell at the café. E. came by to help, as well as get more food. We made some quesadillas, Indian cookies, chips, sandwiches, and French toast strips.

We walked there around 6 pm. Not more than 5 minutes after we arrived, college students started arriving. As the evening drew on, the café was bustling with over 25 students! We talked about everything from how we met, getting citizenship in different countries, marriage, romance, our backgrounds, reasons for going to school, differences between life in America and China, NBA basketball, importance/unimportance of money, meaning of being content, and "Fahrenheit 9/11". After a break for drinks and snacks, Lima and I found ourselves split into separate groups talking. The group of girls I talked with asked me about my thoughts on China and Taiwan. Even though I shared with them some of my hesitation discussing politically sensitive topics, they welcomed it. We had a good time talking about it.

We talked until 10 pm. After the students left, E. talked with us about ideas for the future. Few people bought the snacks or had drinks, which presents a problem business-wise. L. and I talked about possibly renting the place for him just to keep it open so we can do more English corners and sell some food there. Our presence as foreigners are a BIG attraction. We definitely see opportunities here. The café suffers from being remote from the campus. We'll see things work themselves out. I talked with one guy who used to be L's student from last year. He mentioned that he was a fish. I told him that we were fishes as well and he said "that makes us brothers and sisters".