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.