when the world is rocked
so i just wanted to post a short update on some more of what i’ve heard about the earthquake in sichuan. as the days pass it seems the death toll continues to rise. i read somewhere today that the number was up to 12,000. the number is mind bogglingly huge…almost too large to understand i think. reports indicate that there are, of course, still thousands more missing or unaccounted for.
i have to admit that it’s taken a couple days for some of this to really sink in. i think if i were in the u.s. the enormity of the tragedy would strike me…when you’re at home and something terrible happens in your home you feel it intensely. but it took me a couple days to really connect the loss that was happening here in china. this isn’t my home so i suppose it’s hard to identify with it immediately. but as i’ve talked with people and seen my roommate, who is chinese, respond with sadness and inability to even sleep at night it’s become more real…the loss and grieving of the chinese people right now.
my roommate actually stayed up last night creating a video/slideshow of pictures she collected from all over the place. she sent it to me today to watch and as i sat at home in my office, my world was finally rocked. it’s hard not to feel the pain and grief in the faces and images as they roll across the screen.
so for those of you at home who are still trying to understand what’s happening here, i thought i would share the video. i hope it will help you to more fully connect to the tragedy here so that your prayers for the people of china will be passionate and full of god’s love for these people.
(sorry i tried to embed and it seems that because i have to access this blog through a proxy because the govt blocks it, i can’t get the embed video function to work.)
click here to watch the video on youtube.
the earth moved and you found me…
i’m coming up on 10 months here in shanghai. it’ll actually be 10 months at the end of may. hard to believe the time has gone that quickly. and, of course, my blogging has been abismal (does this word have 2 ’s’? i can’t decide).
anyway, while i’ve come to grips with my lack of blogging skills, i do tend to save up random bits here and there.
lately, i’ve been looking forward to my month in the states coming up at the end of july. not only will a vacation be sooo good…i really miss baltimore. i miss life there. i miss cvp and holy frijoles. i miss wandering down 33rd st. to blockbuster and giant on a random friday night. i miss movie theaters. and i also happen to miss having so many great friends so close by. so i know that my time home this summer will be absolutely blissful.
until then…i’ve just been working tons. passing the time with meetings and more meetings…trying to get things planned for next year. possibly more changes in store…trying to figure out how to navigate the church politics without losing any limbs. in the process, i’ve discovered it’s important to have some key ways to de-stress.
i would like to highly recommend that you all stop reading and immediately log on to iTunes and download the relevant podcast that is the audio companion to relevant magazine. it is informative, hilarious, socially relevant, spiritually meaningful, hilarious, and just generally awesome. then you should all go out and buy and then read the magazine…or just subscribe for just $12/yr. then go to www.relevantmagazine.com and get more free articles, downloads, links to great blogs, and other cool stuff. the podcast, mag, and website have been my stress-free link to life outside of shanghai…and a wonderful reminder that i’m still young, not quite hip, and that i care about global issues, and social justice. so yeah. and i also happen to love them because they have led me to some great new music (playradioplay!, seabird, the glorious unseen) and they say things like:
1. i’m as calm as a hindu cow.
2. they make fun of whale-sharks.
3. they proposed the following bumper sticker idea: canada: america’s hat.
4. they identified jeans and the jean jacket as “the canadian tuxedo”.
it’s good stuff people. though as you can tell from the above comments and from my own personal experience…this is not the best thing to listen to on your ipod while walking in public. the random outbursts of laughter make you look really strange…you can trust me on that one.
typically, when my iv is not hooked up to relevant mag stuff i’m out running. it’s healthy, which is always good (well except for the obnoxious levels of pollution that are clouding my lungs) and it’s generally a nice way to blow off some steam after work. last week, however, i had what can only be described as the most horrifying running experience of my life…bar none.
so i went out one evening last week around 9:30pm or so to go for a run. that was perhaps a bit on the late side, but shanghai, i have found, is generally safe so i didn’t think much of it. i’ve definitely run later at night in the past with no worries. anyway, i was nearing the end of my run and sort of felt the presence of something beside me as i was rounding the bend toward my compound. you know, that sort of feeling when you know there is someone or something next to you but you can’t hear anything cuz your earphones are in. so i glance over and see a gray van next to me driving really slow. my brain thinks, “oh it must be someone i know riding alongside to say hi or tease me or something”. (all the ex-pats here have vans.) i look into the window as the van lines up in my vision and see a chinese guy staring out at me. he’s looking directly at me and driving very slowly so i sort of stare very closely (continuing to run) trying to figure out what he wants (to ask a question or something…i didn’t know i was confused???). then, as if finally adjusting and taking in the whole scene, i see that his intent, blank stare is accompanied by the fact that he has no pants on and is uh….well you know. it took me probably a full 7 seconds to actually register what i saw (which is, of course, now permanently scarred into my memory). when it finally clicked in my brain i made a horrified face, covered my eyes, and immediately ran in the other direction. he drove off. i’ve heard later that a few others have heard of a “flasher” around town. i have no idea if it’s the same person…but as i said, my stress-free running basically turned into the single most disturbing workout i’ve ever had. not even in baltimore was i harrassed to that level. shocking stuff. i don’t recommend it….big thumbs down.
of course, as things have moved on this week i find a whole new set of things to tackle. my job often seems bigger than me in ways that are rewarding and ridiculous. i have no idea what the future holds beyond this year, which is driving me a little bit nutty. so much seems up in the air or just beyond my ability to handle.
and then, as many of you know, the earthquake hit in chengdu, a city in the sichuan province of china. chengdu is just over 1,000 miles away from shanghai and from what i can tell is not far from the yangtze river in central china. i first heard about the earthquake just an hour or so after it happened because a friend called from another area of shanghai to say that he was being evacuated from his office building at people’s square. he and co-workers had felt the building sway from tremors caused by the massive 7.9 earthquake. i didn’t feel any tremors in jinqiao or the areas where i work but we jumped on the computer and phones to see what we could find out. initally, we were told that maybe some 7,600 people were killed. now it sounds like that number is closer to 10,000. sadly, many of those are students and teachers as the earthquake hit at 2:30pm, right in the middle of the school day, and several schools completely collapsed. in one county in sichuan, beichuan, it is said that somewhere around 80% of the buildings collapased. as always, it appears that the poorest were hardest hit as their homes and buildings were the least able to handle such a massive disaster. there are tons of stories and pictures online as more information is given out every day.
from what we hear, though tremors were felt in beijing there was no damage to buildings there and so there is no affect on plans for the olympics. the government has been sending thousands of troops and medical teams in to try to rescue those still buried under rubble, needing medical attention, or just looking for somewhere to go. there are thousands of people sheltering at the sichuan university stadium and many people just roaming the streets afraid or unable to go home. it’s unclear if and when outsiders might be permitted to go in and provide some relief work. the church here has been praying and we are looking for ways that we might be able to be a part of any ongoing relief work. though there is so much going on right now not only here but also in myanmar after the cyclone hit recently. unfortunately, the govt. in myanmar is completely shutting out foreign help at this time.
personally, i hope to perhaps find some opportunity to get involved in some relief work this summer in one of these areas as the need and option is open. it’s always hard to see suffering, but it seems especially hard when the people suffering are people who already have so little.
with all of this, i am brought back to a song i have been listening to quite a lot lately that has been an encouragement to me and is my prayer for those suffering tonight:
rescue
by: seabird
i’m pushing up daisies
i wish they were roses
i feel like i’m drowning
but nobody knows it
i’m pushing up daisies
i wish they were roses
i feel like i’m dying
just want you to notice
somehow the grave has captured me
show me the man i used to be
just when i feel my breath is running out
the earth moves and you find me, alive but unworthy
broken and empty, but you don’t care
cuz you are my rapture, you are my savior
when all my hope is gone
i reach for you
you are my rescue
you are my rescue
i’m swimming to safety
but even with my best
if i don’t see that rope soon
this might be last breath
somehow the grave has captured me
show me the man i used to be
just when my breath is running out
the earth moves and you find me, alive but unworthy
broken and empty, but you don’t care
cuz you are my rapture, you are my savior
when all my hope is gone
i reach for you
you are my rescue
don’t let me drown
can you hear me, cuz i am calling out
i’m underground
won’t you pull me out
the earth moves and you find me, alive but unworthy
broken and empty, but you don’t care
cuz you are my rapture, you are my savior
when all my hope is gone
i reach for you
you are my rescue
you are my rescue
you are my rescue
you are my rescue
i’m pushing up daisies
i wish they were roses
i feel like i’m dying
just want you to notice….
in search of greater meaning
so let me start with a bit of a weather update for those who haven’t heard. we’ve had snow off and on for the last week. now to really explain this, let me say that the week before last a woman said to me, “well this is the most snow we’ve had in a winter in a long time.” and at that point i bust out laughing because 2 weeks ago we’d had nothing more than flurries on 4 different occasions. and by flurries, i mean big, fat, wet snowflakes that melted looooong before they ever touched the ground. so a “lot” of snow meant…it happened 4 times instead of 1 or 2.
now 1 week later, we’ve had maybe as much as an inch…but that could be a stretch…of actual snow…like it touched the ground and remained there all day and overnight. and from what i’m told…this is the most snow they have had in shanghai in 17 years! so while beijing and other parts of china regularly get dumped on…an inch or two in shanghai is news indeed!
so with that out of the way…on to the topic at hand. i actually had a question from kim…which is amazing…first that people actually ever read this! (thanks kim!) but that i got a real question. i’ll say i don’t know that i can really answer the question in any way that gives it justice but i’ll talk a bit about the things i’ve observed about communication here.
should i begin by regaling you with my increasing chinese language skills?
wo xi huan kan dian ying – i like to watch movies.
ni xi huan kan dian ying ma? – do you like to watch movies?
ni shao bu shao kan dian ying ma? – would you like to watch a movie?
what can i say…i focus on the really important nuances of the language!
so….the east vs. west communication…well there are definitely barriers and they are myriad….and truthfully…i’m still learning so much that i know i will barely scrape the surface, but here’s some things that i have seen.
there’s the obvious example of the issue of saying no to things. i’ve written blogs about that. it’s what they would call “saving face”. it is considered very rude to cause someone to lose face, so you NEVER back someone into a corner. this can be very strange to a westerner, especially americans, who, even among many europeans, are considered very forward and agressive in the way we speak or communicate. so you know, americans tend to speak their minds. we tend to value open, honest communication…a sort of…putting all your cards on the table. and, in fact, i would go so far as to say that in the american culture there is a level of respect that is given to someone that seems more open and able to speak their mind…though, of course, we would hope to do so with some amount of tact. however, in the chinese culture it seems that ignoring the elephant in the room so to speak can be more appropriate than acknowledging it. i’ll give an example from my recent experience.
we ordered some t-shirts for 180 and in the order we asked for 10 large shirts, 5 xl, and 5 xxl. when the shipment came, i did a count and we had 15 large and 5 xxl, but no xl. seems they gave us more of the large. so i was talking to a friend and saying that i thought we would try to see if the large shirts they sent us would work for the people who needed the shirts. if so, then i figured i would just tell the company, “hey you messed up and sent us the wrong thing…but it’s no problem…we were able to use what you sent so we will save you time and money and not make you send us 5 shirts.” i was told that this would NOT be the appropriate response. i was told that there were several issues at stake here. first, telling them they messed up so they don’t do it for next time will not prevent it from happening next time. but that, in fact, the only way to really prevent it would be to make them fix it…even if you didn’t need the shirts. second, telling them but not allowing them to fix the mistake would basically be causing them to “lose face” because i’m backing them into a corner and saying you messed up but you can’t make it right. so i was told, my options were to either 1. live with the shirts as they were and not say anything ever…even to the point of not being able to bring it up later…even if they realized they messed up. i had to acknowledge right away or not at all. or 2. tell them they messed up, right away, and then have them fix it.
seems simple enough once you know the rules…but would be i think pretty counter to the typical american mindset of…i don’t want to waste money by fixing a problem that doesn’t need to be fixed…but i still want to learn from the situation to improve for next time. not so here.
of course, as someone who works in a church, i’m often left thinking about the spiritual implications of a particular mindset. of course, i know there are no shortage of failings in the american mindset and please know that i’m not trying to say that american culture is better or more godly…but just trying to make observations about the chinese culture which is all new to me. but when i look at a cultural mindset and context that says, “hey if something is wrong…don’t tell me unless it can be changed.” i think you find there are large areas of the population that can easily become callous. i will talk about this in other contexts later…but, for instance, when looking at some social injustices that in some sense have no real forseeable solution. like the poor, the hungry, the homeless etc. these are a group that seem to never diminish no matter how many you might try to help. so in this cultural mindset it would be easy to say…i can’t fix this problem therefore it does not exist to me. of course, we know that the bible says clearly that we are to help the poor while there is scripture that clearly says that “the poor you will always have with you.” so it presents and interesting cultural and spiritual clash i think.
certainly the subject of communication between two vastly different cultures could go on for days so i’ll just share one more area that has been a sort of funny interaction for me lately. but i’m sure i’ll come back to this topic many times in coming blogs…it’s pretty inevitable really.
so one area of a sort of communication clash is when you are trying to teach language or words in a culture context where such things don’t actually exist. anyone who is in china for even 5 min. will quickly find that there is a somewhat insatiable hunger by many here to learn english. the young want to learn it themselves and the old want their children to learn it. the desire for education and learning is most definitely a huge cultural foundation in china and there is a very solid understanding among the people here that they must learn english if china is to continue to grow in political and economic power (or so i would think). so what i’ve found is that all chinese seem to become students when an american is in the room and all americans become instant english teachers, willingly or unwillingly. and so in practicing the craft of speaking and teaching english at various times you learn that the basis of knowledge and understanding has a huge baring on how easy or difficult it is to teach certain words…because words carry with them concepts and meaning (duh).
so for me, this clash has come to bare in my own house. i have a new roommate who has been staying with me for about 3 weeks now and she speaks a limited amount of english. and by limited i mean, she can understand many basic things i say and can say many basic things back but has a hard time with much more than that (but this is of course light years beyond my mandarin skills so who am i to judge?). in any case, emily (this is her english name), has been asking me to teach her to cook various things. partly because she wants to try the american food, partly because she wants to learn how to cook the way americans do, and partly, i think, to learn some new english words. so one thing that the chinese do not use is ovens. an oven is a completely western way of cooking. 100% no ovens in chinese cooking. in fact, most housing here does not come with an oven unless you specially request it and even then they are expensive and really only available in ex-pat housing. i live in a pretty local housing complex so my apt. has no oven. but as shanghai becomes increasingly westernized you can find many supplements for things like an oven at the local grocery store. so i went out and picked up a fairly large (biggest i could find) toaster oven for the counter top. so it’s about the size of 1/2 a cookie sheet. of course, this means there are lots of things i can’t cook…but there are creative ways around some things so i can still do a good bit of baking.
so i decided i would teach emily how to bake brownies. easy enough and she wanted me to teach her a dessert so i thought that would be a good place to start. so we mixed everything up and got it ready for the oven. then i showed her the oven. i spent about 5 or 10 min. trying to explain an oven…how it cooks, what it does etc. i’m not sure she really got much more than it’s hot. so we put the brownies in and i showed her the timer and how to read the instructions on the box etc. after they were in, i went back to the box to try to explain that it’s usually best to put the brownies in for the shortest time offered and then leave them longer if needed rather than choosing a longer time and having them burn. and i found, to my surprise, that i had a hard time explaining the word “burn”. i found that it’s hard to help someone understand what it means to burn food in an oven when they have no concept of what an oven is or what it does. i suppose in this case, the only way to learn is to do.
but i found that whole exchange interesting because i think that there are many times in the communication between someone of an eastern mindset and someone of a western mindset where communication can be really difficult because the basic knowledge of some concepts just doesn’t exist. in china this is true of many things…especially when it comes to matters of god and religion. in america we take for granted the ideas we have as a nation about god and faith. whether a person chooses to believe in god or not they still have a basic understanding of these things. in china most of the time concpets of god and religion are vague or non-existent. and at times, it’s easy to forget that communism in this country has literally created a generation of people who have grown up in an atheistic society. in talking with a friend form the u.k. today, it seems that this type of communication barrier is even beginning to creep up in europe where as this “chap” told me; he was trying to speak to a kid about god outside church one sunday and so he asked him if he knew who jesus was. and the kid, in complete seriousness said, ummmm…wait jesus? what football team does he play on? is he from south america? literally believing that jesus was a south american soccer player of some kind. sounds crazy…but we find that here in china that reality is even stronger and begins to show its effects in many areas of life here…reaching far beyond just communication. but i won’t get into that now.
so what ever happened with the brownies you ask? well funny you should mention it! i had been worried they might burn because i’m still trying to figure out the toaster oven and the whole celcius conversion thing. so i had told emily that hopefully they wouldn’t burn…that hopefully that would taste good. while we waited we went back to watching the office which i had been doing for a few days catching up on most all of the show that i never got to watch in the states. emily often watched with me but i never knew if she really understood or even if it was at all funny to her. but she would watch and take notes (we watch with the subtitles in chinese so she can read along as needed). from time to time she would repeat a word in english and look at me to see if she’d said it right. i would repeat it back and then she’d say it again and then we’d focus back on the show. i noticed that particular night that emily had turned on the office before i came home from work all on her own and i chuckled to myself thinking maybe she really did like the show. and i remember thinking it strange because the episode she was watching was one i was sure we’d seen before.
in any case, we kept on watching while i worked on some stuff for 180. and then the oven bell chimed and we went in and pulled out the brownies. they looked good. they smelled good and we just had to wait for them to cool. we waited and waited. and then finally i dished some up. and yes….they were deeeeelish! 
so i take mine back in to the living room to relax on the couch and finish the episode of the office that was playing. we emily comes up to me and says in a jumble that i barely understood…. “wedeeedit!” and i said…what? she said, “wedeeedit!” still i didn’t understand so i asked her to say it really slowly (usually i can understand her very well so i was confused). so she said again, “weeee deeed it!” then i got it. “oooooh…we DID it!” ha ha. “yeah,” i said, “we did it! the brownies are good.” and then i promise you not 2 seconds later michael scott and dwight schrute are talking on the tv and they hug and they laugh and they jump up and down and they yell
“WE DID IT!”
apparently, emily had been learning some english from dwight and michael when i was at work that day!
something new for 2008?
so i’ve been thinking about the blog here lately….after the visit home i wanted to pick back up. i always seem to think about the blog when i have something funny that i want to tell someone.
like, for instance, did you know that in the winter when you ride around on a scooter your eyebrows get really cold? and did you know the colder your eyebrows get the more they hurt? yup…they do. they physically hurt. it’s been raining here all week and it’s so cold so with wet eyebrows they get colder than usual and dang dude…it’s painful. and yet…i was cracking up riding down the street the moment the thought occurred to me…i’m gonna go tell someone my eyebrows hurt! who says that? good stuff.
anyway, i guess i should say the true catalyst for the return to the blog was probably chris. he’s always trying to motivate me to write a book about something. he seems to have a greater belief in my ability to do this than even i do. but in any case, he kept yammering on about how cool it would be for me to write about all the cool stuff in china and just the random facts, funny stories, cultural nuances, family influences, and possibly the god factor. i have to admit the idea intrigues me but i don’t have the first idea to begin. but chris seems to think that if i just blog here more regularly then i could pull all these blogs together and somehow turn it into a book….hmmmm.
of course, almost prophetically, i get some strange comment on one of my older blogs from someone i don’t know saying only, “i’d like to see a continuation of this topic.” (or something like that….don’t think it was the word continuation but can’t grab the word from my brain that was used.) anyway…eerily reminded me of chris last night and so i figured…maybe i’ll try. you know….just try to write stuff. anything.
it’s hard to know where to start. not sure i’d even know what i’d want to say in a book. but i suppose i can put life down here and try to find my voice in it later…if i even have one. perhaps i’ll come to the end of the adventure and find there isn’t really anything i want to say at all. who knows.
up to now i’ve mostly just written funny or unusual things that i’ve noticed or done, but i’m going to try to include all kinds of material here and to be more aware.
so if anyone still reads this and has questions about china…life here…whatever…throw them my way. i find that i don’t think i have anything to say until someone asks me a question and then i realize i know a bunch of stuff about china and the culture that i never knew before but that has become almost normal for me to the point that i forget that it’s not! if that makes sense.
anyway…for tonight i think i’ll sign off. can’t say i really need more than the cold eyebrows story for tonight….it’s really just that funny…come on.
a special kind of stupid
average temp.: mid-60’s
today’s accomplishment: brought home a microwaveable stuffed animal in my backpack
——————————————————————————————-
are you as amazed by life’s absurdities as i am? do you find yourself shaking your head and just thanking god for the sheer ridiculousness of people?
i pick up the shanghai magazine (well i think that’s what it’s called…it just says SH on the front)…anyway…i pick it up here and there. it’s a weekly magazine not unlike the city paper for those of you baltimore city types. it comes out once a week and does reviews on local restaurants, places to hang out, and usually lists the week’s happenings and social activities. it tends to be geared toward the single crowd and those with somewhat eclectic tastes. my favorite section is this little column right at the beginning called “this week in reality”. about 2 weeks ago, i came across the most absurdly hilarious facts…
oct 30: “a hong kong woman has been detained after threatening to throw her children out the window. the 36-year-old woman, surnamed li, became angry with her children’s substandard homework efforts. she phoned her husband, surnamed chan, telling him to hurry home or ‘i will throw them out of the window.’ chan became alarmed, in part because earlier in october another hong kong woman defenestrated her children before jumping to her death. he called the police, who were quickly dispatched to li’s apartment. they found her calm, with no intention of throwing out her children.”
nov 2: “a university student in fuzhou who failed his exams fled to the forest to avoid the shame of facing his parents. the man, surnamed li, dug a 1.6m cave to live in and survived on wild fruit and vegetables. after 12 days in the forest, a stranger saw 22-year-old li roasting sweet potatoes and reported him to police. although li completed his college studies in july, he was refused a diploma after falling short in his examinations. upon being discovered, li returned home.”
true stories all….guess they really do take school serious around here.
of course, as much as i like to enjoy the absurdity of other people’s lives…it’s usually the random stuff that happens to me that cracks me up most.
it’s little things really…like the stuffed animal i mentioned earlier. they actually make stuffed animals that you can microwave and their tummys stay warm to help you sleep. one of my students had one and i loved it so much his family bought me one!
or how i’ve noticed the past couple days that there seem to be gnats or weird little flies out all over the place lately…maybe cuz it’s so warm so late in the year?? i don’t know. but i know that on the scooter they seem to fly into me all the time…especially my face. lip gloss is now out because i’ve had bugs stuck to my lips twice now. and the other day i had one fly in my eye and get stuck in my eye lashes. i could just see myself strolling into church with little bugs sticking out of my teeth and eyes!!
of course, you can’t beat the hilarity of girls night out…especially when the girls consist of me (a youth director) and 4 of my volunteers (2 moms of teenagers, 1 young married woman, and 1 mother of toddlers who claims to have not been out in 3 years!). the ladies were certainly in rare form with exclamations of, “the only drink i’m familiar with is a 6oz. bottle of milk!” while sipping a mojita and unceremoniously dumping the mint leaves in the ashtray. of course, the real eye opener of the night came from one mom who said, “my husband reminded me that if chrissy starts checking out those single guys you just remember you have a penis waiting for you at home!” that one was greeted with shrieks from all. who knew the married ladies would get so crazy? i think they get me in more trouble than when i hang out with my single friends!
and we certainly left no topic unmentioned. from babies to sex to youth ministry we covered it all. the night was quickly summed up with, “my husband always says that working in youth ministry requires a special kind of stupid.” ahhh the wisdom of my volunteers!
of course, for me, what truly made the night a success was the quick stop for one last drink…someone just wasn’t ready to go home yet. so we sneak in to some back table of malone’s and order some sort of hawaiian something drink with more fruit juice than anything else. while waiting for our juice on the rocks, a chinese suitor makes his approach. he attempts to woo me with flattering phrases in broken english. when i finally breakdown and shoo him away with protestations of it being “girls night out” he politely smiles and then just before walking away leans over and whispers in my ear, “i love you!” oh the sincerity of love in any language.
so much craziness, so little time. but i’ll regale you with just one more story of the latest in the absurdity that is my life. imagine getting up, getting ready for work, packing your backpack with your laptop and lunch and all the usual things, grabbing your keys, putting on your shoes and reaching to open the door…and opening the door…and pushing the door, and kicking the door…and….ok wait…the door…won’t open. yes…i was locked IN my apt. well i thought, as would you, that i should be SURE. nothing would be worse than claiming to be locked in and then having someone get you out in 2 seconds and you looking dumb. so i put all of my things down, turn the deadbolt locked and unlocked again just to be sure it wasn’t stuck. then, i turn the handle and push and kick and bang and eventually, even body slam…thinking perhaps it’s stuck. i repeat this procedure several more times before finally resigning myself to the fact that i am actually locked IN. yes IN. not out. IN. how? who knows. from what i can piece together my landlord tried to drop something off and messed with the lock and we think he probably messed it up so i couldn’t unlock it from the inside. it ended up that i had to have a friend come so i could get out. i had to drop my keys out the window (which accidently bounced off the hood of a car on the way down) so she could try to unlock from the outside. after a little while she finally jimmied me free. of course, i wasn’t out soon enough to avoid the jokes from renee…you know….chrissy you’re such a homebody. chrissy you really should get out more. har har renee.
so yeah…if you’re having a bad day or you just think your life sux…remember….it could be worse. you could be contending with bugs in your teeth, chinese lovers, or apt. prison. the only question i’m left with…as always…is….
who does these things?
crime definitely doesn’t pay
avg. temp.: prolly in the 60’s, warmish fall day though chilly on the scooter
today’s accomplishment: free food all around!
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today i learned a very important lesson. one that, for me, will most definitly go down in the history books. in fact, i’d consider it a pretty successful day all things considered. so here’s the set-up.
i go to lunch with su, youth leader of puxi church….if you don’t know her come visit and i’ll introduce you. so anyway, we plan to meet for lunch. so i take the metro to the super brand mall, that’s chinese for 5 stories of expensive shopping. so they have tons of restaurants in the mall, including su’s favorite, element fresh. we opt for the outdoor seating since it was a fairly warm, sunny day and proceed to order. i, by the way, had a warm, italian, open-faced sandwich for the first time and found it was awesome! so we order, we eat, and, of course, we talk. and we talk. and we talk. i mean…this is what we do. though, i must admit i felt a bit like the godfather or one of the sopranos since we had to exchange receipts and $$ from the fall retreat. so i hand her receipts and she hands me an envelope full of cash. and i’m thinking, this is awesome….this is totally how gangsters feel. so anyway, back to my story. so we eat. talk. it’s good.
after a good while passes we both realize we should be heading out soon. i have another meeting later in the afternoon and su is heading back to brazil for a month in just a few weeks and so she had lots to get done before she heads out of town. so we decide to head out. we grab our things and head back through the mall toward the metro. we both take the metro home (just in opposite directions) so we opt to walk out together. we comment on the stores in the mall and the expense of buying imported american clothes in china…better to wait until christmas i say. i discuss my desire to hit up the fabric market to possibly have them make me some sweaters. i’m told you can have them make anything for you there if you have a sample or a picture and it will fit you perfectly, be good quality, and really cheap. so i’ve been thinking of seeing if they could make me a sweater or two in a style that i really love. anyway….we ramble on about whatever all the way to the metro. we head down, a quick hug, and then we part ways. a few seconds later my train comes and i hop on and i’m on my way. seconds after my train takes off my phone rings. i grab it and it’s none other than su. and what does she say?
“did you pay for the meal?” i say, “what?” and then she says, “lunch. did you pay?” and then it hits. i’m like ooooohhhh no. and she’s talking and i’m talking and all that comes is…..duuuude….we totally just walked out on our lunch and never paid!!! and i mean…we ate, we chatted, we took our good sweet time and then we skipped out without a care in the world.
how could this happen you say? well….quite easily actually. see here the version of service is….they hire lots of waiters and waitresses and everyone just sort of shares tables. there’s no tipping so it doesn’t matter who waits on you. so when you’re ready to order you just wave a hand at whoever is nearby and they take your order. could be a different person to bring it and someone else to check up on you. and it could be someone else to bring your check. you never really know. and here, you usually have to ask for the check. no such rushing you out the door like at home when everyone is on a 30 min. time block cuz they want to get the tables emptied to usher in the next batch. when you don’t work for tips it doesn’t matter how long the customers stay. so it’s great for whiling away the hours….but really bad for remembering to pay. no one really is totally responsible for your table and honestly….you can just forget after talking for a while that no one ever brought you a bill.
so yeah…there we are….2 youth directors skipping out on lunch. what can i say….i learned a truly valuable lesson…crime definitely does NOT pay!
for those who are morally repunged by our display of wanton criminality, rest assured i called the restaurant when i got back and told them what happened and have plans to return tomorrow afternoon to pay the bill. sheesh…come on people…what do you take me for…a barbarian?
in other criminal news….i had the battery to my scooter stolen just a day or 2 after amy went back home (which was about 2 weeks ago now). there isn’t a whole lot of crime here in shanghai, but the little crime they do have they are certainly dedicated to achieving at high levels of efficiency. if it’s not locked down, penned up, or bolted to a tree…it’s gonna grow legs and disappear. and well, in a city of 250 million some people…hard to prove the who-dunnit’s. so yeah…the battery was stolen. crazy considering the bike itself has a lock to keep people from stealing the actual bike and then there is a huge chain around the battery to keep people from taking that. i come down to the garage under my building and the chain is on the bike but the battery? no where to be found. my super sleuthing figures they must have cut through the plastic handles on the battery and then just slid the chain back along the floor of the scooter.
i did finally get a new battery this week…thank goodness. you don’t realize how much you miss a thing like that until you don’t have easy access to it anymore. it’s true i’m walking distance to most places i need to go. and it’s also true that i can hop in a taxi when i have need. but really….there’s a certain freedom that comes from just hopping on your little scooter pooter and putting away.
and i really think i’ve picked up a keen sense of the art of scootering here in shanghai. i mean, i certainly garner the usual glances, smiles, and giggles…but i typically chalk that up to the blonde-haired, white girl thing. the guards at my complex are so used to seeing me they really don’t bat an eye too much anymore….UNLESS….i start getting artsy with the scootering….like today.
i’ve slowly been working on getting my desk set up at work with various office supplies and other things to make it useful and comfy. but i’d been holding back on toting my “work books” in. i like to have the resource stuff available no doubt…but it was just such a hassle to have to walk a thing of books several blocks to the office. but today…today….i got artsy. today….i seized on the brilliant idea of putting the books for work in a large blue duffle. amy knows the one because we took it with us to the retreat a few weeks back. if you haven’t been here to see it then just picture…well, a large blue duffle bag…but square in shape…like a little longer than a coleman cooler. anyway…i fill this thing pretty full with books and what not. then balance it on the floor of the scooter and i take it into the elevator.
oh side note, now that i have the new battery i have begun bringing the scooter up the elevator to the 6th floor where my apt. is and then keeping it in the hall. i’ve seen lots of people in the building doing it and i figure it must be safer that way.
so anyway….i take the scooter down in the elevator, out the door, down the ramp, and then onto the street. i hop on the bike with backpack on and basically prop my legs on the duffle that fills the whole floor of the scooter and hangs off the edges a bit. i then proceed to ride toward the gate with my feet dangling directly in front of me off the edge of the duffle as i mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. and sure enough…i hit scooter gold….the guards had a ball. when they saw me coming they got their big grins and little chuckles all ready as they watched me, heads on a swivel, exit the gate and head in to work. but they can laugh all they want…i’ve learned you can balance a hell of a lot of stuff on a scooter these past weeks and i was sure happy to have mine back so i could finish the office set-up. and what a beautiful thing it was to arrive in style, duffle in tow, knowing i’d done it all on my own.
you may be able to steal my battery but you’ll never steal my spirit!!
what’s up shaaaannnnnggghai
average temp.: 70s, sunny, smoggy
today’s accomplishment: booked a plane ticket for amy!
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so it’s been a while. my goal of writing a few times a week as fallen short the past few weeks. the pace of life is insane at best. it’s hard to believe i’ve been here somewhere around 6-7 weeks. …already…
what can a person living in china do in 6 or 7 weeks….a lot…
set-up an apartment.
learn to use the washing machine.
buy a scooter.
use all the battery in said scooter and not know how recharge.
see the great wall of china.
find your first can of green beans in a month.
search pointlessly for mac & cheese at the local grocery store.
see tianmen square (sp?).
celebrate a 29th birthday.
and the list goes on. the weeks have been full. and time seems to fly by. the work is definitely keeping me busier than most anything i suppose. with 130 kids last week we’re busting at the seams. especially considering i was told to expect 50 before i came!!
but my favorite thing so far, besides zipping around on my scooter when the battery has a charge, has been the 80’s rollerskating party for my birthday! nothing quite compares to a bunch of drunks dressed up in 80’s american fashion on rollerskates with a dj yelling “what’s up shaaaaannngghai” in the background. seriously, the music was awesome. the people were nice. and i def. felt a little old school wipping around the corner in my rollerskates. and i’m not talking inline skates…i’m talking for real roller skates.
anyway….i don’t have much more than a stream of conscience tonight….but i am going to post some pics from my trip to beijing on facebook. so go check them out.
basic chinese 101
today’s avg. temp.: 80’s, rainy, sticky
today’s accomplishment: nothing special today, but i did take the metro by myself on saturday!
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seems there’s always something to learn here. life is a classroom and i am it’s sometimes unwilling student. but there are also other days when it’s fun to learn something new…or 10 somethings new! so here are some things i’ve learned:
1. a “really soft” chinese mattress is like sleeping on a board….you need to buy a mattress topper.
2. there’s an art to getting on a subway train…i haven’t learned it yet.
3. in some grocery stores, spread butter is translated into english as “little cheese”. this can be confusing to the average american.
4. a flower market sells flowers, a pc market sells computers and other eletronics, the phone market sells cell phones, and the wet market sells vegetables and fruit. this is obvious to everyone!
5. chinese people really like to set off fireworks.
6. you could show up to church and see a sign out front that says, “no dogs, no chinese” and the foreigners are not the ones who hung the sign.
7. the local iranian restaurant has great spicy wings and shows endless videos of belly dancers followed by a live performance….it’s ummm…interesting.
8. you can pretty much take a picture of ANYTHING and someone can make it (shoes, paintings, dresses, computer wires)…on the spot no problem and very cheap.
9. getting a text message from your boss or co-worker is common place and an acceptible form of business communication.
10. chinese taxi drivers have an excellent ability to comprehend the butchered american version of mandarin!
speaking of mandarin, i thought those of you that bother to read my blog would want to start practicing some words for when you come to visit. mandarin is pronounced the same but can be written with symbols (as you’d expect) or using english letters in something called pinyon. i’ll write the english word, the pinyon spelling and then the phoenetic pronunciation….best of luck to you all!
hello – nihao – knee-how
hey (shanghai-ese)- wei – way
name of a region of shanghai – jinqiao – gin-chow
name of the city – shanghai – shong-high
thank you – xiexie – shi-shi
bucks (like $3 bucks) – cuay – cwy
receipt – fapiao – fa-pee-ow
science and technology museum – ke ji guan – cu gee gwan
metro stop – di tie zhan – dee tee-eh jon
turn right – you guai – yo gwuy
turn left – zuo guai – d-so gwuy
name of my road – bi yun lu – bee yoon loo
name of cross street of my road – bai hua lu – buy hoo-a loo
name of road where work is – ming yue lu – ming you-eh loo
pudong this…
so i spent several hours today trying to post pics in wordpress with no success. i don’t know if it’s a symptom of being in china or just a problem with the site. but, whatever the case, i just decided it was easier to post the pics on facebook and then put a link here for you to go check them out.
so here (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43050&l=d53f9&id=535000326) are some pics of the house i stayed in for the first week. i know some of you were interested to see the post accomodations. and i know some of you find it hard to believe that the words posh and china could be used in the same sentence. so….just check out the digs.
i’ll get some pics up of my apt. soon!
btw….i’ve got a phone number set up now so if you didn’t get it in the e-mail i sent, then send me a shout out and i’ll let you know what it is. talk soon!
all joking aside
avg. temp.: something celcius that i can neither spell or convert…so NO I DON’T THINK 35 SOUNDS HOT!
today’s accomplishment: not buying a plane ticket home
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so i find that the reality of life here seems to hit at the strangest times. i have literally broke down in tears when asked if i wanted a tour of the grocery store! (side note: yes…i know…you all are distracted by the fact that they would offer a tour of the grocery store. but when everything is in chinese a tour is just what you need!) back to my point….it’s really not the best time to break down crying in front of total strangers. and no matter how hard you try there’s really no way to explain this in any way that makes any amount of sense.
not to mention the sort of hysteria that sets in when you’ve spent 45 min. looking for butter at the grocery store (even after you’ve had your tour) and the nearest person who might speak english can only say, “buttah? no, no buttah?” and you know there’s something totally irrational in the moment when you find the “buttah” and want nothing more than to tell your underpaid grocery concierge that there is indeed “buttah” and then maybe punch them in the face with it. it’s crazy…you know it…and yet…you really really want to do it.
well today…reality came screeching in like a bird snatching it’s prey. by the time i walked home from work my mind was a dizzying whirl of self-doubt, disbelief, anxiety, and well…i was hungry too i think. but at some point between filling out expense reports and studying the new curriculum materials and working on my newsletter article i was suddenly struck by the enormity of the job. and i was blindingly aware that my shoulders were definitely not broad enough for the task.
i came home to recapture my composure with some papa john’s pizza (my first here), a pirated copy of transformers bought for $1, and some random unpacking. it seemed to do the trick enough for me to pick up pen and paper and begin to try to write out the core values. why am i here? what am i about? why does this matter? and you know what i find at the front of the pad of paper i picked up?
notes.
teaching notes. from tony campolo. the date reads 11-8-02. so i read them. something about science and creation and god. most of didn’t make much sense. but the last line did, “who we are is determined by what we commit ourselves to in the future.” huh. it’s a good thought. i sort of file it away to unpack it later. i turn the page ready to begin writing. and i see…
11-8-02
Rob Bell
and, of course, i stop reading and re-read and i say….NO WAY!!! did i really hear rob bell talk back in 2002 and i didn’t even remember it. dang it. amazing. so i read those notes. this makes more sense than the first. as i read i start to remember the talk. and i see notes like, “jesus wants to heal your soul!” “salvation is not a legal transaction; it is a way of life.” “he doesn’t just want to forgive you; he also wants to restore you.” i start to feel my heart stirring as i read. what is it about reading truth in any form that stirs us? like god’s hand reaching out and mashing up our insides to let us know those are his words that someone else borrowed.
and, of course, i turn the page again and there is 11-10-02, doug fields. the first line of his notes reads, “everyone in youth ministry is hurting somewhere.” at this point i have to stop reading because i don’t want any tears to smudge the page. after i chill out with the girl moments i read questions like, “who or what are you comparing yourself to?” “who are you seeking approval from?” “fear is at the root of the thorns. what if people see who you really are and it’s not good enough?” “rejoice in the fact that you’re not alone. there’s no easy answer, but you’re not struggling alone.” “don’t question in the dark what god called you to in the light.” slam…that one hit hard.
of course, this time when i turn the page i’m not surprised to see 11-10-02, mike yaconelli. his says, “10 things that will get you fired”. i have to smile at that and figure it has to be worth the read.
as i read and re-read through these notes something else occured to me….i began to think of where i was when i wrote these. it was 5 almost 6 years ago. i was 22. i lived in a small 1-bedroom apt. in glen burnie. i worked full-time at a medical publisher. i went to happy hour…a lot. and i also happened to volunteer with the students at my church. i’m guessing the conference where i heard all these speakers was the youth specialties national youth workers convention. it was in pittsburgh. i went alone. i hated lunchtime cuz i didn’t know anyone and it was embarrassing to eat alone. i remember feeling like there was so much to learn but not really knowing how to relate it to my current situation…i was a volunteer for a ministry that had no youth pastor, no budget, and very little support from the church body. what was i to do with all this information? how could i really belong with all these “professional” church people?
that was 5 years ago! just 5. i sit here, even now, in awe of the journey. in awe of the way god leads. if you would have asked me back then, i would have told you that i wished someone would pay me to hang out with kids. and i would have said it with about the same sincerity that i would say i wished i’d win the lottery (as someone who never plays). i wished…but i wasn’t pursuing. but god was pursuing. even then.
and so….as i sit here….in china…of all places….i have to think….there were a lot of little choices along the road that lead me to here. a lot. and how could i have ever known at 22 sitting and absorbing from so many great teachers and leaders that one day i would be the one entrusted with the burden to lead?
it’s humbling…and yet, undeniable.
