remmy goes to shanghai

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….