Well, this is the day that I thought I was supposed to leave for Japan. I got dates mixed up for a variety of reasons. Anyhow, thank goodness there were seats left in the plane on Sunday.
I noticed last night, realizing that I was not where I was supposed to be in the world (although of course I actually was where I was supposed to be, here in Nanjing), that I felt a little lonely and a little homesick. I was aware of not having a community last night and sometimes it is hard not to be able to watch American T.V. even though I'm not much of a T.V. watcher. But for those of you in the United States, think about this: when watching a T.V. show sometimes some kind of sense of community is formed because you know that at the same time other Americans are also watching the same T.V. show at the same time. Just some things I'm learning about being here in a foreign country. There are some run-on sentences in this paragraph that the Apostle Paul would be proud of!
2009年1月22日星期四
2009年1月20日星期二
January 20, 2009: Obama Day!! Woohoo!!!!
You may have noticed I was out of touch for a few days -- actually almost two weeks I guess! The Amity Foundation Teachers Winter Conference was held in Gansu Province, far to the North and the West, and I was typing on a Finnish keyboard there. I discovered that I could type efficiently on that board...so I am back now until Friday when I will be off to Japan and the Philippines. I don't know how much internet access I will have there but I am planning (at least as of this very moment in time) to tote my laptop with me.
Today was a highly unusual day in Nanjing. I saw two foreigners! One was a man and then a while later I saw a woman. This almost never happens. I also found a McDonalds within walking distance -- I think it must be brand new. I went in to check out the breakfast menu and I am quite excited -- I can get an American breakfast of pancakes (hotcakes) and coffee --and can probably figure out how to get the hash browns as well. Woohoo!
I do not know how to put pictures on this blog yet, something on my to-do list. In the meantime, I have posted albums of the Gansu journey on Facebook. I am very thankful that we had our conference there as I was able to see another part of this vast and diverse country that is geographically very different from where I am in Nanjing on the East Coast. We were also priviledged to see a small, rural village. I must say that the small villages reminded me of small villages in the West Bank in Palestine. I am suspicious that perhaps small villages in all parts of the world bear a striking resemblance to one another.
I have had students tell me that they are in college because they had no choice. The young people who do not go to college end up with the back breaking work. They came to college so that they could have more options. No choice but to go to college so there would be choices.
I don't have a clue in a hundred million years how people in the villages that we saw would pay for college for the children in the villages. It wasn't so much the grinding poverty that we saw as the bare minimum for life to be sustained. The villagers live out of the land, literally, they are one with the land.
In the first village we were blessed with a traditional performance by wonderful villagers who have honed their craft of acting to a fine art. They were amazing! They performed "Planting Potatoes" for us...well of course, what they know best. They had an orchestra, the actors themselves, and an appreciative audience consisting of the foreigners and the locals.
In the second village we saw the work that Amity is doing with the village in terms of working with solar heating. We also were taken to small compounds that consisted of houses and farm buildings surrounded by earthen containers -- kind of like fences. These people work so hard.
Back in the most developed city in Gansu Province, Lanzhou, we did a church visit. The church has about 5,000 members and at least 200 baptisms a year. They work with projects that care for the elderly, the poor and The Left Behind Children. These children are the children of migrant workers -- both of their parents must leave them to find work elsewhere and they are left in the care of their grandparents. They see their parents perhaps once a year. The church helps to educate them, provides psychological counseling and tries to fill in the gaps of love that the children so desperately need.
This trip to Gansu Province helped to fill in more of the blanks I have in my knowledge of China. I look forward to Japan and the Philippines over the next two weeks or so to help me with the bigger picture of Asia.
Today was a highly unusual day in Nanjing. I saw two foreigners! One was a man and then a while later I saw a woman. This almost never happens. I also found a McDonalds within walking distance -- I think it must be brand new. I went in to check out the breakfast menu and I am quite excited -- I can get an American breakfast of pancakes (hotcakes) and coffee --and can probably figure out how to get the hash browns as well. Woohoo!
I do not know how to put pictures on this blog yet, something on my to-do list. In the meantime, I have posted albums of the Gansu journey on Facebook. I am very thankful that we had our conference there as I was able to see another part of this vast and diverse country that is geographically very different from where I am in Nanjing on the East Coast. We were also priviledged to see a small, rural village. I must say that the small villages reminded me of small villages in the West Bank in Palestine. I am suspicious that perhaps small villages in all parts of the world bear a striking resemblance to one another.
I have had students tell me that they are in college because they had no choice. The young people who do not go to college end up with the back breaking work. They came to college so that they could have more options. No choice but to go to college so there would be choices.
I don't have a clue in a hundred million years how people in the villages that we saw would pay for college for the children in the villages. It wasn't so much the grinding poverty that we saw as the bare minimum for life to be sustained. The villagers live out of the land, literally, they are one with the land.
In the first village we were blessed with a traditional performance by wonderful villagers who have honed their craft of acting to a fine art. They were amazing! They performed "Planting Potatoes" for us...well of course, what they know best. They had an orchestra, the actors themselves, and an appreciative audience consisting of the foreigners and the locals.
In the second village we saw the work that Amity is doing with the village in terms of working with solar heating. We also were taken to small compounds that consisted of houses and farm buildings surrounded by earthen containers -- kind of like fences. These people work so hard.
Back in the most developed city in Gansu Province, Lanzhou, we did a church visit. The church has about 5,000 members and at least 200 baptisms a year. They work with projects that care for the elderly, the poor and The Left Behind Children. These children are the children of migrant workers -- both of their parents must leave them to find work elsewhere and they are left in the care of their grandparents. They see their parents perhaps once a year. The church helps to educate them, provides psychological counseling and tries to fill in the gaps of love that the children so desperately need.
This trip to Gansu Province helped to fill in more of the blanks I have in my knowledge of China. I look forward to Japan and the Philippines over the next two weeks or so to help me with the bigger picture of Asia.
2009年1月9日星期五
January 9, 2009
Today. A mixture of good fellowship, great texts, disturbing news from home via CNN.com.
Had lunch with two friends, good food and good conversation. Got to listen to a loud argument at the grocery store. Got a very sweet text from a Chinese friend telling me she hoped we would have a chance to take more pictures together with our "smelling" faces, obviously meaning "smiling". And then there was gratitude for the UN Resolution on a Cease-Fire in Gaza where I noted that instead of blocking something by veto that for once the US abstained. And then there was frustration at seeing what the US Senate is passing -- totally condemning Hamas and not giving an iota of responsibility to Israel for the carnage that is happening right this very minute in Gaza.
So I have come home and buried myself in travel preparations for the upcoming weeks. I am seasoned enough a traveler now -- thanks be to God! -- that I know I will be able to (eventually) find the hotel in Lanzhou, Gansu on Monday. I do hope I can find the bus station in Nanjing to take the airport shuttle to the Nanjing Airport in time for my flight....and then the frustration of trying to book a flight on-line from Manila, Philippines, to the city where my friend lives that is about an hour and a half away by airplane from Manila. The credit card was rejected, but when I called my bank they said it wasn't them. No phone number on the airline website to contact them about it. Okay, so here I am in China and life is life.
The good part of things is that I am eating miniature Dove bars and am going to go read more in Silent Cry...that book is so deep that I cannot zip through it, which is kind of a blessing in its own way. The point of the book is intentionality and I have to read it intentionally, hmmmmm.
Had lunch with two friends, good food and good conversation. Got to listen to a loud argument at the grocery store. Got a very sweet text from a Chinese friend telling me she hoped we would have a chance to take more pictures together with our "smelling" faces, obviously meaning "smiling". And then there was gratitude for the UN Resolution on a Cease-Fire in Gaza where I noted that instead of blocking something by veto that for once the US abstained. And then there was frustration at seeing what the US Senate is passing -- totally condemning Hamas and not giving an iota of responsibility to Israel for the carnage that is happening right this very minute in Gaza.
So I have come home and buried myself in travel preparations for the upcoming weeks. I am seasoned enough a traveler now -- thanks be to God! -- that I know I will be able to (eventually) find the hotel in Lanzhou, Gansu on Monday. I do hope I can find the bus station in Nanjing to take the airport shuttle to the Nanjing Airport in time for my flight....and then the frustration of trying to book a flight on-line from Manila, Philippines, to the city where my friend lives that is about an hour and a half away by airplane from Manila. The credit card was rejected, but when I called my bank they said it wasn't them. No phone number on the airline website to contact them about it. Okay, so here I am in China and life is life.
The good part of things is that I am eating miniature Dove bars and am going to go read more in Silent Cry...that book is so deep that I cannot zip through it, which is kind of a blessing in its own way. The point of the book is intentionality and I have to read it intentionally, hmmmmm.
2009年1月8日星期四
January 8, 2009 -- read with caution.
One of the disadvantages to living alone in a foreign country is not having anyone to go to for comfort when something awful happens. I just read a story about a young woman in Papua New Genuia (not spelled right I know) who was burned alive in a garbage dump today or yesterday. Apparently she was accused of being a witch. The article said that this is a frequent occurance in PNG, when someone dies someone else is targeted as a scapegoat and killed as though responsible for the original death. Okay, this one was pretty hard for me to stomach.
Other than reading that article and keeping up with the situation in Gaza I have spent today slowly going through more things in the apartment, cleaning out and organizing. I have decided to send things home in boxes by category. i.e. everything that I bought in South Korea will go into one box labeled South Korea, etc. Hopefully it will help stateside when I need to figure out what goes where...I am cold still (yes, I am drinking some tea:) and was told yesterday that I need to turn off the air conditioner (doubling as a "heater") sometimes to give it a rest -- it literally freezes on the outside of the building, I can see ice building up on it out there. There are apparently disadvantages to being a homebody. Yesterday I went out with my friend Fei and gave it a break, tomorrow I will be going out again to have coffee with a friend and run other errands, so I will be giving it another break. Hard to believe but already this coming Monday I will be leaving for Gansu and the Amity Winter Conference...
I also spent more time today reading Silent Cry, my Dorothee Sollee book on Mysticism. I was reminded that what she calls attentiveness I call intentionality. Being present to the moment. In some of my conversations with friends, both Chinese and foreign, here in Nanjing I am aware that happiness is often equated with income. Clearly having enough to eat and adequate shelter is highly important to human quality of life. Beyond the basic necessities, in the states some of the kindest people I have known have been those who have little. Perhaps less can contribute to intentionality. Read between the lines.
I am listening to Canon in D Major right now -- soaring with the strings. I have been trying to catch up on my 2006 European pictures as I have the extra time -- getting them labeled, alas I have already forgotten the countries where some of the pictures are from. One of the pictures is an amazing European cathedral -- this music takes me back there. Just as the architecture soars towards the heavens, so this music carries me towards the outer limits of time and space.
Other than reading that article and keeping up with the situation in Gaza I have spent today slowly going through more things in the apartment, cleaning out and organizing. I have decided to send things home in boxes by category. i.e. everything that I bought in South Korea will go into one box labeled South Korea, etc. Hopefully it will help stateside when I need to figure out what goes where...I am cold still (yes, I am drinking some tea:) and was told yesterday that I need to turn off the air conditioner (doubling as a "heater") sometimes to give it a rest -- it literally freezes on the outside of the building, I can see ice building up on it out there. There are apparently disadvantages to being a homebody. Yesterday I went out with my friend Fei and gave it a break, tomorrow I will be going out again to have coffee with a friend and run other errands, so I will be giving it another break. Hard to believe but already this coming Monday I will be leaving for Gansu and the Amity Winter Conference...
I also spent more time today reading Silent Cry, my Dorothee Sollee book on Mysticism. I was reminded that what she calls attentiveness I call intentionality. Being present to the moment. In some of my conversations with friends, both Chinese and foreign, here in Nanjing I am aware that happiness is often equated with income. Clearly having enough to eat and adequate shelter is highly important to human quality of life. Beyond the basic necessities, in the states some of the kindest people I have known have been those who have little. Perhaps less can contribute to intentionality. Read between the lines.
I am listening to Canon in D Major right now -- soaring with the strings. I have been trying to catch up on my 2006 European pictures as I have the extra time -- getting them labeled, alas I have already forgotten the countries where some of the pictures are from. One of the pictures is an amazing European cathedral -- this music takes me back there. Just as the architecture soars towards the heavens, so this music carries me towards the outer limits of time and space.
2009年1月6日星期二
First Good-bye, January 7, 2009
Today I said my first good-bye to a friend here in China. Even if I was going to be in China longer this would have happened because this friend is a senior here at my university and will be leaving shortly to return home to Beijing and then will go to Shanghai in the spring for training with her new job.
We "ran errands". I needed a hair trim. The first place we went to was closed -- it literally looked like the business may have closed down. So we started walking. Eventually we found another barber shop and for the first time I had a woman cut my hair here in China. 8 yuen, with the exchange rate at about 6.85 it was just a tad bit over one dollar US. I told Fei, my friend, that in the states the cheapest cut I can find is at least $15. US. I had already washed my hair so it was literally just the cut, but still, what a great deal! It was fascinating to watch this young woman and her scissors. In the states my hair gets piled up on my head and taken down section by section. Not so here! She started taking big sections and instead of going across she slashed the scissors vertically into the pile of hair. Thankfully it looks okay, even though the two sides aren't equal. Oh well. Hair grows. So that's it til I get home in June.
Then we went to the Amity Art Center. Love that place. Everytime I say it is my last time to go there, it isn't. Today I decided to stop saying that. Fei was impressed, she felt that the quality was good and the prices were fair. She is not a Christian and it was really cool watching her eyes light up when she would hear the Bible story connected with the piece of art. It reminded me of how important the visual is to the Word. She found little trees on plaques with the Fruits of the Spirit in Chinese letters to give her parents as gifts. I was thankful for her eyes that saw things I haven't seen and her delight in realizing the connection between the Chinese art and the stories. For example: there are several depictions of the Five Loaves and the Two Fish, or, Jesus Feeding the 5,000. She asked what that was about. When I explained that it was a miracle she asked what that meant. I told her it means that something that does not happen normally happened and she could SEE what I meant -- five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people is a miracle.
After all this we went and ate a final meal together. We ate at the restauraunt connected with the university. It is reasonably priced and a nice little place. I finally realized that at my favorite restaurant in town, Behind the Wall, it is Western not only in cuisine but in each person ordering his or her own dish. In Chinese restaurants we always order several "dishes" and they are shared communally. No one gets their own self-sufficient plate. I'm sure that these are two statements about culture. I'll have to be warmer to ponder that one further:)
We "ran errands". I needed a hair trim. The first place we went to was closed -- it literally looked like the business may have closed down. So we started walking. Eventually we found another barber shop and for the first time I had a woman cut my hair here in China. 8 yuen, with the exchange rate at about 6.85 it was just a tad bit over one dollar US. I told Fei, my friend, that in the states the cheapest cut I can find is at least $15. US. I had already washed my hair so it was literally just the cut, but still, what a great deal! It was fascinating to watch this young woman and her scissors. In the states my hair gets piled up on my head and taken down section by section. Not so here! She started taking big sections and instead of going across she slashed the scissors vertically into the pile of hair. Thankfully it looks okay, even though the two sides aren't equal. Oh well. Hair grows. So that's it til I get home in June.
Then we went to the Amity Art Center. Love that place. Everytime I say it is my last time to go there, it isn't. Today I decided to stop saying that. Fei was impressed, she felt that the quality was good and the prices were fair. She is not a Christian and it was really cool watching her eyes light up when she would hear the Bible story connected with the piece of art. It reminded me of how important the visual is to the Word. She found little trees on plaques with the Fruits of the Spirit in Chinese letters to give her parents as gifts. I was thankful for her eyes that saw things I haven't seen and her delight in realizing the connection between the Chinese art and the stories. For example: there are several depictions of the Five Loaves and the Two Fish, or, Jesus Feeding the 5,000. She asked what that was about. When I explained that it was a miracle she asked what that meant. I told her it means that something that does not happen normally happened and she could SEE what I meant -- five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people is a miracle.
After all this we went and ate a final meal together. We ate at the restauraunt connected with the university. It is reasonably priced and a nice little place. I finally realized that at my favorite restaurant in town, Behind the Wall, it is Western not only in cuisine but in each person ordering his or her own dish. In Chinese restaurants we always order several "dishes" and they are shared communally. No one gets their own self-sufficient plate. I'm sure that these are two statements about culture. I'll have to be warmer to ponder that one further:)
Muses -- January 6, 2009
Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with an Amity teacher friend. Lots of laughing -- one of my favorite kinds of days! She gave me a book called "A Peace to End All Peace" subtitled, "The Fall of The Ottoman Empire and the Creation of The Modern Middle East". It appears that it will be helpful background information as I begin to prepare to move to Sudan at the end of this coming summer.
I finally got to see the Jasmine Youth Hostel that I have heard so much about! Nice place! Heated, did I say HEATED?, reception area? I had finally given in yesterday and was wearing my silk long john top under my already lined top with my full length down coat. I actually broke out in a sweat in the reception area and had to buy a cold drink to offset the now unfamiliar feeling of being too hot! This will of course change in Sudan next year. I have heard that there December and January are comfortable and then the heat soars to around 110 F.....a new life indeed!
Her room at the hostel was nice and cozy and felt like it was heated too -- although not quite as liberally. Bathroom right next door -- nice touch. I've not been able to figure out the bathrooms that have stalls that only go halfway up the wall -- and then the windows that open to the WHOLE WORLD on one side -- she let me trade sides with her. I have not lost my modesty yet; not that she has, I hasten to add, she is just not quite as horrified as I by Chinese bathrooms.
We went to the Amity Art Center as well and luxuriated in the freezing cold conditions there -- but had a lot of fun looking at the incredible artwork that is sold there. In the year and a half that I have been here my taste has changed and I now find the tapestries that are perhaps primitive in design and are embroidered by minorities around China stunning. I was especially drawn to them when we found out that this is how these particular minorities make their living -- and when they become Christians they create beautiful Scriptural themes. I bought the one depicting Gabrielle's announcement to Mary and Mary's answer, "Let it be as you wish." I thought that this pretty much describes my own life in recent years, visual reminders can be good things!
Today I am frustrated with my Apple computer. It is not reading movies that I have seen before on the computer -- I have no idea what is going on. My friend Fei is coming tomorrow to spend at least the morning with me -- maybe she knows of a place in Nanjing that knows about Apples...my warranty is good through the beginning of February. Extended three year warranties cost $300. US. Does Apple have any idea how much money that is in China? That is more than half a month's salary for me!!! So I may have to switch back to Region 1 and start watching my American movies again...or just read, forget the movies! :)
Today I have begun the process of throwing things out and am getting mental images of what can go in different boxes -- maybe Fei and I can go to the post office (Mail Post) tomorrow and get some boxes so I can start putting things in them instead of spread out over the living room. So much to do! Next Monday I leave for Lanzhou in Gansu Province for the Amity Winter Conference. I am looking forward to the radiated heat there. Of course I looked on the MSN.com weather page and if they didn't have radiators the folks who live there would have serious hypothermia issues...this is a part of China that is very close to what I would term Central Asia. Just as Southern China last year seemed much more Vietnamese than Chinese to me, I am looking forward to seeing what Gansu will be like. It is close to (in comparison to the East Coast of China at least) Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, etc. I'm very thankful that Amity decided to have the conference there.
Good night for now.
I finally got to see the Jasmine Youth Hostel that I have heard so much about! Nice place! Heated, did I say HEATED?, reception area? I had finally given in yesterday and was wearing my silk long john top under my already lined top with my full length down coat. I actually broke out in a sweat in the reception area and had to buy a cold drink to offset the now unfamiliar feeling of being too hot! This will of course change in Sudan next year. I have heard that there December and January are comfortable and then the heat soars to around 110 F.....a new life indeed!
Her room at the hostel was nice and cozy and felt like it was heated too -- although not quite as liberally. Bathroom right next door -- nice touch. I've not been able to figure out the bathrooms that have stalls that only go halfway up the wall -- and then the windows that open to the WHOLE WORLD on one side -- she let me trade sides with her. I have not lost my modesty yet; not that she has, I hasten to add, she is just not quite as horrified as I by Chinese bathrooms.
We went to the Amity Art Center as well and luxuriated in the freezing cold conditions there -- but had a lot of fun looking at the incredible artwork that is sold there. In the year and a half that I have been here my taste has changed and I now find the tapestries that are perhaps primitive in design and are embroidered by minorities around China stunning. I was especially drawn to them when we found out that this is how these particular minorities make their living -- and when they become Christians they create beautiful Scriptural themes. I bought the one depicting Gabrielle's announcement to Mary and Mary's answer, "Let it be as you wish." I thought that this pretty much describes my own life in recent years, visual reminders can be good things!
Today I am frustrated with my Apple computer. It is not reading movies that I have seen before on the computer -- I have no idea what is going on. My friend Fei is coming tomorrow to spend at least the morning with me -- maybe she knows of a place in Nanjing that knows about Apples...my warranty is good through the beginning of February. Extended three year warranties cost $300. US. Does Apple have any idea how much money that is in China? That is more than half a month's salary for me!!! So I may have to switch back to Region 1 and start watching my American movies again...or just read, forget the movies! :)
Today I have begun the process of throwing things out and am getting mental images of what can go in different boxes -- maybe Fei and I can go to the post office (Mail Post) tomorrow and get some boxes so I can start putting things in them instead of spread out over the living room. So much to do! Next Monday I leave for Lanzhou in Gansu Province for the Amity Winter Conference. I am looking forward to the radiated heat there. Of course I looked on the MSN.com weather page and if they didn't have radiators the folks who live there would have serious hypothermia issues...this is a part of China that is very close to what I would term Central Asia. Just as Southern China last year seemed much more Vietnamese than Chinese to me, I am looking forward to seeing what Gansu will be like. It is close to (in comparison to the East Coast of China at least) Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, etc. I'm very thankful that Amity decided to have the conference there.
Good night for now.
2009年1月3日星期六
CNN.comLIVE January 4, 2008
I have finally figured out how to get CNN.comLIVE to work on my computer here in China! The most thrilling part is unlike youtube or other recordings it is coming through uninterrupted, I don't have to wait for it to wind up to listen to it without slowmo...I am able to follow the crisis in Gaza and feel a part of the horror that the civilians there are living through right now. This makes it easier to pray as well, particularly for the children that are traumatized and the parents who are feeling powerless. Lord, we humans inflict more pain on one another than it seems possible that we could do. Help us to grow up. Amen.
A Taxing Adventure (in a Taxi:) 1/03/09
Just as I think that nothing new can happen in China to leave me breathless and incredulous -- something new happens in China that leaves me breathless and incredulous.
Today I was with a friend in a taxi. As per my practice I was in the front seat -- easier to pay for the drive that way. The taxi was stopped in traffic and there was a car to the side of us -- a door opened on the car and before anyone knew what was happening someone had walked from that car to the taxi and had opened the door on the taxi. Okay, I think that perhaps he made eye contact with me for a nano second before opening my door -- but there was certainly no knock, no, "bye the way ma'am, can I intrude upon your safe taxi ride and make you feel like you are in New York City about to be robbed in the middle of traffic?"
Considering he was leaning over me and talking to the female taxi driver in Chinese I had no idea what he was asking or saying -- perhaps directions? It was a wee bit terrifying. In the states having something like that happen would be cause for great alarm. I tell you, in the last couple of weeks I have come to have a huge appreciation for China's gun control laws. Citizens are not allowed to carry guns -- and I am thankful for that.
We continued driving as I recovered from my quasi heart spasms. We got near to the street where we would turn to approach my college campus and the driver was busy texting away. In a move again remniscent of being at home I gently let her know that the light had turned green -- her reaction of embarassment was pure gold. I was told by my friend that I have a great sense of humor -- I can't quite figure that one out. Because I didn't yell? Because I was still so stunned by the first incident that I didn't have my wits about me to panic at the traffic swirling about us as we sat while she communicated by modern techno?
Well, I am sure I will have other wonderful moments to share with all of you again soon enough. Oh, by the way: a wonderful gift. When my friend and I got to my apartment she was thrilled to see what a mess it was -- when she saw all of my books she immediately attributed the mess to my priorities. Learning is much more important than cleaning! :)
Today I was with a friend in a taxi. As per my practice I was in the front seat -- easier to pay for the drive that way. The taxi was stopped in traffic and there was a car to the side of us -- a door opened on the car and before anyone knew what was happening someone had walked from that car to the taxi and had opened the door on the taxi. Okay, I think that perhaps he made eye contact with me for a nano second before opening my door -- but there was certainly no knock, no, "bye the way ma'am, can I intrude upon your safe taxi ride and make you feel like you are in New York City about to be robbed in the middle of traffic?"
Considering he was leaning over me and talking to the female taxi driver in Chinese I had no idea what he was asking or saying -- perhaps directions? It was a wee bit terrifying. In the states having something like that happen would be cause for great alarm. I tell you, in the last couple of weeks I have come to have a huge appreciation for China's gun control laws. Citizens are not allowed to carry guns -- and I am thankful for that.
We continued driving as I recovered from my quasi heart spasms. We got near to the street where we would turn to approach my college campus and the driver was busy texting away. In a move again remniscent of being at home I gently let her know that the light had turned green -- her reaction of embarassment was pure gold. I was told by my friend that I have a great sense of humor -- I can't quite figure that one out. Because I didn't yell? Because I was still so stunned by the first incident that I didn't have my wits about me to panic at the traffic swirling about us as we sat while she communicated by modern techno?
Well, I am sure I will have other wonderful moments to share with all of you again soon enough. Oh, by the way: a wonderful gift. When my friend and I got to my apartment she was thrilled to see what a mess it was -- when she saw all of my books she immediately attributed the mess to my priorities. Learning is much more important than cleaning! :)
2009年1月2日星期五
Shopping in Nanjing, January 2, 2008
I went shopping today for necessities such as bleach, laundry detergent and toothpaste. I tried out a store new to me, RT Mart. I reminded myself as I observed the crowd upon entering the store that it is the New Year Holiday here in China. And then as I pressed my way through the crowds I reminded myself that in order to move at all in a crowd in China that one must resort to behaving Chinese. If a person is inordinately polite, as learned in the states, that person will not get very far in the shopping trip. Waiting for people to move ends up meaning that a whole bunch of other people move and I end up observing them. I did at one point watch how a Chinese expert maneuvered past a shopping cart that was blocking the way in an aisle. It was shoved aside. I thought, okay, when in Rome do as the Romans do...when in China, do as the Chinese do. Survive. I must eat. Therefore I must try to get just a little bit pushier.
Now at the checkstand a totally different issue happened and I let the man who was trying to shoulder by me to be next in line know by my frosty expression that I was next and not he. Instead of a polite, "are you next in line?" the Chinese simply make themselves next in line.
Now at the checkstand a totally different issue happened and I let the man who was trying to shoulder by me to be next in line know by my frosty expression that I was next and not he. Instead of a polite, "are you next in line?" the Chinese simply make themselves next in line.
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