laughing traveler

I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends on the metro the other day that I can’t stop thinking about. I don’t know how it started or exactly what was said but I know it ended up an hour long debate about Christianity and me at a loss for words. My friend was raised in the church as, what I would call, a C&E Catholic (Christmas and Easter). He had heard the Christian jargon year after year and was left with more questions than answers. My friend was going to a party with me and Roz that night and the 3 of us were traveling together. I think I mentioned that I wasn’t going to drink that night, because I had given up alcohol for Lent. He asked if I was Catholic, assuming that Lent was only a Catholic thing and then asked what the difference between Catholic and Methodist was. I poorly explained that the big difference is Catholic and Protestant which Roz could explain a lot better since she went to Catholic school and knew the details of both. Then expanded that we...

I went to see the countryside outside of Guilin city to spend Chinese New Years with my friend’s parents. My friend, Daniel, kept telling me - just so you know there are is not heat in my parents’ house. And I told him - no worries I lived in Ohio . He tells me his family is farmers, no problem my Granny lives on a farm. He tells me they are slaughtering a pig for the holiday and I say my dad was a pig farmer growing up. I have been on the farm, seen the animals, played on the dirt road; I was ready for anything. I was wrong. There is a huge difference between US country and the Chinese countryside. Even without snow on the ground the mountains felt like I was constantly standing in a freezer! And the worst part was that there is no escape. In the US I would run from my warm house to my warm car and then to a warm store. But in China nowhere is warm. I honestly think it was colder inside the house than outside. The walls were all mud bricks and bare concrete floors. The only sou...

This Christmas season I did a lot more to force the Christmas spirit. During Halloween some friends and I stumbled upon our greatest discovery in China! Sunggong warehouse! All the factory leftovers from the products sent to the US. I felt like I am in Wal-Mart’s holiday section, just dirtier, cheaper and a lot more crap to sift through. We came back to this gold mine around thanksgiving and it was a CHRISTMAS EXPLOSION! I am talking a full street with trees and garland covering each store front. And 2 of the buildings had 4 floors of Christmas goodness inside, mixed, of course, with the usual baby clothes, purses, plastic ware and other randomness. I couldn’t keep my legs still. They had a 10 foot plastic tree that I could comfortably live inside! Life-size Santa figures made out of glitter and gold paint (China version). As I spent every penny in my purse on lights and a wreath, I realized my apartment was too small for a tree. Since my classes are much smaller this year I can do ...

People ask me all the time why I love China. My answers never seems to be what is expected. It’s the little things that make me smile no matter how awful my day has been or the bad mood I am in. (and believe me there have been plenty of those days) My honest to God favorite part of my new town of lain tang is the crosswalk man. In China people are too detail oriented to be satisfied with the standard walk/ don’t walk flashing light. In lian tang the little man is animated and he tells you how fast you need to walk. The best is the strut setting. The little crosswalk light has the proud strut that I can’t see without standing a little taller. Everytime me and my friend see it we try to walk at the same pace as the light and say, “strut carefully!” Then when the traffic light is about to change the little man gets faster and faster and end in a panic furry to get across. The panic is justified! I literally almost got hit by a bus the other day. I was with my Italian friend and the littl...

My church in Shekou started a concert series for the Christmas season. They will have 4 concerts around Shenzhen and I was asked to be a part of the prayer team. They said that outside the church the services will be concerts but having a prayer team will insure that they are Christ-driven and become a worship service. We were asked to pray for the upcoming event during the week and arrive an hour early to pray during the rehearsal and set up. We walked through each chair and prayed that God would fill that seat and bless the person that would sit there. After the service we were to come forward and pray with anyone who came up for an alter call. I realized that I am not very good at this. My friend said how can you be bad at praying? Is there bad or good? I had trouble focusing; my mind goes wild in silence. When people came up to me to pray for them I couldn’t find the right words and stuttered and stammered all over myself. Also many of the people that wanted me to pray for them w...

I have fully embraced the freedom of China fashion! I would never in a million years thought I would leave the house in jeggings, but they are now my non-pant of choice. Jeggings are jean-leggings on Chinese girls look almost exactly like skinny jeans. They never caught on in the US but they are the norm here and I love it! I now own 3 pair and wear them proudly, even in the US ! Roz and I have both recently gotten the confidence to rock the jeggings and even took it a step further. We developed a system of rating your pant-less-ness from a scale of naked to real pants. 0 is naked, un-acceptable in public. 1 is pantyhose, I know you are thinking that is underwear, but in china this can serve as outerwear for those brave enough. Pantyhose with a mini skirt or shorts is a 1.5, in the US we assume that butt covering is a requirement but this is not always the case in china. 2 is leggings, basically thick pantyhose that you can’t see through. These rarely require the mini skirt or sh...

Sandy invited me to her baptism the other day. She is the friend that came up to me at the bar and asked our group of foreigners if any of us were Christians and wanted to study the bible with her. 6 months later she gave me credit for bringing her to church and leading her to be baptized. I told her that she had helped me more than I helped her. She was the first person in china that looked up to me as a Christian role model, and it forced me to become a good example. I had stopped going to church after I had been in china a few months and I had become busy with new friends. I told Sandy I believe God sent her to me to give me a purpose in church here. Everything is more fun with someone to share it with. I barely remember my baptism. I was dedicated as a baby when my parents promised to raise me as a Christian and then baptism as something I had to check off the list before I could be confirmed in the Methodist Church. Sandy’s Baptism was much different. We met at the home of one ...