I woke up late today. I set my alarm last night, and immediately forgot to change the setting on my phone from vibrate. And given that the Grand Harbinger was snoring, I was wearing earplugs. The vibrations from my phone, as strong as they may be when I am awake, are no match for Mack’s Original, Safe Sound, Soft Foam Earplugs. That is a mouthful of adjectives. I woke up at 7:40, with just enough time to make a PB & J and walk out the door, book in hand. I had to look over vocabulary one last time before going to class – so that I could give the impression of studiousness and interest in this film.
Today is our last day to study the movie! Class was bearable, especially keeping in mind that today was the last day of class! I walked from class to class, ready for the end of these repetitive schedules. Discussion and debate class seemed to last forever, and it did. We went over by 10-15 minutes.
I ran over to the Chengdu restaurant and got some roof food. In keeping with the motif I have been following over the last week, I was extremely hungry. I ordered what was labeled as “roast vegetable cookie,” which I took to mean a stuffed cookie that you could eat with your hands. I learned that “roast cookie” is a proxy for “stir-fry chopped unleavened bread.” Who would have known? I ate the take-out in the room as I skyped Morgan and answered emails. I know that I have been writing for this entire semester using the verb “skype” but have failed to note how this computer program has changed the way that we think about long-distance communication. Isn’t the evolution of languages cool? We now say things like “I’m going to skype him,” or “lets iChat,” or “I’m gmail chatting someone right now.” My linguistics professor would have a fit right now to think about the new technological words that we use in everyday conversation.
I went to one-on-one class for the last time. Ever. The teacher was quite snappy during this encounter, but I kept my eye on the prize. That is to say, I kept my eye on the clock. After a little while, I was free! I was out!
Bally was the destination for my celebration. I showered, ran by the bank again, and headed over to the Fellowship. I’d finally gotten all of the money to give to the Fellowship for the trip to Chengdu! If I have failed to mention, one can only retrieve 2,500 Yuan ($382.20) a day from Chinese ATMs. Thus, I have been making trips to the ATM to harvest money for the Fellowship.
After getting money from the bank, I waited for the bus by the school, only to find that line No 26 – my line to HaiDian Church – was having technical difficulties. I did not find waiting 20 minutes on the bus to be terribly surprising; I’d waited longer than that on a few occasions. However, judging from the reactions of my fellow travelers, a 20-minute delay seemed to signify imminent death, the end of the world, or the end of modern life as we know it. When the bus finally came, there were two of them, and we crammed on board. I got out at the Beijing Earthquake Center, which is the stop nearest the HaiDian church, and walked over to the church.
Fellowship was great, as always. Levi was playing guitar this week, and the worship leader was strumming along – rather offbeat – on what looked like a Wal-Mart guitar. It sounded rough, but I have to give him an A for effort and heart. Instead of standing at our seats for worship this week, they cleared out a spot in the middle and we all stood together and sang. We sang a song called “The World Wouldn’t be as Good if It Didn’t Have You” (in Chinese) – a song that you sing with a partner. I normally would be appalled at singing a song with both motions and a partner, but I was in China. I could afford to step out of the box.
Bible study was this week was amazing. It is so encouraging to see all of the new Christians in the group. We talked about Matthew 14, at the passage where Jesus walks on water. It was enlightening to hear their perspectives on this passage, and it was also interesting to see the linguistic differences in the English and Chinese versions. Every time that we meet, the group goes around and reads the passage aloud, every person reading a verse until the end of that section. They always want me to read, and it is a moderately horrifying experience. There are numbers of specific words that I know how to say, but have no idea what they mean outside of context. They always congratulate me on finishing my 10 to 12 word verse, and I get claps and a little cheer for my dismal performance. It is pretty funny.
After the Fellowship, I transferred the money to Bing-Bing. She was excited about the trip, and in her matter-of-fact manner said that she would send me a spreadsheet of how the money was spent. I couldn’t help but laugh at her robotic tendencies. She is very open in her views of modern life, Christianity, history and Western political systems, but when it comes to manners, she has been deeply influenced by the Chinese norms of behavior. “Why don’t you send us a letter telling us about how the trip goes? I’m sure that the people of my church would love to hear more about that.” “If they would like that more, I will try to write you a letter. Maybe Jesse can help me.”
I walked to the nearest McDonalds with the worship team – Jesse, Bing-Bing, David, Jiao-Jiao, Tian Hong, Yu Ren, and Levi, who are also the chief planners of the trip to Chengdu. I sat and listened to their ideas for the service and for the church, and I was very impressed. They have the trip down to a T, and are planning two nights of worship to be held in a public square in a suburb of Chongqing.
You may have heard about an incident that occurred in Beijing last Sunday. A group of Christians got together in a square in Beijing and had a worship service. This is highly illegal in Beijing, and everyone knows that having a worship service in a public area like that (no matter what religion) is going to elicit prompt police reprisals. Around 100 people were adjusted last Sunday, but to my knowledge, no one was hurt in the event.
Unlike in Beijing, religion is not as frowned upon in Chongqing, a city that is geographically and ideologically distant from the conservative capitol. Bo Xilai, who some consider to be one of the top choices for party chairman in the next few years, is currently the secretary of Chongqing, and has pursued a much more “liberal” course if action than the norm of Beijing. The wikipedia article on Bo Xilai is a little dry, and does little to convey his growing clout in China. I do believe that we will hear more of Mr. Bo in the west within a few years. The city from which Jesse hails is excited to have these college students come to help out their church, and they see the event as a sort of feather in their cap. This is the reason that Jesse is going to be able to help lead worship in Chongqing.
For dinner, I ate a Big Mac, fries, sweet tea, and a chicken sandwich. After that, I was still hungry. Everyone gawked at me for eating so much food. What do they expect? I am a hungry Westerner!
I took a cab back to Bei Wai (The Beijing Foreign Languages University) with Jesse. We talked about the trip to Chengdu, and then Jesse brought up something that she has been thinking about over the last week. She wants to try to go to seminary in the States after she graduates! She and Levi are looking to get married sometime after they graduate, and they will either work for a year or go straight over to the States. Levi is trying to get into an American university with a Master’s program in engineering, and the two of them are trying to find a city where they can live together and both study.
Walked back to the dorm, and studied a little before going to bed.
I slept hard.
I’ll write soon!
Love,
Jamey
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