这是二零零九

I curse my computer on a regular basis, but the last few days have helped me to appreciate some of the wonders of technology. Yesterday I was overjoyed to discover a Christmas package from my parents after class. So I spread all the presents out by the tree, sat down in the living room, and called my parents on skype. I got to open the presents in front of them via my webcam, so it was almost like I was at home. Who would have thought my favorite presents at Christmas time would be garlic biscuit mix, and silicon bread pans? My wish list sure has changed over the years.

Today I was talking to my sister, and I got on google maps and looked up her house in Australia. They had a street view option and soon I was looking at her home as if I were standing in front of it. I could pan around and see the palm trees across the street, and the spiky bush in front of her bedroom window. Big Brother may be watching with such incredible technology but I'm grateful for it nonetheless. The thousands of miles between me and my family sure seemed smaller thanks to my Dell that I so often hate.

“We can complain that rosebushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thornbushes have roses.”

-A.L. Todd

我的中文不好

Yichang sidewalks, busy sidewalks

Dressed in China's great style

In the air

There's a feeling

Of Christmas

Children laughing

People passing

Meeting smile after smile

And on every street corner you'll hear

Yelled "Hello"s, yelled "Hello"s

It's any time in the city

Hear them shout, belt it out

Soon you will think it's okay

Strings of food stands

Even tofu

Fill the air with their stench

As the shoppers rush

Home with their treasures

Hear the horns beep

See the kids leap

This is China's big scene

And above all this bustle you'll hear

Yelled "Hello"s, yelled "Hello"s
It's any time in the city
Hear them shout, Belt it out
Soon you will think it's okay

Today was wonderful. I love my friends!

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of the Father."
-Jim Elliot

我爱生

Yesterday I went to lunch with a group of my girl friends, and then they wanted me to teach them how to play basketball. Of course since I am American, I must know how to play basketball, right? Those of you who have seen me play before are probably laughing hysterically at the thought of me teaching someone else, but laugh all you want--I am a skilled player here! I have finally found a place where my skills are enviable. It would have been even better if I could find a ball that wasn't flat. Apparently such a thing does not exist; however, so we made it work. We drew quite a crowd for some reason. It could be that girls usually do not occupy the court outside my apartment. Or the fact that I'm a foreigner doing something interesting. It might have been a combination of the two, but regardless, people stopped walking and stared, some even sat down and made themselves comfortable while we showed the world that we didn't care how many shots we missed.

I have some requests to bring before you today:

-One of our Sisters, Eden, had a miscarriage

-People on the verge of a big decision

I leave you with some scenes from the past few weeks:

Thanksgiving balancing?

Girls I went home with one weekend

Pretty colors!

My Christmas Tree!

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

-Anne Frank

上下

The enormous crash made me jump and my skin crawl.

I sat on the couch for a minute trying to decide what could have exploded, and what to do about it.

At first I thought it was my toilet, which has been leaking for a few months. My next guess was that the shower floor had finally fallen into the apartment below, like it has been threatening to do since I moved in. But I can see into my bathroom from the living room and I didn't see anything extraordinary. That lit a fire in my curiosity and I began exploring room by room.

When I first surveyed the kitchen I didn't see anything unusual. But something wasn't quite right. My second glance showed the top of the stove (which happens to be glass) wasn't smooth anymore. It has nice sharp edges sticking out everywhere, not to mention parts that were caved in as well as a spider-web vein of cracks all over. I haven't even used that stove since the first week I moved in, because the one by the window works much better, and I was always a little nervous about the gas inside. It made one giant flame instead of staying in the burner area like I am pretty sure it is supposed to. Something caused the thing to explode, I'm just glad there wasn't any more damage. Aside from the minor blast in my kitchen, today was almost too great to put into words.

From singing Away in a Manger in three different tunes, to getting a jar of homemade salsa from Elizabeth, to discovering the world's best sweet & sour pork at Up Down, to hearing I Like It, I Love It in the Spar. Probably the last thing I ever thought I'd hear in China would be Tim McGraw. You just can't beat a day in China. Don't believe me? Come find out for yourself!

"If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide."
Mohandas Gandhi

请说普通话

My fourth class today was really trying my nerves. They acted horribly--talking on their cell phones, playing music, and not speaking English. When I got visibly irritated they started to feel bad, so they sang a song for me as an apology. An entire class singing "Wo xihuan ni...something something" off key and off beat will take the frown off your face any day. For future reference if one of you makes me mad, just sing me a song. I couldn't stay mad if I tried.

One of the things I often complain about is how I miss my friends coming over unannounced whenever they want. When I lived in Phase IV, people were constantly coming over to my apartment, and it was always filled with people I love. Some of them were there so often that I thought they were my roommates. Wednesday night I didn't have any plans and I wasn't feeling top-notch so I didn't make any, I was just going to stay home and drink hot chocolate by the heater. One of my friends called and said she needed to ask me a question, so I invited her over and checked her paper for mistakes (something I'm quite used to doing after 4 1/2 years of college). One of her classmates and my friend called and invited himself over too, so we ended up cooking dinner together. The two of them were planning to go to the overcrowded, frigid library to study and I talked them into staying with me. So they sat in my warm apartment and studied while I knitted a scarf. I'm so glad people feel comfortable coming over whenever they want to.

“If you want to travel fast, go alone.

If you want to travel far, go together.”

-African Proverb

长阳

This weekend I got out of my shelter and ventured into the world of the Chinese. You may be thinking that after living here for three months I ought to be in the world of the Chinese already. True enough but at night I always retreat back to my apartment where everything is as Western as I can make it (except when I am taking an overnight bus somewhere). This time, I spent the weekend with some Chinese families. Two of my good friends live a little over an hour from here, and they invited me to their hometown. It was a wonderful weekend full of home-cooked meals, small town charm, and nature in its purest form.

We ate lunch together cooked by my friend's grandma, went hiking through the mountains, boating across the river, shopping on the city streets, and dancing in the town square. I got to indulge my taste buds guiltlessly since the food was practically being forced on me. The more I eat, the more honored the cook feels so I happily obliged. The hike in the mountains was just what I needed. I hadn't realized how much city life was suffocating me until I escaped it. We came across some beautiful waterfalls and walked on rocks that have probably had thousands of years' worth of feet tread across them. They were so smooth it was dangerous. Being from Oklahoma, it isn't hard to please my aesthetic tastes where nature is concerned. The slightest hill or green patch leaves me feeling refreshed. I mourned the sun's voyage Westward because it meant we would have to go inside. What I found inside; however, was a bed of wood coals in the middle of the room to serve as a heater, and a place to sit with friends and play Beat the Landlord until our food arrived. After we stuffed ourselves again we set out in a boat across the river, to disturb the play of the lights reflected all around us. It was thoroughly enjoyable. When we arrived back in the town square there were old people dancing everywhere so of course my friends and I jumped right in and tried to follow along. They were quite a bit more coordinated than me, but that's not hard to do. The worse we danced, the harder we laughed, so none of us cared how silly we looked.

These girls have kindly asked to spend Christmas with me so that I will not miss my family, so we are going to celebrate on Christmas Eve with a big meal and reading a story. We have talked some about the meaning of the holiday and plan to read together. My circle of friends is becoming more like family than friends. I'm very grateful for them.

“If a man has a ‘why’ for living, he can endure any ‘how’.”

-Viktor Frankl

火锅

I could begin by telling you about the most miserable and torturous 12-hour bus ride I've ever been on. Or I could skip that part and tell you about the most brilliant stars in the blackest sky I've ever had the joy to peruse. I was almost mesmerized enough to forget how icy every inch of me felt. And then I could tell you how when I arrived in Enshi I was greeted with a cup of hot chocolate and a heater for my feet, that took away every bit of complaint in my muscles. Good friends can make any hardship worth the pain. Then I would need to tell you about the wonderous Thanksgiving dinner we shared with Chinese and American friends. I can assure you that giving thanks for our daily bread has never meant so much as it does in this place. If you feel like you are not truly grateful for simple things like food, come live in China. As a matter of fact, come live in China anyway! The workers are few.

Nate took me and Craig exploring at a cave and waterfall on the outskirts of Enshi. We rented bicycles and rode them out on a country road. Aside from a few farmers and groups of giggling children, a sleepy ox was the only witness of our passage. What we found was what I had imagined Enshi was like in the beginning, a peaceful mountain town rather than a bustling metropolis. We went early enough to beat the crowds, and got to explore the mountain unhindered by staring eyes and yelled "Hello's." We got to see a grove of bamboo unrivaled by any I've yet seen, an old abandoned military outpost, water flowing out both sides of a mountain, and a view of the town from high above.

The 3½ days I was in Enshi passed entirely too quickly and I regretfully talked myself into going to the bus station at 2:30 yesterday. I bought a ticket for 3pm, which should have put me into Yichang at 1am today. Nate walked around with me and tried to help me find my bus, which was nowhere to be found. Finally we gave up and I went inside to sit and wait at 3:15, when we still couldn't find the fabled transportation. Thankfully I had bought some peanuts, oranges, and tea eggs to snack on while I rode. About 3:45 I started to get really curious about why my bus hadn't shown up yet and I went on a quest to try and find out. Keep in mind my Chinese is about as basic as you can get, and I could ask a question but not understand a word of the answer. After walking around trying to annoy all the people who worked there, a group of college students spotted me and took pity. They had come to see their friends off to Wuhan, and they helped translate my conversation with the workers of the bus station. Eventually we discovered the my bus was "broken" and I would have to wait a 'minute.' [I'll keep my opinions to myself about what the problem really was] To make a really long story someone shorter, I eventually got on a bus at 5, and we left somewhere closer to 6. It would be easy for me to complain about the fact that I had to wait over 2 hours longer than I was supposed to, had to pay 10 kuai extra to get on a sleeper bus that I didn't want to be on in the first place, and scrunch onto a bed that was too short for even me. But when I start to complain about that I feel pretty guilty. You see, there are some things that totally outweigh the negative. Three college students took an hour out of their day to help a foreigner too stupid to learn the native language. They carried my bag for me, gave me some of their oranges, and made sure I knew everything I needed to do. I don't know if you would find people like that in any other country. This is truly a wonderful place.

"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being."
-Gandhi