Journal Entry #27: Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wednesday brought excitement that I was getting closer to getting my sweet wife in Hengyang.  But I needed to get the apartment cleaned.  Edwin and Mary hired a cleaning lady that comes by once a week or so. They helped me arrange for her to come by my apartment and spend about four hours or so cleaning.  The cost of ¥50 (~$7.50 USD) for four hours of work seemed way too low and I wanted to pay her more.

​It was explained to me, again, that tipping and paying more than requested is considered an insult in China.  It’s like saying, “If I would have paid you more would you have done the job right?”  The woman spoke no English so when she arrived I had Mia walk through the apartment with her and go over the chores of things I had created as a “To-Do” list.  None-the-less, I had the apartment cleaned and I was very grateful for her services.

About 10:00 o’clock I noticed Mia was all dressed up and I asked her where she was going.  She had a date!  Some boy that she had met at Monday evenings English Corner had asked her if he could meet her and give her the campus tour. I then teasingly went into my self-appointed Dad role and started asking her, who was this boy?  Where was he from? Where were they going?  What were his intentions?  I knew that Mia was a bright, independent, young woman that did not need my permission to go on a date, but I teased her about bringing him home to meet me before she did this again.  

I had some team business to take care of with Sunny at the USC administration building so I asked Jessie to walk across campus with me.  As we were walking we saw up ahead of us about 50 yards was Mia and her date.  We did not want her to think we were following her so we tried to hide and go a different way.  As we did so they turned around and started walking towards us.  We scurried to blend in with the crowd and eventually evaded her.  It was kind of fun doing something like that!

It was lunch time and Jessie suggested we stop and buy some cooked rice at the dining hall, take it home and she would take the leftover food from my refrigerator, add a few things from my pantry and make a Fried Rice blend for lunch.  As we were leaving the dining hall we really did run into Mia and her date Lee.  I invited them to come eat with us and we walked back to the apartment.  When we arrived Edwin and Mary were knocking on our door to check in with me on a couple of team items so I invited them to stay and eat with us as well.  Here in China, when dinner guests start adding up to more than expected they don’t add water to the soup, they add rice to the Wok!  The Myers went and got a few items from their pantry and Jessie and Mia went to work using much of the remaining food items that were in my pantry.  Pretty soon they had a great meal set before us, and the six of us sat for dinner.  We started to reach for each other’s hands to pray and Lee was puzzled to say the least!  We explained to him that is the way we prayed.

We had a normal lunch discussion, but after lunch was when the more interesting dialogue started.  The Myers left and Lee wanted to know more about the Christian life that we all seem to have that would require us to pray before a meal.  That was something which Lee had never done before and he was very inquisitive.  He revealed that he was a Buddhist and that he thought that anything that people wanted to believe was acceptable to a god, if there was indeed a God.  Well that was a discussion that was not going to be short.  I hated to deflect his questions but I had a class to teach in two hours that I had not finished my preparation, and I wanted to get a Chinese nap but also knew that wasn’t as important as Lee’s inquiry.    My thoughts on this kind of opportunity are simply to plant a seed and then encourage more thought and discussion a little at a time as the days proceeded. I tried to do just that and he seemed to think about some of the things I had to say and he thanked me for explaining this question.  I went on to my Chinese nap while Mia and Lee said their goodbyes.

My 3:00 o’clock class was one that I had been looking forward to for a few weeks, as soon as I found out that they wanted me to teach a class on photography!  I knew that I could not teach students how to use their individual cameras, so I prepared a simple basic Elements of Photography PowerPoint/PDF. For the sample photographs of each slide I selected one of the photos I had taken since I had been in China.  After about 30 minutes we went outside, across the street from the building where we were meeting, and set up a simple outdoor scene in which to take portraits.  Taking these photos seemed to thrill everybody, as there was a buzz among the students and teachers that showed up for this class.  It was a lot of fun and I was able to get some great memories recorded from this session.

Jessica announced that she had decided to go visit her relatives in Changsha, a city about 150 miles from where we were located.  She was going to return on the weekend when Donna was going to be there.  We navigated ourselves, (well, she did - we just followed) to the nearest taxi as she was going to make her way to the bus station and then onto Changsha.  I didn’t really like Jessica leaving mainly because her cell phone battery was dead and her family was not aware of her plans. I guess I was overly concerned but I remember the promise I made her parents, and even though she wasn’t in America she was away from home visiting me.  Jessie apparently sensed my apprehension and reached out, gave me a big hug and assured me she would be OK and that she would call me when she got to her destination. Mia and I went to a Korean Noodle restaurant and had some dinner.     About two hours later, I received a call from Jessica telling me she was at her Aunt’s house in Changsha and she was fine.  I was relieved to hear from her.

I was scheduled to present a lesson of my choice to a select group of family members at Edwin and Mary’s apartment this evening at 7:30 p.m.  There were four in attendance in addition to Edwin, Mary and me.  I spoke of the first century historical event about Peter escaping from prison. I tried to help the students read between the lines so that they could see how they could live better and more peaceful lives. I love these classes.  When the teacher is through with his or her lecture, the student members applaud!  They did so again at the end of my class with them.

In the meantime, Mia, who had planned to go with me to this class, ended up getting an invitation to the Gearhart’s who were having about 20 Chinese students to their apartment for food and fun.  The Chinese students are very enamored with Jessica and Mia because they are actually going to school abroad and that is a concept that excites them.  They all seem to have a lot of questions for each of these Chinese Harding students.  As I was leaving my small group class Mia was waving goodbye to her party.  I actually got to bed earlier than previous nights.