"A Heart as Soft as Tofu." - Chinese Proverb

Originally Posted June 14, 2009

Tonight a thunderstorm came to Zhenjiang. In a strange way, it is comforting to know that even on the other side of the world, in a country where people eat red bean popsicles, thunderstorms still trump all. It's a universl phenomenon; it reminds me that there is a Higher Power. This thunderstorm brings comfort in more ways than one: it is getting extremely hot and humid here. I really need to go buy a fan because my air conditioner only cools about four square feet of my dorm.

But although the weather is hot, I am doing great.

Yesterday (Saturday the 13th) I was a guest speaker at an orientation for a summer English class. I simply introduced myself and said how important it is to speak English if you want to learn it (this is what I was told to say) and played a brief game with some kids. I did this as a favor for Mickey, one of the teachers at my school, who asked me to come as a favor for one of her friends who owns a gym on the edge of town which is providing summer classes for children. To return the favor, Mickey took me out for dinner on Saturday night. All these favors are part of the guanxi network which is how things get done in China: through connections. It's kind of a sophisticated "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" concept, but it's totally acceptable.
Apparently guanxi is even more obvious in formal business settings.

I was kind of dreading speaking at the orientation because I felt like I was being used for my foreign face, like a puppet, but it turned out well, and to my surprise, most of the kids at the orientation were my students. I had been told they would be primary school kids. My students were as happy to see me as I was to see them, and Rose remarked, "You are famous!" when the children kept calling out my name.

Aside from the oral English class, the children were introduced to their teachers for hip hop dance and traditional Chinese dance...two complete opposites.

After the orientation, we went out to eat at a resaurant called Hong Lin Yuan, or red forest garden, which makes food native to this part of China. I tried sugar-coated tomatoes-unexpectedly good. One particularly delicious thing I ate was a fried corn and cucumber patty-thing; i was the texture of McDonald's hashbrowns, with cucumber and little corn kernals. I can add squid and chicken feet to the list of strange food I've eaten.

After lunch, Mickey's gym club friend drove me to the train station where I bought my tickets for church on Sunday. I always feel happy when I can successfully buy them in Chinese. I went home and studied my scriptures and planned my lessons for the upcoming week. Then, yesterday evening, Mickey picked me up in her bright blue Volkswagon bug and took me to a fancy restaurant on the other side of town.

Everyone who helped with the day's activities were there, including the hip hop instructor, a young man who Rose introduced to me as very handsome, six other teachers from the kindergarten, and some older men I'd never met. They brought out all the food onto a huge lazy Susan in the middle of the table, and we spun it around and picked out of the communal dishes with our chopsticks. A chicken and vegetable dish, a duck and vegetable dish, a rabbit and vegetable dish (surprisingly good), tofu soup, fish soup---more and more food! Unfortunately I had no idea what they were talking about. The handsome hip hop teacher brought out the pi jiu, beer, and there were several toasts. The diners' faces got redder and they laughed a little louder as the meal progressed, but I was ever-so-grateful for the traditional Chinese dance instructor, who, like me, stuck with orange juice.

This morning I went to church in Nanjing. My friend Nell was supposed to meet me at the train station and come with me, but we had a little miscommunication and I ended up meeting her at church in Nanjing.

On the train ride, I sat next to a ten-year-old girl. I had brought along pages from a coloring book and crayons to prepare a visual aid for my lessons this week, but on a whim I gave one of the pictures to her. She took it, and smiled. I asked her what her name was, and repeated it when she told me. She laughed shyly at my pronunciation, but then we reversed roles and she tried to pronounce my name. (I have a really hard time with Chinese names. I always forget them!) We both colored all the way to Nanjing, a ten-year-old Chinese girl and an eighteen-year-old American, hardly speaking a word of either Chinese or English. The people around us stared. The guy sitting in front of me actually stood up and turned around to watch me color, but when I made eye contact with him, he sat back down. It was so fun! and a sweet tender mercy from the Lord. When the train arrived, she wasn't finished coloring so I gave her my crayons. She said "Thank you," and we went our seperate ways.


After church Nell and I went over to the Slaters' house, where Ding Lan, another girl from the branch, cooked us a Chinese meal of fried rice, pork ribs, chicken and peppers, tofu and veggies, a celery salad, and watermelon. MMMmmm, it was so good! But lest the reader feel too jealous, I will add that yesterday I tried something as bad as the pig brain: chicken feet. The other teachers were eating them like candy!

Love to all!

Anna