Last week during my adult oral English class at the FOC school (probably my favorite class), one of my students, Tom, invited me to his house for a ‘party.’  He told me that there would be about 13 people there for dinner and a few of them spoke English. Great!  I wasn’t nervous at all because even if their Engish was poor, I could practice my Chinese, right? 🙂 

Tom is a believer and one of the nicest people I know. He’s married to Amy, also a believer, and they have a child on the way.  They already have a name chosen for their child (路加), which is ‘lu jia’ and is the Luke from the B!ble.  I asked them if they would use that name if the child is a girl. They said they would keep the same pronunciation but use different characters and it would be a girl’s name.  Her English name would be Lucy. 🙂 Tom has a fire for the Gspl. During our first oral English class I mentioned to him that I was also a believer, and he asked me when I study. I gave him some study times and he was so excited! He is now a regular studier on Tuesday nights.  He also studies on Saturdays with the male FOCers in more advanced B!ble classes.  (We call them CSI–Chrstn Studies Institute)  Tom loves Saturdays. 

Back to last week… Tom and his brother-in-law (who is also the father of one of my 4th grade students) came to pick me up to take me about an hour away in the city. I enjoyed this very much because I didn’t have to be in a crowded bus or underground on a crowded subway.  The traffic was still bad but we had an enjoyable time in the car. We made one stop along the way to pick up some sushi for the party–yum–and then we were at Tom’s house.  (when I say ‘house’ I mean apartment) It is a very modest dwelling–one bedroom, small kitchen, small living room. I wonder where they will put the baby!

Dinner was very enjoyable! Some people did speak a little English and I was able to understand more than I could speak when the conversation moved to Chinese. After a delicious supper, the friends gathered in the small living room to sing hymns and study!  I basically walked into the Chinese version of what I do in my studies! Most of the people that were there are believers–I think two were not–and they shared what the cross means to them. I understood much less during this time. Thankfully, Amy and another girl, Esther, helped me out by giving me a basic translation. I now know what it feels like to sit in my B study and not understand what’s going on. It gave me a new perspective on the low-English speakers who come to learn about their Savior and cannot understand me. I really need to improve my Chinese!! It also makes me thankful for my Chinese believer friends who come to studies and translate for me.

I have no doubt that Tom and his wife will continue to hold their own fellowship/singing/pryr/B study gatherings. He told me he wants to be a Shepherd. I wish you could meet him. He is an inspiration, especially to life-long believers who get a little stale. 
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IN OTHER NEWS:

I have a very special visitor coming in April!  First person to guess who it is (correctly) gets a prize!  (Probably some chintzy Chinese souvenir…hehehe….)   (And to the person out there who is coming…you are not eligible!)

Days 17 – 21 – “I love Hong Kong!”

The last entry of my trip will cover five days and be relatively short.  I should probably get back to updating in ‘real time’ and stop living in the past! 🙂

For the next few days I was with the FOC teachers from all over China.  We met in Hong Kong for a retreat (which we later named ‘Attack’ because retreat sounds too wimpy–after all, they keep telling us we are on the ‘front line’ in China) and had an amazing time.  It was fun to hang out with all the other teachers from the other cities and get to know them.  It was during the retreat that we were energized in THE WORD.  We had a number of speakers (professors from ALS and others) talk to us about Fellowship, personal B study time, other pertinent information.  It was interesting to hear about the other cities and how they do things and be able to share what we do in our city. 

We had some down time in the city also.  I met up with my German friend for dinner one night and met some of his friends.  I took a bus up to the peak to see this view:

The ride up to the peak was interesting (which means scary) but the view was incredible! I was hoping to see the sky on a clear night. It was still pretty!

The same evening that I met Tom for dinner I also watched the light show from the ‘mainland’ side of Hong Kong. (That’s not the side that I took the previous picture from.)

The light show was not great. I was actually a little disappointed. 🙁 Oh, well...

Most of the time was spent attending the sessions and hanging out with people.  One day I took the ferry across the harbor. It was very foggy and rainy that day:

Hong Kong has these long, semi-enclosed, elevated side-walks which are really handy when you want to be outside on a rainy day without an umbrella and not get wet. If you recall from a post from last year, I have a similar photo with the sunset. 🙂 Also: for all of you Batman fans out there...Yes, that is the building that the Bat was perched on in one scene of The Dark Knight.

After traveling for three weeks, I was ready to be home.  I had a ticket for a 2:25 train back to Beijing.  First we had to go through customs and walk across the border.  It was AMAZING the transformation that took place.  In Hong Kong, it looks like China and there are Chinese people walking around everywhere, but everything is so ORDERLY!  (people wait for the light to change to cross the street, people wait in line in general, etc.)  As soon as we crossed into the mainland, people were cutting in line and pushing.  UNREAL! 

The train we were on was supposed to take 24 hours to get to Beijing so, I had a lot of time.  I was going to read…didn’t do that.  I did get quite a bit of sleep and watched two movies with Hannah on her computer.  Basically, we wasted a day of our lives.  The train ride wasn’t horrible.  I’m starting to perfer the upper bunk of a six-bed compartment because no one can just sit on your bed.  Most of the noise and commotion stays down below.  It wasn’t too hard to try to ignore it because I don’t understand most of it! 🙂 

We arrived back in the capital city and I was back home by a little after 3 pm.  What an awesome adventure!

My “types-of-transportation” count is up to 12!

taxi, bus, airplane, minibus, canoe, horse, bicycle, feet, train, bamboo raft, rickshaw, and ferry.  (and if you want to add ‘moving sidewalk’ and ‘escalator’ to the list that would make it 15.) 🙂

Day 16 – “Goodbye, dear friends.”

After a very restful night’s sleep, I showered, packed my stuff up and decided that it was a good day to relax in the hostel before the flight.  I met Aga and Radek for breakfast in the lobby.  Tom decided to sleep in because he didn’t feel well.  While we were waiting for our breakfast to come I worked on my awesome Chinese wooden puzzle.  This was also when I solved it the first time! 🙂  Must not have been too difficult. Right.  Actually, I solved it twice (two different ways) while waiting for breakfast.  Wanna know the secret? Don’t pay attention to what you are doing! Seriously. Both times I solved it I was visiting with Aga and not really concentrating on what I was doing.  It was awesome! 

So, the night before I had gotten a text message from Norman. (remember him?) He said that he was heading to his hometown for the rest of the holiday and would be stopping in Guilin to catch the train.  He wanted to know how long he would be there so that he could see us one last time.  🙂 So adorable.  He timed his arrival perfectly and we were able to hang out for a while before all of us had to go our separate ways.  This is the thing I simultaneously love and hate about traveling.  I love meeting new people.  Traveling alone forces you to do that.  I also hate it because it’s for such a short time and then you have to say goodbye.  The four of us (Aga, Radek, Tom and me) have decided to travel together again in June.  I hope it actually happens.  Norman also wants to join us. 

We spent the next 2-3 hours just hanging out in the hostel and playing pool and just enjoying each other’s company.  We took some pictures of the group and then said our goodbyes, for real this time.  It was very sad to see Aga and Radek go.  I hope I will get to see them again.  Next it was going to be Tom and me, heading to the airport. 

I love this group of crazies. From L-R: Maya (also worked at the hostel in Xingping with Norman), Tom the German, me, random guy in the back (can't remember his name--all I remember is that he's half German, half French), Norman (the destroyer), Radek, Aga, another man who I don't know (Japanese)

Tom and I found a rickshaw driver to take us to the airport express station and then hopped on the airport express bus.  The ride to the airport was quicker than we thought it would be.  The flight to Hong Kong was quicker than we thought it would be.  I arrived in Hong Kong, made it through customs (who says Hong Kong isn’t a different country?), and was on a bus within 1.5 hours of landing.  My destination was strangely close to where Tom was going (he studies at a university in Kowloon Tong and that was only 2 subway stops away from where I would be staying) so we rode the same bus through town.  It was sad to say goodbye to Tom also.  He and I made plans to have dinner together one night while I was there so I would get to see him again. 

I was officially by myself. It was an odd feeling. I wasn’t worried about finding the retreat center, it just felt weird to not have my new friends with me.  I hadn’t been alone since I got off the train when I first arrived in Guangxi Province.  🙁

I had excellent (and very accurate) directions to my home for the next four nights.  I got there and was greeted by a familiar Beijing FOCer’s face!  I was very excited to see my ‘family’.  That night was filled with hugs, picture sharing, sausage and cheese eating (Shannon surprised us from America and also brought bounty with him!!), and just general enjoying each other’s company.   I slept very well that night.  Hong Kong would be my home for 4.5 days!