Saturday – Silk and McDonalds

Today we had a rather bleary-eyed morning as some of us were still recovering from the party the night before, when we had played some very odd games involving bizarre animal impressions amongst other things!

One of the Chinese students from my class very kindly took most of us and some of the other students to the silk shop as some people had dresses and jackets made and were eager to see the final product! After spending a huge amount of time in the shop (mainly due to the subtitles of the haggling process!) We all trouped off to the Chairman Mao Square to get some lunch. With some of the team homesick for English food, McDonalds was the favourite choice. The popularity of McDonalds in China is definitely on a par (if not more) than England and trying to find a table was something of a challenge!

After lunch we made a beeline for the scroll shops to stock up on pressies for family and friends. On the way there I had the opportunity to talk to a Chinese student who was a Christian. It was very interesting to get a Chinese perspective on Christianity in China. This particular student had found it a real struggle as her parents were devout party members and very opposed to her beliefs. She told me that there were still bad connotations over the crusades and also that some people regarded her as a traitor to her country because she was following what is largely perceived as a ‘western’ religion. It made me realise how much we take religious freedom for granted in Britain and certainly gave me a lot to think about on the bus journey home.

Tuesday – Jesus as Role Model?

Today was ‘new lessons’ day, having finished our first set of lessons it was time to start again, with titles such as Dreams and Ambitions, emergencies, occupations and the all important festivals. We did dreams and ambitions. I got the best response yet when I told them that my role model is Jesus. When I described why, you could see how strange they found it that I was talking about Jesus in the present tense. All I could think was, ‘Oh Lord, if only it were the same for them. Would you be their role model, best friend and saviour? Would they call you father too?!’

So from a good lesson we went into the afternoon activities excited about spending lots of time with them out of the teacher-pupil setting and embarrassed ourselves by singing lots of songs. We taught our group (which was a mixture of classes) ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin. It was lots of fun and was great to see them rushing to their friends in other groups to tell them this incredibly big English word they had learnt. The groups performed various songs and then Tammy decided to announce that the teachers were going to sing for the students. Our surprised faces made them laugh but we got our own back when Gwenan jokingly suggested at the end of our performance that Tammy was now going to do a solo! This led to the whole class chanting ‘yes yes yes’ while banging their fists on the table. So the rest of us collapsed in giggles while Tammy very bravely carried off a rendition of Stand By Me! So another great day, full of fun and laughter, full of relationship building that we can only hope and trust will change how eternity will look for many!

Thursday – How Education Shapes Us

One thing I have been thinking about these last few days is about the very real difference between British and Chinese society.

Chinese students have understandably been shaped by their educational system; a system which plays such a big part in their lives.

After spending a substantial amount of time with one student, explaining ‘important things’ to them. She finally responded by saying ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ was so strange, new and so ‘fresh’. She went on to share how their own teachers had impressed upon them from a very early age that ‘Father’ didn’t exist and that science in fact explained everything.

These beliefs are understandably deeply entrenched in many. I came to understand a little more that to accept the ‘good news’ themselves would involves a mind-shift, a world-view-shift of seismic proportions. I began to realise that for many, especially the thinkers, it does take much time and much prayer before they are ready to believe themselves. But I also began to see that for others the heart is supernaturally softer and thirstier and as they hear you speak and as you watch their faces you cam almost hear them ask the question ‘Is this what I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear?’

‘Open the eyes of their hearts Lord….. Please let them see you.’

Friday – Apologetics, Skating and Massage

Nothing particularly exciting about lessons today especially after doing Festivals yesterday, Shopping was a bit of a climb down. After the lesson though, three of our students come for lunch. We had lots of fun trying to describe making apple pie to them when they don’t have an oven. Not really sure they understand.

After lunch we invited them back for a cup of tea (they just had water). Little bits of random conversation before one of the girls who had been studying with Gwenan introduced the idea of studying the Bible. It was so natural to open it then, especially as one had asked to study it yesterday. Tammy and I sat amazed. They wanted to understand some of the difficult answers to: where am I from? where am I going? what does it all mean? who decided right and wrong?

We just sat amazed. They’re coming back on Sunday. It’s thrilling that people are searching so much. After the profundity of conversation it felt like a new day as we headed off for an evening of fun and entertainment, on one of Linqing’s increasingly familiar one-hour bus journeys.

We started the evening by ice skating on what was verging on water. The more skilful ones twisting and turning while the rest of us tried to maintain dry bottoms!

Once we’d reconvened and had dinner at either Chinese/ Western fast food joints, we ascended the escalator over the ice rink to a tea house to watch an opera; high backed chairs and china cups with lids. Almost instanteously we were pounced upon by masseuses and ear pickers, but none of us were particularly encouraged by the idea of having a mini toilet brush shoved into our brain. This didn’t work for Brian though as the masseuse started to wobble his head skin and pummel his shoulders and we girls were in fits of giggles.

As this was going on, the performance started. It was introduced by a man in his great Chinese cloak and woman in dress. The performance started with traditional dancing which consisted of four girls with feathers coming out of the top of their heads as tall as they were. They pranced in neon dresses and moved their heads most impressively while maintaining fixed smiles. Next, from what I could understand, a Chinese pantomime man dressed in pink pyjamas balancing a lamp on his head- ever so slightly Widow Twanky: a bizarre cultural mix.

Magic and more dancing followed, both of which weren’t that impressive, especially when hidden pockets could be seen? The finale was amazing, however. Two dancers came on and basically did martial arts type dancing while juggling. Not something that happens everyday. We left content from the green tea served from the long spouted pots and an entertaining evening.