Saturday, November 22, 2008

English Corner, Chinese Christians and 澎湖

Well, Thursday I went with Brooke and Trent to this English Corner thing that some other college here in Nanjing had. It was an interesting experience. It was us 3 Americans and about 30-50 college age Chinese kids (mostly girls). It wasn't exactly the most organized thing that I have ever attended, but it was quite entertaining. But then, Brook had to let it out that I dance... Yes, I love dancing, but I enjoy social dance, not the "having sex on the dance floor with our clothes on" dancing. That is NOT my kind of dance. But that's what most people think of when they think about dancing. I was able to avoid too much awkwardness, but I still had a few choice moments. Other than that, I had to get my picture taken with about three billion people and all of them got my phone number (I have subsequently received many random texts and a few phone calls that I was not able to answer, all from, at least I assume from, these people I meet that night). Another thing that I was surprised by was how many people volunteered that they were Christians.

As I am doing a project on religions here in China, I found this a great opportunity to get some information about Christianity in China. I ended up going to church with Trent and Marc on Saturday with one of the girls we meet that night. She is a Seventh Day Adventist, therefore, church was on Saturday. One of the things that really took me off guard was how many people where there at church. There were about 100+ people in the congregation and before we went into the chapel, there was a whole other congregation. It was pretty cool. Then after the service was over we stayed and talked to some of the people who took us. I really enjoyed talking to them, but not as much as I enjoyed the phone calls that I made later that day...

So I finally called up a few people from my mission that I haven't talked to for a long time and haven't even seen for over 3 years. I love Sister Wu. She's great. As soon as she answered and I said one sentence, she recognized me! It was AWESOME! I loved it! It made me remember one of the many reasons that I'm in love with Penghu. I then called up Yueman, another one of my favorite people from Penghu, and talked to her for 5-10 min. It was great. She said that she is going to be off of work for the few days that I'm going to be there in Penghu and so I get to hang out with her for 2-3 days. I am so excited. It's going to be a blast! It just got me SO excited to go see all of my old friends from my mission. I can't wait!

4 comments:

Garry the Jeweler said...

I'm so glad you are going to go to Taiwan. What a fun experience. We can't wait to hear first hand about all of your experiences this semester.

Laura Willis said...

I am very excited for you.
It sounds like an opportunity of a life time. You have already traveled and seen so much. Take and post pictures for all of us.

Sarah said...

As much as you have done in China, Tiawan just might be the highlight of this trip. I'm excited for you, that will be so fun.

Mike and Marisa Compton said...

Ew...yeah...when you tell people you don't know that you dance...it can get a little harry. Someone asked me to go clubbing with them once...uh NO! YESH... but hey at least you do get to do some more fun stuff!

Remember going with garry back to his mission? You could really tell how wonderful it was for him. I'm very excited for you to go to Taiwan.