In the News

In the news... (zgbriefs.com)

Counselors Practice How to Rescue Marriages (September 15, 2007, Shanghai Daily)
The growing demand for marriage counselors in Shanghai has led to the creation of a special training school for people interested in saving marriages. Those interested in improving their marriage counseling skills, or saving their own unions, may apply for a spot in the program to gain experience. The program invites young newlyweds who need advice and the counselors practice their techniques on them. Some of the consultants have no prior experience but receive training. The first marriage consulting practice and training center opened in Shanghai in July. So far, 500 people have enrolled in the program to improve their consulting skills.

China Web-user Dies After Three-day Online Binge (September 16, 2007, AFP)
A man in southern China collapsed and died after a three-day marathon online session at a cybercafe, state media reported on Monday. The web-user, estimated to be 30 years old, suddenly collapsed in front of his computer terminal in Guangdong province, and emergency personnel were unable to revive him, the Beijing News reported. "According to preliminary findings, the length of time this man spent online might have triggered heart problems," the paper quoted a local hospital emergency medic in the city of Zhongshan as saying. The paper did not provide the man's name or the online activities he was engaged in.

China’s Tallest Building Nearly Done (September 14, 2007, AP)
After a more than a decade of delays, China's tallest building is slicing through Shanghai's hazy, skyscraper-studded skyline — a new trophy built by a Japanese property tycoon. The 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center, a 1,614 foot wedge-shaped tower with a rectangular hole at the very top, was topped out on Friday as its last beam was laid amid a drizzle that obscured the building's panoramic view of endless high rises. In a city whose skyline evinces the belief "the taller the better," the building is bound to be a major tourist destination and landmark. The $1 billion Shanghai project by the developer's flagship Mori Building Co., due for completion in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is a monument to the city's ambitions to reclaim its status as a key international center.

And the most interesting...

New Words for a Rave New World (September 17, 2007, Shanghai Daily)
Rapid social change, Western pop culture and the use of English have prompted education authorities to add 171 terms to the national language registry, including those that describe mortgage slaves and loose marital arrangements. Economic reforms and soaring rates of home ownership have produced a new name for those young people struggling to pay off home loans in traditionally debt-wary China: fangnu, or "house slaves." And young, married professionals who live in separate homes to keep the romance alive and maintain their own space are being called "Semi-honey couples" (bantang fuqi), according to education officials."(The new terms) reflect the rapid cultural and social changes in recent years as well as thriving new concepts in our daily lives," said Li Yuming, the senior official at the Ministry of Education in charge of standardizing the use of modern Chinese language. The new terms were registered after two years researching more than 900 million commonly used words and phrases in Chinese, the Xinhua news agency reported, adding that they showed how pervasive Western movies and the English language had become.

What Blog?

Because of the "Great China Firewall" I have difficulty accessing the blogs of friends in the States. In fact, some days make it downright impossible to read other peoples' stuff except through a proxy server. So, I lag behind. Then I forget I even have a blog until someone asks me why I haven't posted anything lately. Now I remember.

Let me just sum up recent life here in a few sentences: Students are finally coming around! Classes are actually fun this year (added powerpoint in my classes as well as trying a completely new curriculum with my sophomores). Team is good. Community is good. Our team is doing the Beth Moore study on Daniel, good stuff so far. It's hard to get started on language learning again- very hard. Still don't know my future, but who does, really? It's starting to get cold (and when it does, "warm" doesn't come again until May). I am preparing for my cultural lectures this semester on university life in America, the melting pot theory, new york city, and the effect of 9/11 on our society. I have started going to the local fellowship weekly, as well as loving on new babies and kids at the orphanage. Muslims are observing Ramadan this month and the Chinese will soon be observing Mid-Autumn Day (kind of an equivalent to America's Thanksgiving) and I'm trying to enmesh myself somehow in both (or at least learn more about it from the inside). I miss my family (especially with Dad's birthday next week). I'm looking forward to the October National Day (a week-long break). I have had several opportunities to share the story this week. Life is good.

Now, if any of my sophomore writing students had turned in a paragraph like the one above, I would have given them a very low grade (no transitions, no main topic, random and unorganized, incomplete sentences). :) :) :)

Here's a picture from our first trip back to the orphanage with students last Saturday (let's play "Where's Waldo?")...only some of the older kids are pictured here. :)

Thoughts on Team

Just to assure all you faithful blog readers that Michelle has not disappeared! I usually don't go this long between entries, but this past month has been one constant transition after another. I just wrote and sent another newsletter to the press, which means I am in writing mode, so I write. There's also the point that there is so much going on that I don't know where to start or what you would be interested in. To me it just seems like a regular day in China. However, I'm realizing that the fact that I'm in China doesn't make it regular at all :).

After five weeks in south China and four weeks helping out in Beijing, me and my team of 13 boarded the train and ventured back to Siping to begin a new semester. The first week back was devoted to team building activities and now we are in our second week of classes. I have not updated pictures on my flickr site because my camera died this summer and I'm in the process of looking for a new one :). The team picture here is from my teammate Kat :).

When I joined this team in February, I was simply doing just that- joining something that had already been established. I was just going with what was already going on and that was fine for me. Last semester was a time of transition and learning the ropes of living life in this place. Now, however, I want to help shape this team and put in my two cents worth. I want to be part of developing strategies that align with where our Father wants us to go. I've been on several very different kinds of teams and each one has had its advantages and disadvantages. There are aspects of my old teams that I really miss, and yet at the same time there are other aspects I don't miss at all. However, even with several years of experience under my belt, I know I have to approach life with a great deal of humility. Humility has never been one of my stronger virtues. :) Adding new team members in the mix calls for even more adjusting. Bless their hearts because being completely new to China has them adjusting more to life in Siping than I ever had to. Being on a large team of 13 means that everyone wants to find their place, to bring value to the larger whole. It is sometimes (okay, a lot) frustrating when somebody else has the "greater" gifts and I'm simply trying to keep up. I find myself (and I say this as a personal problem and not necessarily reflective of my team members) becoming (dare I say?) competitive in some regards and sometimes forget who we really are and Who we are representing. Who can be the best language learner or best lesson planner or best study leader or who can come up with the best thought and praise time? Who is the busiest or having the most meaningful conversations with students? We want to be the best we can be for Him, but end up stepping on each other in the process rather than building each other up. Is that really what we want to be? We really don't know what the Father is doing with us here, but that's not really our job to figure out. We need to be constantly reminded that our role is, by loving each other, to demonstrate His love to the community at large. Out of relationship with the Body comes relationship with others.

I have a great team, I really do. I have been genuinely impressed by the leadership of Jon and Rachel, our team leaders. They bring people out in a way that is honoring to our Father. Having been in leadership positions before, I know that this is not always an easy place to be. They both honor Him with their lives and love for each other and for this family here in Siping. I am incredibly blessed to work alongside them (and not just Jon and Rachel- ALL of them).

It is neat to see how various gifts on the team are played out, even in the mundane. The mundane is a glorious place to be sometimes. :). And yet, at the end of the day, we are still human and our natures take captive on what should be right and pure. Perhaps that is what makes grace all the more amazing! :)

The other night my team was listening to a teaching about our friend Joseph at the beginning of our favorite book. The speaker was emphasizing how Joseph's Father was with him even when he didn't know the story (didn't even know there WAS a story, as there was no book at the time, and his great grandfather was just an ordinary man to him who had a promise of being the father of many, but only had one son, and his own brothers were messed up people in themselves- there's a story, what story? :)). In the dark places in the dungeon, befriending the prison warden, Joseph had no clue how his life would play in the bigger story. He just acted as one confident that his Father was with him. The question the speaker continually challenged us with was, "what would somebody who is just like me with my exact circumstances do who is absolutely confident that the Father is with him?" How do my decisions and actions hang on the balance of the Great Story of which we have no specific idea about the part we are playing? :)).

At the end of the day, what brings honor to Him? At the end of the day, we are reminded that this is His team, this is His campus, and this is His story. We are humbled that we have been asked to play such a role. One day it'll make sense, but our aim is not to search for that day, but to simply BE in the here and now and hope for better things. :)

By the way, Happy Teacher's Day to all of you in China! :)