耶稣，我们的安慰 (yesu, womende anwei...Jesus Our Comfort)

~Monday, November 7th--Sunday, November 13th

Monday—This morning I and my bus (and dozens of frustrated commuters) got stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam. Towards the end of my trip, there's a slew of underpasses, roundabouts, etc. Usually it gets a little crazy around that area during rush hour, but today it was just insane...6 or 8 lanes of traffic trying to turn into each other in two giant circles...it came to a standstill for at least 20 minutes, because of course EVERY car and lane wanted to go first. I wish I would've taken a picture to capture the awfulness (and looking, back on it, hilarity) of the traffic jam. While most of us just sat in the bus, looking in extreme annoyance at the discombobulated circles of crammed vehicles, several people asked the bus driver to open the door, and they walked/ran to the next bus stop, hoping things would be better there. I don't think they were ;) After a long day of teaching, making the most of my 3 hour break in the school office, etc., I headed home for B*ble Study. It was a good one; our friend Peter, a strong Chr*stian, brought some new friends along. They were young, only in high school, but could speak a little bit of English. We broke off into small groups for discussion, and Kelsey and I were blessed with opportunities to share the basic gospel message with the girls...our Chinese friend Johnny had to do lots of translating, which was nice of him :) The girls had studied a bit of His Word before, but not much...so getting to explain terms like "redeem" and "salvation," and to share how J*sus bought us at the high price of his own precious & innocent blood was a pretty awesome opportunity. Thanks be to HIM.

Amazingly-named store in the mall :)

Tuesday-Thursday— The middle of this week passed by in a somewhat uneventful blur. School went fine, with the exception of my "Small One" class. Most of the time I'm left to fend for myself with these kids, even though I was promised a co-teacher in every class. Understandably the students misbehave, and understandably I get quite frustrated :( But other classes went well...I'm teaching "countries" with my older boys and girls, which thankfully they pick up on pretty quickly, partly because I know the Chinese translations for all of them except for Japan (I need to learn that one, cuz the kids get a little confused every time it comes up). This lesson also means that I get to declare that I am American, and that I LOVE America, over and over again! It was a nice few days for keeping in touch with old friends too...on Wednesday, one of my old students, Jennifer, called me to say hello. She was disappointed I didn't visit her class the last time I dropped by school (oops), but we had a nice chat anyway. On Thursday I had some funny QQ chats with Taylor and B. Rock, two of my more boisterous Chinese friends. But the coolest thing was welcoming my friend Sophia to Aaron and Andrea's B*ble study on Thursday night. She says she's interested in studying more, she asked some good questions, and mentioned how she shares some of what she learns about HIM with her boyfriend :) Again, thanks be to G*d!

Typical street sign. Thank goodness for the pinyin (Romanized  representations of the sounds of the characters), though I am getting to be able to read a few more characters...

Friday— This first month+ of living in Wuhan this time around has been full of "fun" trips to the police station, visa application office, etc. Sometimes Kevin (my school recruiter) comes with me, but then there's days like today where he sends me off on my own. So, armed only with the address of the place in my phone, and a bit of money, I headed off to find a taxi to the police station, to pick up my passport and visa. Usually if it's not a super-busy time of day, it's easy to get a taxi around my place, since it's a pretty bustling part of the city. But today after walking back and forth, between streets and bus stops and already-taken taxis, I started to get frustrated, and settled on a black taxi (unregistered, basically just guys driving around offering rides, but often at a heightened price). The driver was immediately very friendly, called me beautiful, and while I told him I could only understand a little Chinese, and hardly speak any at all, he dove right in to telling me about his opinion of America, his family (he has a daughter, his wife passed away recently), and a bunch of stuff I only half-understood :) It ended up being an awesome, unforgettable ride...I was happy that my Chinese was sufficient to understand a decent amount of what he said and to respond a little bit. He not only drove me to the police station, but he walked me inside, helped me through the process, and drove me back home. On our way there, he suddenly mentioned that his young daughter speaks English well, and before I knew it, he was dialing her number, and she and I had a nice 15-minute talk. She does speak English very well :) The ride back home was a little awkward because a) we'd long exhausted the Chinese I know (so I faked a phone call to Andrea, just to avoid the dead air and silence) and b) he wanted us to go out to dinner together. Thankfully, I think I said "no thank you" without hurting his feelings, agreeing that maybe we could go together with his daughter sometime. When he dropped me off, he wouldn't let me pay no matter how hard I tried. I think he was even a little insulted that I tried paying him. He gave me his phone number, and his daughter's and I thanked him profusely. All in all, a pretty awesome ride!

Dated, but worthwhile :)

Tonight, Kelsey, Brian, Sarah, and I decided to hit the town! First we had supper near to Brian and Kelsey's school (Brian memorized a decent amount of Chinese dishes, so he ordered us a feast), and then we met up with my friend Kapil, and we took two taxis to "The Toucan," a bar in the first floor of a Holiday Inn (yep, they have those here), billed as a foreigner hangout. I was expecting something tropical with a name like that, but it looked more like an Irish Pub, which was a fun feel. We enjoyed too-pricey drinks and the international atmosphere, and then headed to Soho, a super-packed and popular night club. What we'd failed to consider ahead of time (well, me at least) was that today was "Singles Day" in China. I certainly wasn't familiar with this holiday before coming here, but I guess this celebration of being young and free doesn't lead to much other than texting people "Happy Singles Day" and...going out. So, it was insanely crowded, even by Wuhan standards! After a beer, and trying (without success) to find a niche of the club that had breathing room, we walked to a nearby, and much more enjoyable place. Still tons of people, but room to breathe, and DANCE...if you were willing to climb up onstage (which we were) :) It's commonplace for foreigners to get a little extra attention at a place like this, so when someone came up and asked if I had a boyfriend (in Chinese), I just said yes and pointed to Kapil (he's not, haha) to avoid attention or awkwardness, hehe. The guy immediately walked away, which made me laugh. But, a minute later he PULLED me onstage and I ended up in a big circle of dancing strangers. A little of that goes a long way...probably any of my FoC friends who've been in a club can share similar stories. And the foreigner who attracted the most attention and boy-band-like-fame was definitely Brian ;)

Breakfast with Sylvia...yum yum yum!

Saturday—After sleeping in a bit today, Kelsey and I joined our dear Chinese friends, Sylvia and Angela for a nice morning of breakfast and afternoon of working out. We had baomai (some amazing dumpling-like treats filled with rice and meat) and doupi (a famous Wuhan breakfast dish) and caught up while chowing down and sipping on tea. Then they took us to Sylvia's gym, where we joined in a free yoga class. They allow visitors and gave us a punch card so we could come back to 5 more classes for free! I don't think I'll do it often, due to scheduling and such, but it was a decent workout...Kelsey and I could follow along to most of what the instructed wanted just by observing her and others thankfully...she only occasionally had to wander over and help us :) Before visiting the class though, we did have sit down while Sylvia and Angela chatted with  some trainers about our fitness goals...while the trainers smoked cigarettes. You know, cuz that goes together well ;) Afterwards we did a bit of shopping and girl talk with the ladies, but Kelsey and I were quite exhausted. We headed home and napped, and then I met Andrea, Laetitia and a couple of her friends for a cheap showing of "Real Steel." Laetitia's good at finding awesome deals on movie tickets! Afterwards I slept over at Andrea's place.

Worker making doupi...the process begins with  frying an egg flat against the huge pan , then spreading rice and herbs on top, and finally a bit of tofu. It actually works well on this though ;) The delicious mess is then folded together and sliced up efficiently...it takes maybe 3 mesmerizing minutes from start to finish!

Sunday—We rolled out of bed and lumbered our way to ch*rch early today, for a short meeting discussing our m*ssion goals for the remainder of the year. W*rship today was beyond moving for me. In the Chinese service, there was a confirmation...a couple of our friends promised to be f@ithful to HIM forever. I met their family members and got goosebumps as Aaron delivered his s*rmon, which was full of sweet G*spel comfort, realizing it was the first time for some of those family members to come to ch*rch. Indescribable. HE is so great. During the English service, the theme of "Saints Triumphant" was reflected in the preaching and in each song...I wiped lots of tears from my eyes as I thought of my dear Aunt Julie, already enjoying the mansions that J*sus is preparing for us, and all of HIS people. Listening to the Chinese s*rmon and its translation, I eventually learned a new word: 安慰 (anwei = comfort). J*sus is our comfort, while we eagerly wait to join Him in paradise...while we miss our loved ones...while we see G*d working around us and bringing more and more people to know HIM.

There is a higher throne

Than all this world has known, 

Where faithful ones from ev'ry tongue

Will one day come.

Before the Son we'll stand, 

Made faultless through the Lamb; 

Believing hearts find promised grace—

S@lvation comes.

Hear he@ven's voices sing; 

Their thund'rous anthem rings

Through em'rald courts and sapphire skies.

Their praises rise.

All glory, wisdom, pow'r, 

Strength, thanks, and honor are

To G*d our King, who reigns on high

Forevermore.

And there we'll find our home, 

Our life before the throne; 

We'll honor Him in perfect song

Where we belong.

He'll wipe each tear-stained eye

As thirst and hunger die.

The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King; 

We'll reign with Him.

It was just one of those ch*rch services where everything tied together...where I was blown away by HIS love. Things tied together even more later in the day...Andrea and I stopped at Burton's, a delicious Western-style place for lunch after ch*rch. Then we boarded an unfamiliar bus, taking a chance that it would lead us to our next destination. But, I think G*d was working through that too. Not one minute after boarding, a Chinese guy standing next to us chimed into our conversation, speaking amazing English. He was so friendly and up-front, that within 2 minutes of talking we found out that he is a fellow b*liever, and that he goes to B*ble studies with Jonathan and Beth, our FoC friends from another part of the city. All three of us were surprised and ecstatic...what a blessing when G*d gives you those reminders that you are not alone. Sometimes it's discouraging being here, doubting that your efforts and witnessing are actually accomplishing any good. But, that was a way that HE reminded us that other b*lievers may be closer than we realize :)

I was pretty excited to get added to the wall of teachers at my school...until I saw this sign. Along with my squinting eyes, please note the insane Chinglish in the description under my "name." The foreign teacher before me was named "Hannah." Not only did they spell "Hannah" wrong, but they left poor "Hannan"'s name up instead of Julie. Oh well, they probably would've spelled my name wrong anyways, haha.

After exchanging contact information with Herold, our new friend from the bus, we exited, and a got a bit lost on our way to Jonathan's apartment. Thankfully, after walking through a typical "dirty alley" of mud and dirt and random shops, several heaps of garbage and construction, and passing by tons of identical-looking apartment buildings, we eventually found the right place! We hung out there for awhile, watched "The Fiddler on the Roof," and had supper with Sarah and Andy, two nice Friends of China people that I don't see too often, given our homes in opposite ends of the city. A long bus ride home, and that was my week :)