February 15, 2013 -
Friday
I sent our
kids a Valentine’s Day email this morning!
They should all open it during Valentine’s evening!
Apparently
the second place we were going to visit fell through so Jessica has us staying
with this couple through the weekend and until our conference begins. Debbie and I are feeling very uncomfortable
with these arrangements, but there’s not much we can do. If we want to go to the retreat center early,
this man will probably have to drive us there!
We couldn’t begin to find our way there alone.
This trip,
although wonderful, has been long. We
find ourselves longing for our apartment in Changchun. We also find that we’re missing home more
while traveling. We have so many
questions about our future now that we’re getting close to four months left.
As lovely as
this home is, we notice that the kitchen and bathrooms have no hot water! They have a gas heater that instantly heats
water for the showers. We almost never
see carpeting here. All of the floors
are hard-surface flooring that can easily be swept. The floors of public places get filthy dirty
during the winter or rainy times from people’s boots and shoes.
We’re
leaving shortly to take the whole group out for breakfast. Apparently it is more common to take some-one
out for breakfast than for supper. Our
host drove the women and kids to the restaurant while Randy and I walked about
a mile along with his wife. It was a very nice restaurant and obviously does a
brisk business.
We were
seated at a large, round table with a glass turntable on it. They immediately brought food – ordered by
our host. This is our first experience
with eating out for breakfast. We ate
quite a few things that we had not eaten before. There were several bowls of rice porridge,
one included squid. There were pork
meatballs that looked lovely, but were raw on the inside. We had delicious banana pancakes and pumpkin
bread. There was a hot-jelled root of
some kind. There were mushroom egg
rolls. There were several kinds of fried
dumplings. A candied, deep-fried ball of
sweet dough with vegetables and meat.
They use many root
vegetables similar to potatoes that we are not familiar with. One of these was made into sort of a
hash-brown dish with a few vegetables added.
We had a constant supply of tea.
There were other dishes that I don’t know how to describe. We had offered this as our gift to the
group; the bill came to 185 yuan (less
than $35 American). There is no tipping
in China. J
Our
hosts seemed to enjoy themselves!
Reader Beware! [Topic:
rats]
On our walk
home from the restaurant, we walked along the businesses for a stretch instead
of along the road. We suddenly heard a
loud noise and discovered that it came from a garage opening full of crates of
peeps! Upon closer examination, most of
them were dead; the others were in the
process of dying. Apparently they were
the rejects. For the next couple of
hundred yards, the driveway was littered with dead chicks! Debbie almost lost her breakfast. We moved back out to walk along the
road; the only thing we had to avoid
there was an occasional dead rat…
Although I
have not mentioned it before, we see rats pretty frequently. We have not seen them in our hotel (or Debbie
wouldn’t live there). We regularly see
dead rats along the roads. The street
vendors frequently leave their garbage along the roads, so it is a haven for
rats. Now we have not lived in a big
city in America; I’m sure they have
infestations of rats, too.
We also see
lots of roaches! We fight them in our
kitchen constantly. Our present host has
a VERY CLEAN apartment, but I have killed several roaches while here. I’m sure they’re worse here than they are in
Changchun because of the constant warm temperatures.
On our way back from the
restaurant some of us visited the local vendor’s market to buy some
vegetables. Fish were being cleaned on
open tables. Tanks of fish were
available for selection. Meat hangs on
hooks and lays on open tables. I saw
crates of chickens waiting to be butchered.
Some vendors use plastic bags to work with the meat, but most just use
their hands. Conditions are clean, but
far from sanitary! We have bought meat
from markets like this many times;
however, I would be less prone to do so when warm weather arrives.
We have also
eaten in restaurants that most of our American friends would not eat in. The buildings are old and patched
together. The kitchens are dark and the
food often sits on the floor until used.
The tables are small and uneven.
They get wiped all day long with the same wet cloth. Especially in the winter, the floors are
covered with mud from the patrons feet.
Many of these places give a whole new definition to our term
‘hole-in-the-wall.’
There are, of course, higher class restaurant that are very
clean and very proper. But for every one
of them there are a hundred small, privately owned shops. Many specialize in noodles while others
specialize in dumplings. Others offer a
wider range of possibilities.
It was a
lazy day; we didn’t leave the apartment
again after breakfast. After the evening
meal, we played Phase Ten till 9:30 PM and went to bed. There was not much in the evening meal that I
liked. It began with a bowl of broth
with one piece of meat and a few pieces of a root. Then came a mushroom dish and a green dish
that I didn’t recognize (sort of like spinach).
Then there was another dish with garlic shoots and another green along
with something else that I didn’t recognize.
[These differences are probably a result of being in the south! I miss the northeastern foods of Changchun!]
Sharing the faith!
While we were at
breakfast, apparently our guests asked Jessica if we were Christians. They wanted to know why we didn’t pray before
we ate. Jessica explained that we were
Christians but that we didn’t want to offend them or create an awkwardness for
them. They asked how our faith impacted
our lives and if our God would be angry because we didn’t pray over our
meal. Jessica engaged them for quite a
while explaining our faith. Randy let us
know what was going on and the three of us sat there and prayed for Jessica as
she shared.
After the evening meal, our host singled me out and led me to
three places to show me where he burns incense.
Outside their door: to honor the
earth. Out on their veranda: to honor the sky. In the kitchen: to honor the fire. This is done at every national holiday. Somehow, this practice is to continue the
traditions of the past and also to honor his departed loved ones. Also, everyone buys bright red banners and
puts them on the sides and over the top of their doors to ward off the evil
spirits at the beginning of a new year!
He also explained that the fireworks are not for beauty or for fun; rather, the fireworks are to scare the evil
spirits away.
Jessica took advantage of this openness and began talking
with him about our faith again. She
explained the exodus and how the children of Israel put lamb’s blood on their
doorposts! He quickly disappeared and
brought out a Bible that he had. I got
my Bible out too and Jessica walked him through a very basic explanation of how
the Bible is laid out. He reported that
he used to take his older daughter to a nearby church on Sundays because they
enjoyed the music of the choir! Although
I don’t know the content of their discussion, Jessica and he talked for well
over an hour about spiritual things.
Randy, Debbie and I prayed the whole time!
This man (Mr.
Jeong) is clearly a seeker who is holding loosely to the traditions of his
family. He could easily lead his whole
family to faith in Christ! I’m confident
that Jessica will keep the avenues of communication open with him through their internet communications!
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