This week has just not seemed like it was as adventurous as the rest of the weeks have been, I guess I am finally getting into a groove with everything that is going on here.
Sunday I started recovering from a terrible Saturday. I had a really good set of church meetings. Some weeks I don’t know how I would have survived without the Sabbath. In the afternoon my native student moved in. He actually texted me during church, but my cell phone was on silent so I didn’t know that he had. I just happened to run into him as he was walking with his stuff towards the house. I was able to walk him up to the house.
His name is Shen Dayu. He is a CS major and he is pretty cool. We get along pretty well and we are able to strike up conversations. He shared a lot of my opinions on subjects in life so it is just a joy to converse with him. It takes all in my power not to teach him the gospel though. He is always asking about gospel topics.
CS classes are all going well. They are probably my easiest classes. It is something that I have an easy time, which is a nice contrast to Chinese which never seems to stop being very hard. Monday unfortunately started a long painful problem. The flagship program has setup a three day internship that includes a day of Sunday work. In the meeting where they announced this I made it clear to the teacher that I would not participate in the Sunday portion. Unfortunately none of my other class mates stood up with me, so I looked like I was just being defiant.
Well that situation didn’t get any better during the week. Eventually the academic director from BYU flagship wrote a lecturing letter about how working on Sunday could be okay. I did not really being appreciated being lectured on what is appropriate Sunday behavior by someone that wasn’t my ecclesiastical leader, so I wrote back to him to say that I would still be holding to what I felt was right and that I didn’t think it was appropriate for him to try to interpret the Sabbath for me. Of course he didn’t like that response so he wrote back to remind me that he was my superior and that I need to basically kneel over for him. At least he is no longer going to pressure me into working on Sunday.
So everything worked out in the end, only that I have two teachers not happy with me at the moment. I guess that is just life. At night we had the birthday party for one of the flagship student’s wife’s birthday. We actually had a real American style cake, which almost caused me to throw up because there was too much whipped cream 
It was a fun time with everyone though.
Tuesday morning saw my scripture study interrupted to have to help Aaron sign some documents at a notary. It was actually really nice to be able to get out of my house and help someone here. I finally got over my mild depression-sickness-whatever-Saturday-caused problem. That was also good.
After class I went with Drew to try and get tickets to the Zhou Jielun concert, but unfortunately the ticket guy said that they were out. He was lying, but he was not willing to sell to us, so their was nothing I could do. After that we went to return a DVD that Drew got and while at the store I got the following DVDs: Seasons 1-5 of the Office, Seasons 1-2 of Chuck, The Mentalist, Burn Notice, Knight and Day, The Blind Side, The Karate Kid, Iron Man 2. All of these DVDs for 90 renmin bi, or about 15 dollars in America. Not too bad if you ask me.
At night I headed out with three of the flagship couples to the Confucius temple. We went around and looked at a bunch of the store and just had a fun time. One of the couples ended up getting a really cute Chihuahua. They have now named it Carlos. To end the night I had a 刨冰 which is an ice treat I haven't had since Taiwan. It was really good. I then went and played some street fighter with Lars and ate some no bake cookies.
Wednesday was another day of teaching English. I actually though I did a terrible job, but at the end several little girls came up and thanked us for teaching and told us to make sure we came back. It felt good to know that at least the kids were happy to have us there.
For lunch I had a 烩饭 which is something I haven’t eaten since I have been in Taiwan. I just love getting stuff that I have not had in quite a while.
Thursday I slept in, and let me tell you it felt like heaven. We had our Chinese class in the home of Rabe, the German who helped save so many Chinese lives durring the Japanese invasion of Nanjing. I admire so much what he and the others did, they truly exemplified our Savior and Lord. I wonder what I would do in that situation, would I flee home, or would I stay knowing that I might die, but that I might also save thousands of lives. I really don’t know what I would do, but it is a goal for me to work off.
I then spent 2 hours in the Zhongguo Dianxin building trying to pay my internet bill. I must admit I am surprised at just how slow somethings can go in China, but I guess that is also tied to just how many people are needed service. it really is mind blowing when you think about it.
Friday and Saturday involved a lot of mentalist. I actually have to admit I have not been nearly as focused as I should have been this week. I have let the fact that I have a week vacation coming up next week distract me from doing my homework. Friday night I did go out to dinner with Trevor, Jonathan, and the millers, and then we went back to their place and wrote some homework.
Saturday afternoon I went to sing Karaoke. This with more flagship students then just the BYU ones, and while fun it is not as fun as the purely BYU flagship groups. There is just more unity in that smaller group. After Karaoke I went to the Elders Quorum opening social. We had fresh made tortillas and I put everything from bacon, humus, and blueberry pie filling on them. It was really good.
At night I watched the newer Karate Kid with some friends. It is funny to see how an American film portrayed the Chinese. I must say it was more accurate then films I have seem in the past, but it is still funny just how unchinese certain parts are. I have also got to figure out just where in Beijing they were, it was crazy clean but still rustic. It was amazing.
So as you can see this was a much more normal week, one that could have happened to me in America. It has been good to start to feel like I am getting in the groove of things.
Probably the thought that has stuck with me most through my scripture study this week has been something President Monson said in the general relief society meeting. He said:
I ask: if attitudes, deeds, and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features, would the countenance of the woman who complained be as lovely as that of the woman she criticized?
Pasted from <http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-39,00.html>
It made me realize that I need to work even harder on not judging people. There are places and times we must make judgments, but why can we not put that aside when it is time to support and uphold those around us. Confidence and faith in people is always more useful then bitterness and cynicism.
Another thought came up as I discussed the Sabbath day issue with other people. Some of them were very fast to point out that there are exceptions to the rule. This point has caused me to think of two points. The first is that when we discuss doctrine amongst ourselves the discussion should never focus on what is an exception. Exceptions are personal between us and the Lord, thus when we speak of doctrine we leave them be and we should rejoice in how doctrine is, even if we are not currently able to live all the principles associated with it. Secondly, exceptions are just that, exceptions, they are not a norm. The majority of church members will never have any exceptions to the need to follow principles of the gospel. I fear that sometimes in our desire to allow others the right to personal instruction from the Lord we also deceive ourselves into believe that exceptions are more common then they really are. It is very important that unless the Lord personally tells us otherwise we are bound to exact obedience. Personal justifications are never good enough to break a commandment.
I hope that everyone is doing well in America. I love you all, and hope that the Lord will bless you in all of your daily labors.
I love reading your blog!!! It's great to hear from you. You are very insightful and have a wonderful way with words. I love you!
ReplyDeleteScott it sounds as if you are standing up for yourself. I'm happy that you do not want to do the things on Sunday. They talked about that in the Preisthood session of conference. I believe you are doing whats right. I love hearing about your experiences.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Crystal's cousin, on her dad's side. She told me you were in Nanjing. Then I saw your post on her blog. My husband was in the flagship program last year. Us and our two little boys loved living in Nanjing. I really miss it! I especially miss all the good Nanjing food! You'll probably find a lot of good food on your own, but if you want any recommendation I might be able to help you find some. Glad you are enjoying your time.
ReplyDeleteScott,
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to this statement: "...Chinese which never seems to stop being very hard." If it's hard for you, I would never make it there! Sometimes I look at my Chinese degree on the wall and wonder how I ever did it. It was SOOOOOOOO hard. And I'm losing my Chinese again but my Chinese Book of Mormon reading keeps getting better. So stick with it, I am so proud of you.
Liz
Cherisse, any good recomendations for food or anything else to do while here would be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if you haven't found these spots already we thought the best place to get baozi and shao mai were on the corner of hankouxilu and qingdaolu (it has a big red sign), the corner of hankoulu and qingdaolu their is a little place right on the corner that sells really good fried chicken/bacon burgers! Also, just a few spaces down their was a lady making Jianbing, it was really good! At Taco's (all along zhujianglu) I love their Taco's. Have you been to Soul Mate (French restaurant) up a little road off hankouxilu (closer to the baozi place) they have really good hamburgers, at Babela's (sp?) they have really good 20kaui pizza, all the pizza's are 20kaui (it didn't say that in the menu). Babela's is on the third or second floor, black building above the zhujianglu ditie, it's on the guangzhoulu side. Have you found Coco's? A drink shop, they have Dong Gua Cha (hot or cold). Did you have this in Taiwan? I loved it! Coco's is on zhujianglu a little ways down from McDonald's. Also, stop by Guoran HK Desserts. We loved their Manyeximilu, there's one on guangzhoulu, just west of the zhujianglu ditie. Make sure to go to Beard Papa's and the Mochi place right next to Beard Papa's. They are in the bottom floor of the big nice shopping mall (Golden Eagle?) above the zhuzhanglu ditie. Well, these are some places hopefully my pinyin and direction isn't too bad!
ReplyDeleteI also know of a lot of good shopping. You should check out Jinqiao (golden Bridges). It's huge! Just ask around. It's near (west) of the Nanjing train station. A certain bus drops you off right in front (on the other side of the road), I think it's bus 13. Jiulongdasha (sp?) has a lot of clothes, nice clothes, pretty inexpensive. It's east past The Walmart in Xinjiekou. Go straight east past walmart, about a mile, the road T's (Nanpingtailu??) cross the road and it's a big red building on the right (you can see this red building on your way their). Also, on that same road (nanpingtailu?) at the T on the right their was a 10kuai T-shirt place, one day they even had 3 pieces for 10kuai. Also, back in the Xinjiekou area their is a place called Taotaoxiang. It's east of Walmart just across the street on the very corner of the big intersection. You have to walk up a couple floors. They mostly have a lot of girl clothes/stuff, but it's a cool place. I figure you can help other friends, especially help girls find cool chinese markets where they can bargin. It took me a LONG time before I found any of these places. I always wondered where some good Chinese Markets were!
Also, is their anyone with kids? Pre-school age that wants their kids to learn Chinese? My sons went to a pre-school and I loved the teachers and how they ran their school! It's kinda far, but worth it to me, especially since I had the time. Just ask Sarah Miek in your branch about it. Her daughter Charley went (or still does go there). The school is out by their apartment.
These are just some things that I wished I would have found out about earlier than I did!
Something fun to do is rent a rickshaw and go cruise around in it with your friends! Do you see the Chinese guys out in front of the Foreign Student housing (next to the flagship building) with old rickshaw's? We rented two from them and rode all over the city. Chinese might think your weird, but it was fun.
Okay, well I think this is good for now! Hopefully you enjoy some of these things!
Oh, I forgot, my favorite Chinese restaurant was on Qingdaolu. I don't know the name, but it did have big characters (lit up at night) on a big green sign. One of the characters was the character for water (don't know if it meant water, but it was the same character). It's on the east side of the road. We loved to get the cabbage dish (it comes in a flaming bowl) other chinese people at surrounding tables usually had it, so good. Also, tudousi, the cold garlic cucumbers. I don't know the name of very many dishes, my husband always ordered. Other good dishes eggplant with potatoes, eggs and onions, always loved qingcai. So, many good things!
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about exceptions to doctrines of the gospel is really true. Exceptions are indeed personal--between you and the Lord--and I have experience to back that up. However, the general doctrine is what you should focus on. Exceptions get people off on tangents, so they shouldn't get the attention.
ReplyDelete