Rong Rong and Bao Beir

I have a new friend!

Her name is Rong Rong!! She is from Shanxi. She's here in Kunming (one building over from me) watching her uncle's baby. She is also 23. She studied English when she was young, but found the grammar too difficult, and is now re-learning English with me. :-) We walk around the lake in the Xiao Qu (neighborhood) and she tells me chinese "da yu" and i say "big fish" or she (somehow--amazingly) remembered willow tree! i can't even remember the chinese...i think it's ....eh i forgot. Anyway, it's been a blast getting to know her.

Today, the weather was beautiful in Kunming. We had a half day at school, then a meeting, and then we were pretty much free to go early. I stuck around and got some things done until 5pm. By then, I was dying to be out in the sun, so I came home, grabbed a book, and took a walk around the lake. I was pretty positive I'd run into Rong Rong and Bao Beir (baby), and sure enough I did. They were feeding the "da yu" some bread. :-) We got to talking, and her uncle was with her. He invited me over for coffee (which--is kinda a joke...they only drink instant coffee here...tea is kinda the "thing"). I gladly went to their house for an hour, talked as much as I could, and listened too. The uncle's English is a little better than Rong Rong's. He knew the word for "map" as I was trying to tell him that right now my sister is in Trinidad...but I don't know how to say that. So in a round-about way, I told him...(in Chinese), "You know America and Canada are...uh...(I knew this isn't what they called North America, but I translated it that same way) North America? You know there is another America...a South America (they thought I was talking about my house...which is south in America (United States) (confused yet?)"....Anyway, I changed gears and went another route. "You know Hainan and Hong Kong? Those are "islands"....Trinidad is also an island. Then he thought I said Ireland. OH DEAR! ....After about 5 minutes of discussion, I finally pulled out my phone (remembering that I have the World Clock that shows a map of the world), and pointed to the ocean. Then they got my meaning!

I love it!

We made plans for me to make them pizza...and they will make me Chinese food. Sounds grand!

Lost Eyes

Conversations, people watching, overhearing conversations....I get the feeling that there is just a whole lotta lostness...everywhere! Conversations are empty and meaningless. Mothers worry about middle school daughters and the kids they hang out with. Fathers having affiars with other women, in front of their wife and kids, and nobody says anything. Eyes look blank. Fake eyelashes and talking about cosmetic surgery to have double eyelids and a higher, thinner nose. Why are the young people working so hard? The rich are snobby and rub in the fact that they have a higher education. The poor feel stuck (rightly so--here), and they live life like there aren't any consequences to their actions.

Often I'm afraid that as a foreigner here that I am percieved as one of those "snobby rich" types. I find that when I stop, smile (maybe laugh--'cause that happens often) and start to talk and ask questions, no matter which person it is, their walls come tumbling down...and I can see through it. The act. The facade. He sees and knows. It's so scary to let others in though...

I'm surrounded by lostness--here or at home. It just hits me here more often. Maybe because I'm out of my culture. When I'm home, I'm almost always surrounded by "sameness"...here I feel different, and observe the difference more carefully. I hurt. I noticed on my bike ride today that my head was in a knot. I had to massage it out, because I was about to cry for the random grandma walking down the street, carrying the baby strapped on her back, or for the young boy smoking a cigarette...even for the cute old man pushing his wife in a wheelchair around the neighborhood. So much lostness. Where are they going? What is their purpose? Who defines them? (actually--that would be culture--pop or traditional)...

What is hope for them? What are they hoping for? I know what they need (we all need)...Open their eyes, Jesus!