Oct. 20th Update

Ron hasn't had a chance to log his first blog, so I am posting his October 20th update so that there will be some material here until he can begin his regular postings. - David

Greetings from China!

We have been here for six weeks now, but just got email at our apartment last week. So this is the first general email to our China Friends in America.

We are getting everything pretty close to being set up in the apartment. Our phone and TV are here, but are not connected. We expect both to be fixed in another week or so. This is the first time this campus has had foreigners living here so they had to create a new apartment, which has proven challenging to them. Since it is the first apartment like this everything is new. We have a new state-of-the art Chinese kitchen, complete with a rice dispenser and cooker. While small and with little cabinet space, it is nonetheless quite functional. We purchased a toaster oven, as Chinese kitchens do not have an oven. Now Evelyn can bake American cookies for our guests. The "office" included a beautiful desk and two storage cabinets (each with 4 locks and different keys). Every door in the apartment has a key, including those to both toilets and the shower.

Last year our apartment was three rooms in one of the boy's dorms. One room became our living room. The kitchen replaced what was the bathroom in it. The office room bathroom includes a toilet and a large (read 3.5' x 7') new shower. The sliding glass window between the office and shower was left intact, making it much easier to visit with anyone in the office while you shower. I can't imagine anyone doing it, but you can! The bathroom in our bedroom includes another toilet and a sink. The washing machine is also there. This split up bathroom a bit unusual, but again, it works. There are no closets or other storage options except one 24" wardrobe. We are buying a couple more, this time with some drawers. Any kind of a chest with drawers for storing clothes is almost unheard of here.

The first two weeks all the windows in all three rooms were without curtains; then men from a local curtain company came to measure for them. They made beautiful drapes and also gave us a lovely wall decoration called a Chinese Knott as a gift.

Our friend, Signa, had to have shoulder surgery here a couple of weeks ago. She separated her shoulder in an accident last year and developed more problems this fall. She is recovering nicely now, but her experience has motivated me to stay healthy. After returning to her room following surgery, she was in a lot of pain when the anesthesia wore off. When she asked for some pain medication she was told that they would give her something in eight hours and meanwhile not to worry, that pain following surgery was normal and good. After considerable "negotiations" with the medical staff they began small doses a couple of hours later. Getting them to allow her to take pills at home for pain and antibiotics rather than returning daily for IV's proved more difficult, but successful after a few days. Neither she nor Gary understand Chinese well enough to decipher what the doctor said when he finally agreed to the pills, but they think it was basically, "Crazy Americans!"

National Holiday (Chinese 4^th of July) was the first week in October. During that break we were able to take a three day cruise on the Yangtze River, thru the Three Gorges. The Cook's has booked this trip, but could not go because of her surgery. So they offered us the opportunity to go in their place. We had a great time visiting with people on the boat from about 10 different countries. It was an "English" boat, which meant that the tour director, but hardly anyone else on the crew, spoke English and the food served to "westerners" was a little more like American, especially breakfast. However, the fried eggs were always cold and I am not sure what it really was that passed for ham, but it tasted OK, so we ate it. They even had coffee, or more precisely, something they called coffee, which was at best lukewarm. I believe the cooks used an entire bag of coffee to make ten cups. A cup of this in a gallon of hot water would have qualified in America as "strong coffee." Don't misunderstand, these few oddities did not spoil the very good meals we were served. The Chinese eat little meat, but have a lot of excellent vegetables. Some of them are completely new to us, but are quite good. The Three Gorges Dam is huge. When the water has reached its maximum depth in 2009 it will require ships to go through five locks to navigate past it. About 10% of all electricity in all of China will be generated here. The lake behind the dam will back up for about 250 miles in 2009.

We both teach Oral English, a course to help the students improve their ability to understand spoken English and to speak it more correctly. They have studied English for eight years and are very good at reading and writing it. However, most have had almost no interaction with English being spoken. Evelyn also teaches Travel English, a course intended to prepare the students to be tour guides for English speakers at famous sites in China.

In addition to our classes, we also go to the lobby of the main academic building on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and do an "English Corner." We stand in the lobby and talk with any students who want to stop and talk with us. Three nights of this is a challenge since we are there for one and a half hours each night. The students come and go at will so the new arriving students ask the same questions as the others asked earlier: "How long have you been in China?" "Do you like Chinese food?" "Where are you from?" Etc. To avoid this we have started picking a different topic each week to discuss with them. So far we have talked about families, education, travel and good manners in China and America. They are very interested to know about America. We often have more than 50 students at one time talking to us. We love this because we meet dozens of students that we would otherwise never get to know. By the way, if you can think of any possible subjects to discuss with them please email them to us. We have a few more on our list, but no where near the 36 it will take to cover the year.

The family here continues to do very well. This school term 24 more are included in it and many others visit regularly. Many students come to visit and talk with us on Wednesday night at our apartment and on Friday at Jordan's. Please keep us all in your talks with the coach!

We really have not suffered culture shock yet, but everyone tells us we will, so we are trying to be prepared. Gary says he still remembers the first time he said to himself, "What in the world have I gotten myself into?" Likely it will come on us the third bitter cold, windy night in one week that we are doing English Corner in the lobby of a giant building with no heat, but with both front and rear doors standing open (read "wind tunnel effect!). I hate bitter cold weather. That may do what turtles and frogs being chopped up in the supermarket, chickens walking around my feet as I eat at a sidewalk "café," eating almost nothing that isn't very spicy, or being starred at constantly have not done so far - make us say, "I want to go home now!" We'll get through our bout of culture shock when it comes, but so far it has not been a problem. The greatest hardship we have had to face, other than not being able to fine drinkable coffee, is sitting for an hour of terribly uncomfortable stools that were designed for little people! Not much to endure for all the blessing we are receiving.

We love our work here. We feel so blessed that so many have helped us be able to come to China. The students are extremely friendly. The university officials have been very generous in setting up our apartment. So much opportunity. So much responsibility. Exciting and frightening at the same time. We hope and pray that we can be a blessing to the students. Keep us and our friends always in your "thoughts," as we do all of you.

Ron & Evelyn McFarland