China is random and so am I

I'm am adjusting well, but I have retained the most unusual habits from home. It was raining on one of our first nights here, and I literally remember getting nervous all the sudden and thinking "Oh no! I hope my car windows are up!" I guess that's Mom mom's problem now. And when I'm getting ready to leave a place, I reach for my keys, as if I'm going to need them to get in my car... that's half a world away.

Something else I brought with me that's incompatible with China is IBS. Between the Chinese food (hello, MSG) and squatty potties, I should have known better. It's just such an inconvenient problem to have here. The squatties are awful and only an absolute last resort. You even have to bring your own t.p. and hand sanitizer! Moreover, as my friend Lucy pointed out, when you're in the squatting position, you tense certain muscles, but to function, you have to relax some of those muscles as well...while holding your nose, of course. It's very difficult. The Chinese have no problems because they are raised squatting, but it's a very unnatural position for Americans. The only western style options are in our apartments...FIVE flights up. You can't get ANYwhere in China quickly!

Something else that cracked me up on a similar note was when we on our way to the "play station" (Chinese translation for "police station") we were in some building that showed promotional video with English subtitles of all the amazing technological innovations in China. They made it sound like all these blow-your-mind advancements were going on every day, and it was only a matter time before we were colonizing outer space or something. And I was kind of impressed for a second... and then I said to Tina, "If that's true, then how come you can't flush your toilet paper?!" Seriously, China. One thing at a time. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I flush. I don't know if I'm supposed to, but too bad. I have friends though on other campuses who can't. I couldn't imagine! Who says Dad's not paying attention to my needs!? Hahahhaaha.... Again, it's all about having the right attitude!


It's true that my apartment isn't "home" yet. What makes it worse is that we're moving in a few weeks to another building. It will be nice to be there because it's being "renovated" as in, they are putting in new floors... which is great, but it's not going to be like, brand new. Concrete walls are concrete walls, ya know? So basically, I'm reluctant to settle in here, knowing that I have to haul ALL my stuff back down 5 flights, over to another building, and up 4 more flights. It's not that bad though... I am not having too much of a problem with critters like I expected. I bomb my apartment like every 2 days with RAID though, just to be sure. I have found 2 cockroaches that were dead when I found them, so I think the spray is working. I have heard horror stories about ones as big as your finger crawling around, so I'm not showing ANY mercy!

Speaking of pests... there's this loudspeaker outside of our building. I feel like it's IN my brain though, it's so obnoxious. It just comes on randomly, like at 6:25 in the morning, middle of the afternoon, and so on. The other day I was talking to Whitney on Skype and all the sudden it came on and she was like..."what the heck!?"it's usually these Chinese pop ballads and Chinese talk radio... fascinating, right? One time though, they were speaking in English and then they played "Hallie's Song" by Eminem. RRRRRRRRRRANDOM! I love the music they play on buses and restaurants though. It's always 10-year-old pop songs from back home, such as Seal and Mariah Carey and miscellaneous boy band hits. If I've heard "kissed by a rose" here, once, I've heard it a hundred times.

Really though as much as I complain, China is making me more grateful and Thankful than ever. On the way to our Sunday Meeting, there are these people with physical deformities, like severely under developed legs and arms...and that's only what I could see from the exterior. Who knows what internal conditions are going on. Anyway, there are 4 or 5 of them who just sit there and beg. They were there last week too. It KILLS me inside. KILLS ME! The absolute worst part is that there is NOTHING I can do. I'd thought about laying hands or something, but what are they going to do? Grow legs?

It makes me think of when my Father told the paralytic "take up your mat and go." ...and he WENT! It's just amazing. Revisit the story if you get a chance, Mark 2. There was this paralyzed man who was carried by four men to see my Father. There were so many people there that the man had to be brought down through the roof. Instead of being like, "what the heck?" My Dad told him "Your Crimes are forgiven." So the people in the audience were confused, obviously. So you know what He said to them? "What's easier, to forgive this man of his Crimes or heal him from being paralyzed?" Just to show His authority to do the first thing, He told the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and go home. WOW. But it raises so many questions. My Dad is alive today, so why isn't He healing these people? I know He could.

I can't tell them to take their stuff and go. I guess I could tell them Who could, but somehow that's not satisfying to me. Yes they can be Healed in Another Realm, but they are still begging and starving and neglected in this one. I think it makes it worse the way they are treated here. If they were in America, they would still be loved and given good medical attention, but here they are a burden to be forgotten. It's hard. It's so hard. Yeah yeah yeah, the meek will inherit the Earth and blah blah blah. Doesn't help.

We're not supposed to donate to them either because it would cause chaos, so I just walk...with my legs... right by them with my freshly washed clothes, $100 cell phone, $250 iPod, $300 camera, stocked wallet, and Good Book. I have ridiculous material wealth, security, and perfect health. It just doesn't seem fair. I don't deserve to be this Lucky. I don't have satellite here, so this is my real-life version of watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition, which I watched back home and BALLED my eyes out EVERY time, right before Desperate Housewives.