tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36562902011-07-07T20:14:18.884-04:00Reflections on life.Sarahnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-69810854806383905692008-07-18T14:48:00.002-04:002008-07-18T14:52:24.689-04:00

Leaving-taking from Lian Da was tearful and hectic. At last, I'm home.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-6895167809434173102008-07-16T16:06:00.005-04:002008-07-18T15:10:45.932-04:00

For my final teaching project at Lian Da, I wrote an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in modern English prose. Each of my seven sophomore classes did its own production.Romeo kills Tybalt to avenge the death of Mercutio.Juliet imbibes the poison.PS Now that I'm out of the reach of the Chinese censors and can see my published blog, I notice that YouTube sometimes appends others' videos to mine.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-45006312631743624892008-07-16T13:36:00.012-04:002008-07-16T14:16:02.687-04:00

The "sacred" flame: On July 7, the Olympic Torch relay made its way through Lanzhou. The earthquake on May 12 had put only a brief damper on local hysteria over the Olympics. As the arrival of the torch approached, the people of Lanzhou were once more in a lather. Vendors appeared on every street corner, selling flags and T-shirts. The shirts were something new in my observation of Gansu styles.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-22337810810713487862008-05-21T06:21:00.012-04:002008-05-21T07:57:47.574-04:00

Earthquake memorial: On Monday afternoon, just as our afternoon classes would have begun, the college community gathered around the flagpole in the central garden to observe three minutes of remembrance for the earthquake victims. The flag flew at half staff, and the air raid siren atop the administration building blared for the full three minutes.Minutes later in the classroom, students were in

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-65932542128698257762008-05-08T09:49:00.003-04:002008-05-08T10:03:11.098-04:00

May 8: Wednesday morning. I have no classes today, plan to spend the morning correcting midterm exams and the afternoon with Mary at Bai Ta Se, the White Pagoda high above the city. The telephone rings; it’s Sun Yue Rui asking me if I would like to go to Xi’An tomorrow and spend the next four days judging a speech competition. Of course! She instructs me to go to a downtown hotel for the “

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-56313486844940160012008-05-08T09:30:00.005-04:002008-05-08T09:47:03.241-04:00

Qing Ming: Tomb Sweeping Day. Beginning this year, the Chinese government has re-arranged the system of national holidays. Instead of three "golden weeks" of public transportation mayhem, we now have a range of one-day holidays. Work units are already leaning toward the long weekend approach that is popular in the U.S., cobbling in an extra day of leave if necessary, to be paid back at another

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-80380463878242325212008-04-07T07:38:00.002-04:002008-04-07T07:42:48.233-04:00

With her permission, here's the text of an e-mail I got this afternoon from my Scottish friend Kate Keir, former Amity volunteer, who teaches in Tianshui, Gansu:Awake at half past four. Someone is banging on the door and shouting "Shui, Shui, Shui". I crawl out of bed, paddle across my livingroom floor, I notice that what was once today's lesson plan is floating aimlessly about. I open my door.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-62649166860220388702008-03-27T23:29:00.002-04:002008-03-28T01:07:41.550-04:00

I've worried from time to time that strolling around Lanzhou in my Crocs might cause a traffic accident; my unconventional (for China) footwear draws incredulous stares. This week I learned that carrying a basket of colorful Easter eggs to school for my students had largely the same effect.Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter passed in Lanzhou under the shadow of events in Tibet, Sichuan and nearby

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-2429172520657721432008-02-17T05:42:00.005-05:002008-02-17T06:06:09.276-05:00

When I e-mailed a Canadian friend of my plan to go to Vietnam, he responded, “I highly recommend Vietnam -- be prepared to re-live the war,” all in the same digital breath. It seemed like a contradiction at the time, but now I think I get it. In the taxi from Da Nang airport, the young driver in his T-shirt and flip-flops points out China Beach – a deserted stretch of gleaming sand, surrounded by

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-31406398563361399622008-02-13T07:42:00.010-05:002008-02-16T22:24:18.576-05:00

On my first full day in Hanoi, I attended mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral. It was built in the 1880's, and worship resumed in 1990 under the Communist government. Although not by design, I was pleased to attend the children's mass, sung by the youth choir whose rehearsal I heard as I sat in the nave before the service.I wondered how Asian Christians would reconcile the coincidence this year of New

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1215566283900912532008-02-11T06:29:00.000-05:002008-02-11T06:51:40.370-05:00

A new chapter in the annals of inter-city bus trips in China, this time from Kunming to He Kou, the Vietnamese border crossing.South Yunnan roads are terrible. I can hardly believe we keep passing through toll plazas. They charge money for this? How much worse would the roads be if they didn’t charge? We enter the motherland of rhododendrons and azaleas. The azaleas are blooming lavishly

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-25479399979201564052008-01-28T21:57:00.000-05:002008-01-28T21:59:35.760-05:00

There is a China photo gallery in the National Geographic for January, 2008. I especially like how it highlights China's ethnic minorities.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-16212559232813657312008-01-14T02:15:00.000-05:002008-01-14T02:43:51.222-05:00

The weeks since Christmas have passed in a flash. I have been occupied with completing grade reports for my students (as always, everything must be hand written in multiple formats), organizing the teaching workshops for the Amity Winter Conference, and making my travel plans for the winter break. This week I leave for a brief visit to Xi'An, location of the famous Terra Cotta army. Then on the

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-91248128145472201722008-01-06T06:25:00.000-05:002008-01-07T02:08:59.602-05:00

Slaves to fashion . . .That's Stella modeling the houndstooth check, Angela in the pastel tweed, and Mary in the tartan plaid. These are this season's trendiest patterns . . . last year's flower prints and stripes are definitely passe. Are we making a virtue of necessity, since we inhabit one of the most polluted cities in the world . . . or are we just being stylish?

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-72597670205053992372007-12-25T07:59:00.000-05:002007-12-25T08:26:08.405-05:00

Mid-December: It’s pickpocket season in Lanzhou. Sun Yue Rui shared this information one Tuesday, but I’d had a foretaste on Sunday when a man plucked the pack of tissues out of my coat pocket, using a giant sort of tweezer implement. I was buying some vegetables from a stall just outside my gate. Of course, I would never carry anything more valuable that Kleenex in my coat pocket. Sun Yue Rui

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-48850347730673710772007-11-12T07:21:00.000-05:002007-11-12T07:39:59.342-05:00

The Inspection BeginsDay 1 minus 12: Just after Sunday supper, the phone rings. It’s Sun Yue Rui, my co-teacher, sounding exhausted. She’s just gotten home from a full weekend of drudgery at the U. She’s calling to tell me that I must hand her my lesson plans for the entire current term tomorrow morning. I observe that I’ve never been asked for such a thing before, and that some

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-32602495607756107832007-11-11T04:43:00.000-05:002007-11-11T04:52:30.417-05:00

This week I was reminded of a passage in To Pause at the Threshold by Esther de Waal (2001: Morehouse). "The traditional worldview . . . speaks of interrelated worlds, the world of the living and the world of the dead, together making one whole and complete community under God’s direct control and influence. . . . They never forget the spirit world, the human being as part of a bigger system" (48

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-50934835470955044722007-11-02T07:41:00.000-04:002007-11-02T07:49:55.945-04:00

I enter the classroom, heave my bulging backpack onto the podium, and flash a smile at the students. Before I can begin our customary exchange of friendly 8 AM greetings, one of them leaps to his feet and barks, "Stand up!" in true drill sergeant fashion. The entire class jumps up and bellows, "Good morning, teacher!" I reel, then recover, gesture for the students to sit down. "Ah," I say, "This

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1631912260078823862007-10-06T06:29:00.000-04:002007-10-06T06:57:03.490-04:00

I have broken a pledge, and now I must bear the consequences. I had promised myself never to ride an inter-city sleeper bus in China, but here I am lounging in my berth on the sleeper express from Jiayuguan to Lanzhou, a journey of about 750 km. I have mixed estimates of how long I will occupy this berth. A hotel clerk said ten hours, the Lonely Planet says twelve, but the bus ticket clerk said

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-27602923794409990852007-10-06T06:00:00.000-04:002007-10-07T03:36:25.375-04:00

Our new teaching term is nearly half over. Please forgive me for taking so long to communicate! There's lots to tell, and I need to catch up.A few months ago I told you about the preparations for Gansu United University’s accreditation review, called "The Inspection" by my deans and colleagues. This event, the arrival of inspectors from the central authority in Beijing, has had our campus and

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-52209650075746772612007-06-21T08:05:00.000-04:002007-06-21T08:17:19.447-04:00

Rain, rain, go away ... while parts of Gansu are being fried by a drought that has killed crops and livestock, Lanzhou and other areas are drowning. And have no apparent strategies to deal with it. Our campus area is flooded or swamped in mud for about a two km radius. Tracks that used to pass for roads are now washed out; I can scarcely believe that our work unit buses still

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-660742537368263662007-06-20T09:34:00.000-04:002007-06-20T09:39:25.332-04:00

Little Red Riding Hood, The Musical (click here for photos)My friend Gary and his colleagues Danielle and Barbara had worked for months with their students to produce a quirky, delightful musical version of the classic folk tale. Rae and I made the trip to Hexi Teachers’ College in Zhangye, Gansu, to cheer them on and join voices as friends of the chorus onstage. It may seem weird that we would

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-2119715036185908352007-06-07T04:01:00.000-04:002007-06-07T04:09:25.396-04:00

My friend Gary wrote the following account of our Day of Pentecost worship near Wu Wei:Two bus rides and I was almost there. Then there was the walk through a village of houses fashioned from the dry mud of this desert area. Around a corner, through an apple orchard and then it appeared. The church stretching its twin spires toward a blue and cloudless sky. I had come that Pentecost

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-74126952088448939392007-06-07T03:35:00.000-04:002007-06-07T03:58:17.434-04:00

Recently, there was a frenzy of activity as the campus prepared for an inspection by the Mayor of Lanzhou. Freshmen and sophomores were excused from some of their classes so that they could wash windows and scrub floors in dorms and classroom buildings. Students tiptoed along the ledges to wash the glass on the outside. (That's B, one of five academic buildings, with its gleaming windows.) On the

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-41488024588714669042007-06-01T22:35:00.000-04:002007-06-01T22:40:47.934-04:00

More good news about Christianity in China (many of you have probably seen it in the New York Times).Source: NYT (5/31/07):http://select.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/opinion/31kristof.html?hp=&pagewanted=printOP-ED COLUMNIST>From Torture to Plaintiff: a Pilgrim¹s Progress in ChinaBy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFWEIHAI, China Every evening in a little village near this coastal city, peasants gather ina private

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-33342684537495484552007-05-21T05:23:00.000-04:002007-05-21T05:34:14.463-04:00

It's all in the ankle. Or maybe it's the hamstring? At any rate, I recently realized that nearly two years in China has not made a competent squatter of me. I'm still wobbly because I squat on the balls of my feet like some silly foreigner. Now that I recognize the problem, I'm making an effort to get my heels down. It isn't easy; try it yourself. Can you do it?The bottom photo, by the way, is a

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-71779972031343570152007-05-21T04:46:00.000-04:002007-05-21T05:19:04.877-04:00

The only thing as insatiable as the Chinese appetite for ceremony is the Chinese appetite for competition. So the 2007 Sports Meeting, (click here for pictures) the first of its kind a Gansu United University, was widely rumored and long anticipated. Understand that there is no campus calendar of events ... things just happen when they happen, often with little advance notice. My first clue that

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-78773599313328423522007-05-20T07:18:00.000-04:002007-05-20T07:22:02.911-04:00

May 19: The doorbell rang just as I was preparing to leave for Saturday evening mass at Xiao Gou Tou Jiaotang. It was Han Qiang, a first-year teacher at Gansu United who had been a student of mine in American Literature last year, stopping by for a casual visit. I invited him to go along to mass, and he readily agreed. As I put my Bible and service music in my backpack, Qiang observed that he has

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-82963761280822053702007-05-09T07:46:00.000-04:002007-05-09T07:58:43.990-04:00

April 28:Live from Lanzhou, It's Saturday night!In our China, the holiday giveth and the holiday taketh away. May 1 is Socialist Labor Day*, and we get some much-needed time off, but not without sacrifice. Early last week we finally received the “make-up” schedule for this holiday. We will not teach from Tuesday, May 1 through Monday, May 7. But we are teaching our Friday classes on

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-36726887512323889002007-05-09T07:23:00.000-04:002007-05-09T07:38:03.885-04:00

April 27:“You think too much, that is your problem.”Zorba the Greek Recently I had one of the most discouraging experiences of my time in China. It all began innocently enough. As part of the inspection hysteria everyone is working six days a week; for me, it's optional. But on many Saturday mornings the teachers in the English Department are giving demonstration lessons and critiquing each

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-19815201668795414692007-04-11T22:27:00.000-04:002007-04-17T00:21:43.922-04:00

Gansu Amity Teachers' Spring Meeting: We travelled to Hezuo, the main city of Gannan, where two of us teach at the University. Gannan is part of Gansu, but is also known as East Tibet. It's famous for its rolling hills and sweeping grasslands. The scenery is breathtaking, as is the altitude. At 3000 meters above sea level, climbing the stairs to the fourth floor of our hotel was an expedition. It

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-47375582902670117162007-04-10T08:10:00.000-04:002007-04-10T08:21:16.737-04:00

Words of advice:1. Wear a cheap Timex watch.2. Never leave unwashed dishes in the sink overnight.3. Always use a dignified ringtone.Chapter OneOn Tuesday, March 27, I woke before dawn but lingered in bed , waiting for the light and enjoying my rest b/c I didn't have any early classes. I noticed the barking of the guard dog at the Gansu Government Archive, whose massive pink dasha (highrise) is

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-26626864344478636262007-03-26T07:11:00.000-04:002007-04-17T00:26:04.289-04:00

Spring. It seems to have exploded, the way it sometimes does in the Hudson Valley. One day it’s snowing, and the next day the forsythia is blooming. Kite flying is, naturally, a spring tradition. On the recent Sunday when I walked in the park with a student, there were hundreds of kites aloft. The mounds of strawberries have appeared in the street market, that delectable image from

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1844240305487402702007-03-24T07:02:00.000-04:002007-03-24T07:18:54.804-04:00

"Before and after" pictures . . . look for the "after" installment in September. At Gansu United University, we are in the process of inventing the wheel. Beginning in September, a team of experts from the national education ministry in Beijing will arrive for The Inspection. Those four syllables have the ring of doom, and our faculty has been working overtime, literally, since last September to

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-54050374172654119762007-03-05T06:43:00.000-05:002007-03-05T07:04:51.498-05:00

A rite of passage, no pun intended. We were told when we first came to Lanzhou that foreigners are not allowed to use electronic fare cards on the buses. That rule has evidently changed, because my teaching partner was able to get me one for a birthday gift. I am using every shred of self-control to keep from running outside and jumping on the first bus I see. I can barely wait to be a regular

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-67416288980326615122007-03-03T09:05:00.000-05:002007-03-03T09:07:57.811-05:00

Before I went out today, I swapped out files on my MP3 player. In the process, I deleted a Chinese lesson called "I see a thief!" I had listened to it a couple of times, and it didn’t contain any language I was especially motivated to learn. I couldn’t imagine myself in a situation where I wanted to alert people to a robbery in progress. I walked downtown, listening to some lessons that seemed

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-82279272242614408742007-02-21T08:25:00.000-05:002007-03-04T06:19:46.566-05:00

Ash Wednesday: Evening Prayer with Armageddon in the background. It’s the last night of Spring Festival. The last hurrah. The local folks have kept a good supply of fireworks in reserve, and now are detonating them. They echo in the canyons of big cement apartment courtyards. An especially resonant explosion will activate anti-theft devices on cars for blocks around, adding a frantic chorus. (In

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-2866754394356740302007-01-13T05:40:00.000-05:002007-01-13T06:06:54.449-05:00

Today is the eleventh of January, 2007, and I have yet to come up with a pithy summary of Christmas, 2006, in Lanzhou. This year the holidays left me feeling perplexed and a little blue. Everyone I have asked agrees with me that the evidence of commercial Christmas here was much greater than in 2005. Last year I would have described it as scattered; this year, pervasive.My students were obsessed

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-56367854706369436482007-01-13T05:37:00.000-05:002007-01-13T05:40:10.925-05:00

More tales from the exam room. I used the same format for the final exam in oral English as I had for the midterm – each student had a minute or two to tell a story about the images in a New Yorker cartoon with the caption removed. Many of the best stories were prompted by a sketch of a farm field with two hens in the foreground and four others in the background. In one tale, one hen challenges

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-3813756119703304282007-01-04T05:40:00.000-05:002007-01-04T05:46:04.190-05:00

Goodbye, sky!At left: The sun asserts itself through the haze over the Lanzhou skyline.A patch of blue (now and then). This year we enjoyed a prolonged mild autumn in Lanzhou. The coal-fired central heat here is truly central; it goes on and the radiators begin to steam on November 1, and it goes off on April 1 (whether we still need it or not), at the behest of the local government. Daily peaks

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-7942343064723710952007-01-04T05:26:00.000-05:002007-01-04T05:31:14.959-05:00

From my journal, December 21, 2006:101 Metaphors for Discernment: 1) a river; 2) riding the bumper cars in an amusement park; 3) dreams remembered; 4) dreams forgotten; 5) studying for the big exam; 6) listening to Handel’s Messiah on CD; 7) shopping for shoes that really fit; 8) seeing the Milky Way on a clear summer’s night; 9) the collect for Proper 28 in the Book of Common Prayer; 10)

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-81428441625468759982006-12-10T04:53:00.000-05:002006-12-10T05:13:35.219-05:00

Happy Family 2007! Walking home from the supermarket the other day, I spotted a large and glossy 2007 wall calendar in the window of a bookshop. I was so captivated, I went inside and bought it for 15 yuan (just under two dollars). Mao Zedong must be turning over in his tomb! And some good-sounding news: My friend Per-Martin spotted this story in the China Daily, our utterly

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-60051599488921153202006-12-04T08:36:00.000-05:002006-12-10T04:42:47.918-05:00

Thanksgiving: chopstick-friendly. My living room is about 7.5 meters long and 4 meters wide. It serves as living room, dining room and home office, so it’s a bit cluttered. All the same, I invited the entire English Department at Lian Da to come over for Thanksgiving Dinner on Nov. 23. About 30 people arrived, including my new Amity colleagues Gunnel and Per-Martin Hjort (from Sweden) whom you’

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1164801568734274732006-11-29T06:50:00.000-05:002006-11-29T06:59:28.770-05:00

Just another Lanzhou Sunday. After church, Rae and I spent some time with our new curate, Peter, helping him with his English. Practicing saying mass in English. As we left the complex, Rae ducked into her favorite teahouse and I headed down the block toward the bank. After our monthly cash payday, I habitually make my offering at church and then deposit the rest. But this day, before I reached

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1164635536722975312006-11-27T08:45:00.000-05:002006-11-27T08:52:16.736-05:00

A good-looking young man strolls down a city street. He spots a sporty red hat in a shop window, buys it and puts it on. He walks jauntily home, only to find, when he looks in the mirror, that the hat is cursed and has turned him into a PIG. Distraught, he calls on the angels to help him. A faraway singsong voice replies, "The angels are busy! Please try again later!"That’s the opening scene of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1163677948788046922006-11-16T06:45:00.000-05:002006-11-16T06:52:28.800-05:00

The freshmen students think I live in the office!! I discovered this when several said, at different times, "Oh, I came to see you in your dormitory, but you weren’t in." Slowly it sank in with me that they’d been knocking on the door of the office when no one was there.Ruth, Elizabeth and I have been making a unified effort to make our two-room shared office more hospitable. It had been a

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1163588185361925262006-11-15T05:52:00.000-05:002006-11-15T05:56:25.383-05:00

November 7 (Election Day!!) Predictably, I have too much to tell you and too little time to write. I have uploaded a bunch of new photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahsays/sets/72157594377242831/This week, I’m giving midterm exams to my seven classes of first-year students, for whom I now teach Oral English. (I can’t help thinking this sounds like the name of a communicable disease – well,

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1160231221662929282006-10-07T10:03:00.000-04:002006-10-07T10:27:01.676-04:00

Mooncake madness. For weeks, the mooncake, signature food of Mid-Autumn Festival, took over our world. Mooncakes were everywhere. Yesterday was Mid-Autumn Day. I celebrated first by going to China Post to mail Christmas gifts home. (Yes, it was a major holiday in China, but post offices were open, as they usually are, seven days a week. And, yes, it was time. The shipment will take 8-12 weeks to

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1159515377974506012006-09-29T03:31:00.000-04:002006-09-29T03:36:17.986-04:00

China may have a poor environmental profile on the global level, but at the local level Chinese thrift and ingenuity prompt energy conservation and lots of reuse and recycling. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are the norm, and people turn out unused lights conscientiously. Scavenging of reusable materials is visible cottage industry. This outfit buys styrofoam from people who haul it from around

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1159276197194852342006-09-26T08:57:00.000-04:002006-09-26T09:16:29.956-04:00

Last of the Yan Tan Village farms:It’s the rainy season, which brings regular showers, mostly at night. Lanzhou is mud luscious and puddle pungent.I walk as often as possible down the back lanes of Yantan village where the last few small farmers are hanging on. I just like to look at the green. In a few weeks the frost will blacken the fields, and no one can say whether there will be another

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1158805435893819202006-09-20T22:21:00.000-04:002006-09-20T22:36:55.146-04:00

Goosed by a taxi (and other adventures.) I had begun to worry that I was becoming too acclimated in China, beginning to overlook the interesting details that will still be novel to my readers, make their vicarious experience richer. Then, as if experience itself were crying out to be noticed . . .The other morning I was crossing YanTan Lu. (I wrote a year ago about the hazards of crossing the

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1157032679137210222006-08-31T09:36:00.000-04:002006-08-31T10:24:31.723-04:00

So here I am, back in Lanzhou, hungrily anticipating the beginning of school. Bits of my psyche are scattered all over China and the northeastern United States, putting down their roots while I frantically try to re-integrate myself and focus on who I am, where I am.Being in New York for two months was rich and instructive. I savored friendship, companionship, relationship. I sailed the high seas

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1157030608394038452006-08-31T09:03:00.000-04:002006-08-31T09:29:47.300-04:00

Migrant workers are the physical engine driving China’s explosive economic development. Anywhere there’s construction – buildings, roads, bridges, railroads, airports – the migrant force of impoverished rural laborers does the backbreaking work. The tents they occupy year round near construction sites are a familiar sight. The An De Gate Labor Market in Nanjing is the biggest in East China; in

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1156942644835674892006-08-30T08:49:00.000-04:002006-08-30T09:03:23.526-04:00

I attended a Chinese wedding reception for the first time last Sunday – the first of many, since a number of my young teacher friends are engaged to be married. The bride, my colleague Cai Jing, and her husband greeted everyone as they entered the sunlit dining room of a downtown restaurant.(In this instance, there was no marriage ceremony. The couple has been married for a few months, but since

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1156937845980926742006-08-30T07:21:00.000-04:002006-08-30T07:40:13.016-04:00

There are lots of billboards along the expressway between Lanzhou and the airport. One that recently caught my eye advertises an insurance firm. Insurance is a new idea in China, a fledgling industry. With insurance, I mused, comes the notion of liability. Liability brings accountability, safety standards and precautions, codes and warnings – "doing the right thing for the wrong reason" –

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1151755847461297372006-07-01T08:06:00.000-04:002006-08-30T07:47:03.986-04:00

Text of a homily offered at St. Andrew's, New Paltz, June 25, 2006: (August 30 "editor's note": the market lane that I rhapsodize about in my homily is all but gone. As a Lanzhou friend observed, "The cars have won." Our merchants have been driven out to make way for the SUVs and taxis. The is some market activity in the evening, but I fear that will soon end as well. Change is precipitous in

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1149495333002128472006-06-05T04:08:00.000-04:002006-06-05T04:15:33.013-04:00

June 4, 2006: I got to church with time to spare today, for the first time in weeks. Sometimes I’m just disorganized, but sometimes Lanzhou’s version of the "big dig" is to blame. It causes unpredictable bus detours. On a good day, it takes about forty minutes to ride the #82 bus from my stop to the church.The Day of Pentecost. Wow! I have come all the way around the Christian calendar in China.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1148808412471960032006-05-28T05:09:00.000-04:002006-05-28T05:26:52.483-04:00

Thursday was a warm and hazy late spring afternoon. I was teaching on the fourth floor of Building B, its rusty casement windows open over the rose garden, and from beyond came the voices of students playing basketball and football (soccer, that is) on the beaten earth sports area. The tops of the trees began to sway, and in seconds the wind was rattling the windows. A sandstorm always seems to

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1148047407804792452006-05-19T09:46:00.000-04:002006-05-19T10:03:27.826-04:00

OK, think about this. How would you explain the difference between a microwave oven and a conventional oven? Factor in that you are speaking to someone who speaks rudimentary English. I think I made a bad job of explaining it, yesterday, when my friend Zhao Jing, a young Marketing instructor at our college, came over to bake brownies. Oven science aside, we had fun and the brownies came out

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1145174855017159882006-04-16T03:49:00.000-04:002006-04-16T04:07:35.030-04:00

Holy Week in Lanzhou: Monday, a dust storm, Tuesday, a snow storm, freezing temperatures all week. Central heat was turned off by the Central Government on April 1, so morning is chilly, grinding the coffee beans in the breezy kitchen.Good Friday at Xiao Gou Tou Church: the nuns’ lilting chant sounds like Latin, though of course it’s Chinese. The huge crucifix is veiled in black; Bishop Joseph

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1143981997451682942006-04-02T08:40:00.000-04:002006-04-02T08:46:37.453-04:00

The molded mannequin: she is ubiquitous; she has perfect posture; she is stern and forbidding. Mutely she conveys a clear message. "Comrades, shopping for pleasure is bourgeois frivolity. Be thrifty; buy what you really need and hurry home to work hard and honor Marx and Chairman Mao."But in today's China, she has competition.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1143981587834406062006-04-02T08:25:00.000-04:002006-04-02T08:39:47.846-04:00

Leaving Lanzhou by train is a lot like leaving New York (except that a mixed-voice quartet is singing Brahms’ lullaby in Chinese over the PA). The train ambles along and the city persists for miles. Lanzhou, Lanzhou, Lanzhou, the massive apartment blocks that look alike in every quarter of the city – then railyards, military trains on sidings, bald tan mountains in the near distance, a glimpse of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1141655752358649462006-03-06T08:59:00.000-05:002006-03-06T09:35:52.370-05:00

Women's Day, 2006This holiday is a pretty big deal, here. My students tell me to be sure to go shopping, that there will be good sales. Just like home, I think. Holiday equals marketing frenzy.Our faculty celebration was co-ed, a predictable but no less pleasant hot-pot dinner punctuated by toast after toast. The young teachers, all in their early twenties, are always good company. I've gotten to

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1141653222241054472006-03-06T08:28:00.000-05:002006-03-06T08:53:42.253-05:00

The Slowly Evolving Reading Room I am ecstatic that some cartons of books for our students have arrived from the U.S. Thank you, good friends! Ruth and I have been working to turn the bedroom of our office suite into a reading room. Yes, we have a bedroom. Most faculty have beds in their offices here; sleeping on the job is not frowned upon. China, at least in this traditional area, operates like

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1141651698093991162006-03-06T08:26:00.000-05:002006-07-01T08:15:29.900-04:00

Holy niu rou mian, (beef noodles) Batman! We're in the New York Times!Source: New York Times (3/4/06):http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/04/international/asia/04china.htmlNoodle Prices Rise, Along With Chinese TempersBy JIM YARDLEYLANZHOU, China‹ One difference between China's remote west and the rest ofthe country is what people choose to put in their stomachs. Noodles, notrice, are the favorite

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1141047627695889652006-02-27T08:32:00.000-05:002006-02-27T08:40:27.696-05:00

The Classroom Without a Doorknob: A Tale of Teaching in ChinaThis morning when I arrived to teach the second of my two morning classes, I couldn’t figure out how to open the door. The knob was missing. I could hear the students talking inside, so I knocked. Then I could hear them attempting to open the door, and it became clear that they were locked in and I was locked out. Luckily, the room is

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1141047124060383392006-02-27T08:25:00.000-05:002006-02-27T08:32:04.073-05:00

It was shaping up to be a pretty ordinary Sunday. Rae and I planned to worship at 10 A.M., and then I expected to stop at a supermarket on the way home and pick up a few groceries. I was looking forward to cooking dinner for a colleague and squeezing in a little lesson planning, maybe even a load of laundry. Just an ordinary Sunday.After mass, we lingered in the lobby of the church to chat with

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1139838473742601992006-02-13T08:36:00.000-05:002006-02-13T08:47:53.753-05:00

"Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief . . .." There aren’t many beggars in Lanzhou. I’m not sure why. The ones I see are old but look healthy enough. They are most evident outside the Christian churches on Sundays. They insist they’re hungry, but if I’m with students or Chinese friends, they hustle me away, insisting that the beggars are frauds and I shouldn’t give them anything. I can never

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1139661724771909402006-02-11T07:08:00.000-05:002006-02-14T06:35:26.066-05:00

I wrote in my journal on January 26th: "Living in China is like living in Texas. We don’t take distance very seriously."Note: I have established a photo site. If you want to see more photos, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahsaysOur merry band of Amity Foundation volunteer teachers traveled far and wide in Guangxi Autonomous Region, visiting the projects of other Amity divisions:We ride in

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1136713096412130272006-01-08T04:16:00.000-05:002006-01-08T04:38:16.476-05:00

They smell like Easter! I foolishly bought a magnificent dish of forced bulbs, forgetting that I would be leaving Lanzhou just as they begin to bloom. I will be away for over three weeks, and will probably miss the whole spectacle. But I did get a glimpse, which is probably all the Easter I deserve just three days after the Epiphany. (The dish is going to live with my friend Sadie, who is not

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1135731072364706452005-12-27T19:36:00.000-05:002005-12-27T19:51:12.376-05:00

Oh, Lanzhou, would you let me be your spellchecker?! I read recently that in Beijing there is an effort under way to correct all the silly English signs in time for the Olympics – such as the multi-cultural monument that is labeled, "Racist Park." Here in Gansu province, I’m simply surprised at how much public English there is. The better buses – the ones with automated announcements of the

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1135687180118002232005-12-27T07:34:00.000-05:002005-12-27T07:39:40.130-05:00

No photos for this one, but "Parental Discretion is Advised":Above the gurney where my friend rests uneasily, there is a wall calendar. It depicts a royal blue sky with wisps of white clouds, a green field dotted with yellow flowers, and three perky, smiling nurses in immaculate white garb. The title reads, in English: "Nature and Harmonious Goodwill for Life." My friend is lying under a heap of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1135605176758731852005-12-26T08:27:00.000-05:002005-12-26T08:52:56.823-05:00

After a Christmas weekend filled with festive parties and rich food (along with seemingly endless rounds of dishwashing), Ruth and I made the natural choice tonight – we went out to a restaurant. A Chinese restaurant, of course.Christmas in Lanzhou has been full of surprises. The first was the appearance of holiday merchandise early in December. The supermarket Santa whose picture I snapped was

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1133616165593137252005-12-03T08:16:00.000-05:002005-12-03T08:22:45.603-05:00

Snow! When I opened the curtains early this morning, big flakes were falling. Snow was dusting the pavement outside the paper recycling plant and the Gansu government archive. It was melting in the water bowl of the dejected archive guard dog and squandering its whiteness on the gray concrete facade of the unfinished apartment block. I sighed, as I have so many times, yearning for the beauty of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1133070015320741072005-11-27T00:36:00.000-05:002005-11-27T00:40:15.330-05:00

Advent 1. Rae and I sang "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" in English, odd counterpoint to the host of Chinese voices around us. The four of us (Ruth, Kendra, Rae and I) defected to the Roman Catholic church about a month ago. Enraptured as we were with the choir at the Protestant Church, we had gradually become uncomfortable with the worship style. The sermons were always at least an hour long,

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1133010355807640662005-11-26T08:02:00.000-05:002005-11-26T08:05:55.816-05:00

Life is good in the Yan Tan Barrio: Ruth and I have just enjoyed a meal of bacon cheeseburgers and tossed salad. Like true immigrants anywhere, we pool our resources with other displaced Americans and replicate the experience of home. In this case, our friend Kendra found a butcher who would make ground beef, our friend Kate found bacon in one of the supermarkets, and I had located both cheese

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1132409459439093772005-11-19T09:05:00.000-05:002005-11-19T09:20:42.653-05:00

The #82 and the #128 . . .Please indulge me while I get my obsession with public transportation out of my system.The public buses in Lanzhou are ubiquitous and cost one yuan (about twelve cents) to ride. I am having a romance with the buses, to the point of annoying some friends who favor the comfort and convenience of the (likewise plentiful and cheap) taxis. Yes, I’m obsessed. Discovering a

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1132228865797521652005-11-17T06:56:00.000-05:002005-11-17T07:01:05.810-05:00

The Lexicon of Bus Language (Note: Taxis speak a dialect that has a specialized vocabulary and emphasis tailored to the smaller vehicle .)"Bip...bip...bip...": (three quarter notes in a high register). "Pedestrians and bicyclists, if you hustle up and get out of my way, I promise not to run you over.""Bleat, bleat . . ." (two half notes in a middle register). "To those of you who can’t see me yet

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1132147529874043182005-11-16T08:21:00.000-05:002005-11-16T08:25:29.886-05:00

What was the date of my last blog? September 22! Please forgive me! I have a whole catalog of excuses, but I’ll skip that and just tell you what has been going on here in Lanzhou.I have just sampled my second attempt at making pizza. It was a slight improvement over the first. To begin with, I had to buy an oven; that occurred around the end of October. (It’s an oversized toaster oven, an exotic

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1127387801328769502005-09-22T06:55:00.000-04:002005-09-22T07:58:05.456-04:00

Teaching has taken over my life . . . but that's the way it's supposed to be. I teach Listening to first-year students (3 classes), British and American Culture to second-year students (4 classes), and Newspaper Reading to adult students (1 class). If I overlook the fact that they all happen to be Chinese, my students differ very little from the ones in New Paltz . . . especially the first-years.

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1126441514934041862005-09-11T08:17:00.000-04:002005-09-18T03:41:25.933-04:00

Don't you just love a good miracle? I especially like the small, serendipitous kind.Ruth (my Amity teaching partner) and I have worshiped at the Shanzishi Protestant Church every Sunday since we arrived in Lanzhou. Yesterday evening over dinner we decided that it was time to learn how to get there by bus; the taxi is expensive. I promised to go home and study the bus route map, in all its Chinese

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1125734258436215852005-09-03T03:24:00.000-04:002005-09-03T03:57:39.166-04:00

Friday, September 2, 2005, 6:30 PM: Outside the window are the sounds of never-ending construction, and the crying of a distressed child, “Maaaamaaa! Maaamaaaa!” The smell of my own dinner simmering mingles with other city odors. I could be in almost any city in the world, but it happens that I’m in Lanzhou, Gansu, Peoples Republic of China. This is my eighth day in Lanzhou. I had to count on my

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1124806995112312862005-08-23T10:09:00.000-04:002005-08-24T01:19:51.113-04:00

We said farewell to Huzhou on Sunday (8/21). During three weeks we had put down some roots, albeit shallow ones; it was tough to yank them out. The city may be typical of many in China, negotiating with remarkable grace the trajectory of explosive economic growth. Huzhou is a thoroughly modern city with reminders of traditional life around every corner.Each day we walked from our hotel to the

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1123402186469357612005-08-07T04:00:00.000-04:002005-08-23T21:50:19.680-04:00

width="560"/>My first public worship in China – my first Eucharist. The plain brass cross above the sanctuary is outlined in colored lights; the lectern is at the center of the platform, with a simple altar to the left, covered by a white cloth appliqued with a red satin cross. There are folding chairs for the choir on the platform. Potted plants line the front of the platform, some azaleas and

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1123131427108714612005-08-04T00:53:00.000-04:002005-08-23T10:26:28.420-04:00

At last – I am here! We arrived in Shanghai on Friday evening (7/29). It later occurred to me that I had never read the Daily Office for Friday morning because there had been no Friday morning! It may take me some time to regain the sense of myself in time and space. At night I dream that I’m still in the U.S. getting ready to leave.I traveled with Amity teachers Ruth (who will be my partner in

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1118635264945682352005-06-13T00:00:00.000-04:002005-06-13T00:01:04.950-04:00

Debby rides with Bo and Samson and me to the animal sanctuary. We bump over the unpaved lane and pull up to the gate in a chainlink fence. A half dozen dogs rush to the ends of their kennel runs to greet us. In the yard, a volunteer is wrapping a just-bathed Basset Hound in a beach towel. A woman in jeans comes to help us, calling out for Jennifer, the “cat person.” Jennifer is a tall, bulky

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1118291045589711652005-06-09T00:21:00.000-04:002005-06-09T00:24:05.596-04:00

Courtney speaks of her recent time in the garden. “The earth just keeps producing bio-mass!” she observes. “I take up this bunch of bio-mass,” her eloquent hands mime the act of pulling a clump of weeds from the ground and discarding it, “And get rid of it so that this other one can bloom more abundantly.” Courtney mimes her protection of the cultivated plant, then spreads her hands, a gesture of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1117481219732761662005-05-30T15:01:00.000-04:002005-05-30T15:26:59.736-04:00

From today's gospel: ". . . none of you can become my disciples unless you give up all of your possessions." Luke 14:35I find it ironic that on the eve of becoming a full-time pedestrian, I am spending an inordinate amount of time in the car. I console myself that driving it here, there and everywhere increases the number of people who see its day-glo For Sale sign.The volume is cranked up on my

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1115779763772003662005-05-10T22:04:00.000-04:002005-05-10T22:49:23.793-04:00

Standing on the sidewalk on Main Street, I heard Jan tell me one more time how important I am to everyone and what wonderful work I have done. And I thought, gee, it must be true! I never step back, I told her, and take a long view of what I do. It’s just this one casserole dish I’m making, this one student’s essay revision I’m guiding. Leaving the country is a little like getting to attend one’s

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1114572047935870762005-04-26T23:17:00.000-04:002005-04-26T23:20:47.936-04:00

I’ve been packing books. If I hurry up and get them boxed up, I can give them to Sojourner Truth Library for the benefit book sale that starts next week. Last night, as I was filling boxes, I noticed that I had used a note card for a bookmark in one. It turned out to be a note from Edna Tyldsley, my old friend at Grace Church, who died a couple of years ago. The note was dated January 28, 2001,

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1113940773149450552005-04-19T15:16:00.000-04:002005-04-19T15:59:33.150-04:00

Confession of a reformed trash picker: I have begun to give back! For years I have relished the week in spring when citizens are permitted to place anything and everything at the curb for free pickup by the public works guys. Gleefully I have cruised around and loaded the car with objects of beauty and utility. A brass chandelier. A sturdy stepstool. Ice cream parlor chairs. This year, I have

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1113509743047546422005-04-14T15:45:00.000-04:002005-04-14T16:15:43.046-04:00

I am making a list. Actually, as always, I am making a lot of lists. This particular one is called "Things I must remember not to take for granted while I still have them." It is a work in progress, but here's what it contains so far:long hot showerslooking up numbers in the phone bookfish tacosScott tissueThe Daily Show on Comedy Centralidle chat with strangers in the supermarketgood sermons

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1112320288879813152005-03-31T20:17:00.000-05:002005-04-01T14:02:06.550-05:00

I had my routine eye examination today. (Next week I have an appointment to update my will and make a medical directive. The following week I begin my vaccine regimen . . . my forced march through necessary stuff.) But back to the eye exam. When I read the alphabet charts competently, the optometrist complimented me and I asked him if I'd earned an "A". He said that I had. For all of my life,

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1110852789129034252005-03-14T21:11:00.000-05:002005-03-14T21:13:09.130-05:00

Four days in New Mexico. With the luxury of a borrowed car, I drove north from Albuquerque to Espanola on an afternoon saturated with sun. The landscape on every side made me gasp. In the distance blue and white mountains seemed to recede as I sped on. In the foreground, fantastic hills and mesas of every shape in red, tan and ochre. "In his hand are the caverns of the earth, and the hills are

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1109554930827790642005-02-27T20:06:00.000-05:002005-04-28T09:18:01.536-04:00

So. Abbie (c. 1988-2005, aka Silky Girl, Gray Bear, Miss Nab, and Pinky Tongue) died last night. Her last day as a cat on earth was probably what she would have wanted it to be. She spent most of it on the end of the couch nearest the gas heater, with sun streaming in the windows. About 5 PM I gave her her favorite snack, that foil pouch of gooey stuff. She loved it so much, she'd stand on top of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1108929350046766812005-02-20T14:22:00.000-05:002005-04-28T09:19:13.546-04:00

Retreat! It's a verb, it's a noun . . . I have just returned from 2+ days in silent retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park (a gruelling ten-minute drive over back-country roads from my home). The monastery is perched above the Hudson River, with a clear view of one of the Vanderbilt mansions in Hyde Park, monument to commerce and greed, across the water -- an ironic sight. The sky all

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1108084618139475642005-02-10T20:07:00.000-05:002005-02-10T20:16:58.140-05:00

How easy and at the same time how hard it all is! Earlier this evening I was reflecting how imperatives have slipped away. I had a waste lettuce leaf in my hand, and there was no compelling need to be sure it made its way to compost. All of those old rules are melting. But now, later in the evening, there's a stray cat on the back porch. Bo and Samson alerted me. As I write, they are both still

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1107726469244073972005-02-06T16:37:00.000-05:002005-04-28T09:18:30.886-04:00

This was an exceptionally beautiful winter day in New Paltz. The sun was dazzling on the snow, the sky was blue and then some, and it got warm enough for the eaves to drip. Against this yes-Virginia-there-will-be-spring backdrop, I spoke my homily at St. Andrew's. The response was as beautiful and encouraging as the weather outside. It strikes me that mission is like a hypertext. It's full of

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1107439637884457002005-02-03T08:51:00.000-05:002005-02-03T16:24:33.173-05:00

Now home from Orientation for almost two weeks, I'm still finding myself mentally scattered. Part of me is still in Austin, part of me is racing ahead to get ready and to be in China, and the other part is trying to go about my usual routine of work, church and social life. The house is a complete shambles and it just keeps getting worse. I have resolved that on Saturday I will go to the dump. So

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656290.post-1107192758152272692005-01-31T13:17:00.000-05:002005-03-03T12:08:40.450-05:00

RE-INVENTING MYSELF!This neglected blog was created a few months ago as part of a project I was doing with my Composition students. I have decided to continue it, rather than start a new one, b/c I like some of the things I posted last fall. But now on to my new life . . .On January 14th I accepted a position as Anglican Missionary in China. I will be leaving for China in August, 2005, although I

Sarahnoreply@blogger.com0