Everyday my muscles ache more and more. I struggle to remember every step and I am starting to show my fatigue. After my 2 or 3 hours of kung fu every morning I come home and try to sneak in a 15 or 20-minute nap. It may sound unhealthy when I write it this way, but more than anything, I leave every kung fu lesson feeling as if I expelled a little more of the unhealthy habits and nature that have grown within me over the past 4 years…including maintaining a normal, natural sleep pattern. After only two weeks of intense training I can comfortably hold a stretch in which I am firmly grasping my feet with my legs straight. I can hold a quad strained horse stance for 5 to 10 minutes rather than 30 seconds. Every night I lie down and sleep as if I’ve never slept before. I have a feeling that a year of this will mold me into a shape and provide a discipline I have never had. As in all things, to gain strength we must strip ourselves of weakness and sometimes that stripping process is painful.
In other news, last week my Chinese friend called an orphanage to let them know that we would like to come by and play music for them whenever possible. They called back and asked us to play for one of their fundraising events and we said that sounded good. What we did not realize is that this ‘fundraising event’ would be held in Harbin’s Dragon Tower with all the city’s finest and fanciful suits. The Dragon Tower was built recently here in Harbin and it is considered the beacon of Harbin. It costs an arm and a leg just to get inside the place and once inside you can pay even more to take an elevator that launches up about 700 feet into the sky. Once you arrive at the top you enter a revolving restaurant that overlooks the entire city. It is in this location that we played a song for a live broadcast that covered the entire Heilongjiang province. To give you an idea of how many people may have been tuned in that evening, the entire Heilongjiang province includes about 38 million people. Miriam, Jones and myself were one of two (out of ten groups) that actually did our music live, all the others were lip singing to someone else’s voice for the show…you could say that that was the theme of that ‘help the orphans’ evening. Little attention was given to the actual orphans. The reason there were so many wealthy investors there is because, well, first of all, the guanxi. Guanxi is a complex Chinese interaction that could roughly translate into the word ‘connections.’ The way that business people might network in order to get ahead in their corporation or place of work is the same way in which Chinese people interact in society when trying to get ahead. Of course, like all things Chinese, the idea is extremely complex. Beside guanxi, this was a modeling opportunity for many of the wealthy people’s children. I did not see one picture of an orphan taken without including one of the wealthy people’s children too. The reason? The reason is exactly what you are thinking; the orphanage needs pictures that include presentable looking children to put on the brochures, websites, etc. The only interaction that I saw anyone have with the actual orphans in the room were limited to our group of three and the nurses that take care of the children everyday. I don’t associate this evening with Chinese people. I associate this evening with the reality of all people everywhere - even when we think we are helping people we are still hiding that which must be helped: the ugliness, the poverty and the neglect. We do this with others and we do it with ourselves, but the Father cannot heal what we are unwilling to bring forth and expose. I know because I am guilty of this as much as any person.
It is hard to keep up with everything that is happening. Sometimes we hit a day that is all new adventure and completely new happenings and the next day, life feels totally normal and we do what we always do. Life in China, for an American guy, is very unpredictable. I can honestly admit that I am starting to fall in love with this place and I know it is real because the process is stretching me in every way I thought I couldn’t stretch. Included in that challenging series of stretches, I started teaching class last week and let me tell you, freshman in college are CRAZY! These are some of the rowdiest kids I’ve every interacted with. Also, filling three hours effectively is extremely difficult. Many of the girls took secret photos of me on their phones and after class confessed it by showing me the pictures they took, giggling and then running out the door like a child who managed to sneak an extra serving of dessert. Many of the guys in class are clearly playing their cool cards because they are most definitely the minority in these classes. The fact in China is that, males are the majority. It is said that for every 100 girls born there are 120 boys born, so you can do the math and see that in a country of almost 1 billion people, this is an issue. There aren’t enough guys to go around. I’d say the guys in my classes don’t have any negative feelings about this statistics, because when it comes to studying English, females are the majority and that little statistic has given these fellas an edge on the market.
Last night, Jared and I were interviewed for a campus talk show. The interview lasted about 2 hours and the student club that put on the event treated us to a meal afterwards. The meal was something of a miracle. I ended up at a separate table from Jared and MJ. So, I sat with about 7 Chinese students and we kicked off the evening with great food and lots of chat. After a while, as the conversation got deeper and we all felt more comfortable, the students started asking me questions about my life, like why I talk to the Father before meals and why I believe I can rely on Him for strength. One girl said that this seems like weakness, to think that you have to rely on anyone or anything beside yourself for help. I told her that the message could outline it much better than me and fortunately I had a message with me. I brought it out and all the students were fascinated to see it. They asked to read from it and so I did. The message was then passed around and many people read from it and the discussion went further and further until about 5 of the 7 people said they were interested in meeting up once a week to learn more about this book and the things that follow it. An evening like last night just reminds me that I do not in fact have any power on my own. I could have never orchestrated last night’s events so perfectly, nor could I have expected to have the right things to say without help from the Dove.
I ask you to not only send up thoughts for that, but also for our Sunday gatherings that now include up to three Chinese people right now. We need guidance about where to go and what to do next, guidance that the Father can provide.
Until next time,
~Johnny Young
In other news, last week my Chinese friend called an orphanage to let them know that we would like to come by and play music for them whenever possible. They called back and asked us to play for one of their fundraising events and we said that sounded good. What we did not realize is that this ‘fundraising event’ would be held in Harbin’s Dragon Tower with all the city’s finest and fanciful suits. The Dragon Tower was built recently here in Harbin and it is considered the beacon of Harbin. It costs an arm and a leg just to get inside the place and once inside you can pay even more to take an elevator that launches up about 700 feet into the sky. Once you arrive at the top you enter a revolving restaurant that overlooks the entire city. It is in this location that we played a song for a live broadcast that covered the entire Heilongjiang province. To give you an idea of how many people may have been tuned in that evening, the entire Heilongjiang province includes about 38 million people. Miriam, Jones and myself were one of two (out of ten groups) that actually did our music live, all the others were lip singing to someone else’s voice for the show…you could say that that was the theme of that ‘help the orphans’ evening. Little attention was given to the actual orphans. The reason there were so many wealthy investors there is because, well, first of all, the guanxi. Guanxi is a complex Chinese interaction that could roughly translate into the word ‘connections.’ The way that business people might network in order to get ahead in their corporation or place of work is the same way in which Chinese people interact in society when trying to get ahead. Of course, like all things Chinese, the idea is extremely complex. Beside guanxi, this was a modeling opportunity for many of the wealthy people’s children. I did not see one picture of an orphan taken without including one of the wealthy people’s children too. The reason? The reason is exactly what you are thinking; the orphanage needs pictures that include presentable looking children to put on the brochures, websites, etc. The only interaction that I saw anyone have with the actual orphans in the room were limited to our group of three and the nurses that take care of the children everyday. I don’t associate this evening with Chinese people. I associate this evening with the reality of all people everywhere - even when we think we are helping people we are still hiding that which must be helped: the ugliness, the poverty and the neglect. We do this with others and we do it with ourselves, but the Father cannot heal what we are unwilling to bring forth and expose. I know because I am guilty of this as much as any person.
It is hard to keep up with everything that is happening. Sometimes we hit a day that is all new adventure and completely new happenings and the next day, life feels totally normal and we do what we always do. Life in China, for an American guy, is very unpredictable. I can honestly admit that I am starting to fall in love with this place and I know it is real because the process is stretching me in every way I thought I couldn’t stretch. Included in that challenging series of stretches, I started teaching class last week and let me tell you, freshman in college are CRAZY! These are some of the rowdiest kids I’ve every interacted with. Also, filling three hours effectively is extremely difficult. Many of the girls took secret photos of me on their phones and after class confessed it by showing me the pictures they took, giggling and then running out the door like a child who managed to sneak an extra serving of dessert. Many of the guys in class are clearly playing their cool cards because they are most definitely the minority in these classes. The fact in China is that, males are the majority. It is said that for every 100 girls born there are 120 boys born, so you can do the math and see that in a country of almost 1 billion people, this is an issue. There aren’t enough guys to go around. I’d say the guys in my classes don’t have any negative feelings about this statistics, because when it comes to studying English, females are the majority and that little statistic has given these fellas an edge on the market.
Last night, Jared and I were interviewed for a campus talk show. The interview lasted about 2 hours and the student club that put on the event treated us to a meal afterwards. The meal was something of a miracle. I ended up at a separate table from Jared and MJ. So, I sat with about 7 Chinese students and we kicked off the evening with great food and lots of chat. After a while, as the conversation got deeper and we all felt more comfortable, the students started asking me questions about my life, like why I talk to the Father before meals and why I believe I can rely on Him for strength. One girl said that this seems like weakness, to think that you have to rely on anyone or anything beside yourself for help. I told her that the message could outline it much better than me and fortunately I had a message with me. I brought it out and all the students were fascinated to see it. They asked to read from it and so I did. The message was then passed around and many people read from it and the discussion went further and further until about 5 of the 7 people said they were interested in meeting up once a week to learn more about this book and the things that follow it. An evening like last night just reminds me that I do not in fact have any power on my own. I could have never orchestrated last night’s events so perfectly, nor could I have expected to have the right things to say without help from the Dove.
I ask you to not only send up thoughts for that, but also for our Sunday gatherings that now include up to three Chinese people right now. We need guidance about where to go and what to do next, guidance that the Father can provide.
Until next time,
~Johnny Young
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