G'bye Mate!

Jin Yi has left Tianjin. She's now in Weihai, her hometown, where she will quickly pack and get ready for her flight to Australia next week. This morning she flew from Beijing to Weihai. She had been living in Tanggu where she worked, but since her fight leaves Beijing at 7, she needs to catch the 4am bus to Beijing from Tianjin. The question for her -- where should she sit with all of her belongings while waiting for the bus 4am bus? The answer? My apartment. So Pan Ke, Feng Fan, and I had a going away party for our friend last night. Jin Yi's boss in Tanggu gave her a ride to Tianjin and then she was able to store all of her things in my apartment:



Believe it or not, her biggest suitcase is not pictured here! It was very amazing that she was able to get onto the plane with so much stuff! Then we went out to eat hotpot together:



Jin Yi trying to hide from my camera behind a glass:



Then we went back to my apartment to do, what else, play cards!



Amazingly, we stopped cards to watch Sesame Street! It was the first time they had ever seen it. They were especially interested in watching Elmo show children how to mail a letter, as "Elmo" is Jin Yi's nickname:



As 3:30 rolled around, it was a mad scramble to find taxis to get over to the bus stop. I thought I had seen people cry before. I was wrong! The flood of tears that emerged was quite amazing (or depressing, depending on your point of view).

Jin Yi has been a big part of my life in Tianjin. She helped me fix my laptop, got me my apartment, taught me Chinese, but, most of all, she was a true friend. In life, there are few people with whom we can really be close friends. Jin Yi is one of those special people in my life. Thank you for the memories.

Xinjiang Food & World Cup

Yesterday Yang Xi "the computer man" came over to help fix some problems with the laptop. Afterwards a group of us went to eat Xinjiang food:



We then made it our goal to stay up late enough to go watch the World Cup together. So after eating dinner we came back over to my apartment and talked and played cards until 3 am. Then we rode our bikes over to McDonalds on Guangdong Lu to watch the 3rd Place World Cup game between Germany and Portugal. Afterwards, I stayed up burning DVDs but the others all took a short nap at my place. Here's Yang Xi trying to sleep...



Germany won the game 3-1 by the way. I was rooting for Portugal, whose Chinese name putaoya translates to grape teeth!

Dinner at Tian Ta

Tonight Pan Ke, Jin Yi, and I ate dinner at Dong Po Zhou Jia Restaurant near the Tianjin TV tower. Some pretty good eats there!

Injection #4,321

Over the past two months, I have not been so healthy. Or, being the optimistic person that I am, I should say...over the past two months, I've been getting healthier! That's because I've been going to Tian He Hospital at the corner of Fukang Lu and Munan Dao to receive medication via IV (or as my Chinese friends like to call it, an injection)! I've had several people visit me during these fun hours at the hospital. Today was Jin Yi's turn...



I'm not an expert on Chinese medical practices, but I think biting the tube is not the proper way to help the patient improve!

Migrant Recyclers

Today I decided to recycle some of the bottles I'd saved up from various parties over the past month. I get 0.2 RMB (or about $.02) for each 2 liter or 1 liter bottle and 0.1 RMB (about $.01) for each 600ml or similar size bottle. After living in Michigan for three years before moving to China, I had gotten in the habbit of recycling my bottles. Of course, in Michigan, you get $0.10 per bottle! (And in Kentucky you get nothing.) Here is a photo of me and the woman who came to pick them up:



For this stack, I got about 25 RMB (about $3). Doesn't sound like much, but when you can buy lunch in the student dining hall for 3 RMB ($0.37), you can make that money go along way. Anyway, I want to comment a little bit about this young woman. She is my age and has 3 children. Her family lives in Anhui province but it is difficult for her to find a good paying job there. So she came to Tianjin as a migrant worker. She collects bottles for $.01 and gets paid $.02 when she turns them into the recycling center. And she makes more money by doing that than in her home province. How sad. Actually, the money is not as bad as you might think. She made about $3 off of me in about 45 minutes. If she can find 8 customers each day, she could make about 200 RMB per day (or about $25). Assuming she works 30 days per month (and believe me, I've seen these migrants out working every day), then she can earn 6,000 RMB per month! For comparison, a new college graduate from TFSU makes about 1,700 RMB per month. So perhaps I've overestimated her earning potential, but it isn't as bad as it sounds at first. Still, to have to leave one's family behind is sad. She is a very friendly person and even has business cards! Please keep her and others around the world who have to work so hard to provide for their families in prayer. Seeing her at work makes me realize how much God has blessed me. It is a shame how often I forget to thank him for all He's provided. (Remember James 1:17)