It's Online, Folks

The computer makes possible many links with home. The United Methodist Hymn, is online. At one time, I would have considered this a bit hokey, but over here you really appreciate it. The address is

http://www.hymnsite.com/abc.sht

in case you want to check it out. Along with MIDI files for most of the hymns we sing, there's a reminder that not all important links are with the worldwide web-- instead of moving the mouse, one might pray. A well-taken point.
I had hoped to show an image our hymnal to accompany this post. Can't do it, though. That part of the image site's being blocked.

Comforts of Home

You miss all sorts of things when you're this far from home. When the weather turned cold, and I started missing my oven. Chinese kitchens don't have them, as most Chinese cooking is done on top of the stop. I the bread I like to bake and how neat it would be if I could give people bread to reciprocate hospitality. I finally located and purchased a small convection oven in downtown Weihai. I asked my friend James Zhang to write the Chinese words for 'yeast,' 'flour,' and 'sugar' in my trusty notebook. Then I went to the supermarket. The oven is small and a little hard to work with; however it's possible to turn out a reasonably good loaf of bread.

He and She

James Zhang and his wife wanted to know how Joe was managing without me. They were astounded when I told him Joe could clean house and is able to cook. Traditionally In China, these areas are the exclusive purview of women. From observations of younger colleagues, this may be changing, as it is in the US.

Chinese women attend university and almost all work outside the home, but are extremely deferential to men who are pampered and waited upon in the home. Chinese women remain girlish longer than we. They cultivate cuteness. Well into their twenties, they wear shirts with bows and bunny decals of the sort my daughter refused to wear by age 10.

Marital partners expect less individuality and privacy within the relationship here in China. They open each other's mail. They do not knock on the door when the partner is dressing. Earnings are always pooled-- there is no separation of bank accounts or other resources. Were one's partner to want a separate bank account, one could infer infidelity

Book of Books

Thanks to the work of Amity Press, publication arm of the United Bible Society in China, the Bible is available to the people of China in their native language. There is still some government control over distribution. The Bible is generally unavailable in bookstores, for example and must be obtained in the (state run) church. I am told that in some places, persons purchasing a Bible must give their names, though this is not true in Weihai.

A bookstore featuring the Bible operates on the upper floor of the Weihai Church. Here, access to Bible text is tightly controlled. As in a bank, clerks sit behind glass screens, managing transactions. One may not browse, as in a Chinese bookstore. For us, the Bibles are not expensive-- a complete one costs 25 yuen, the equivalent of 3 dollars. However, they might be pricey for some Chinese, many of whom support families on 600 yuen a month.

I was permitted to take the posted photos through a business window at the bookstore.