Fun Stories! Not all mine :-)

Guess what?! Bars are fun! We went to the loudest, craziest small-town bar last night. We went to a really cool Chinese street (old China, I guess?)... anyway, Lounes took us to this crazy bar where he knows the owner. As soon as we walked in the owner shooed some other customers away from a table so that we could sit at it and proceded to treat us like gold for about an hour. He was the sweetest, happiest old man of all time- shouting and laughing and talking about love (he made some really good points- love is not complicated. We must all love one another, to do anything else is illegal and you should be shot... if you love me you must love my wife and my sons, if I love you I must love your wife and your famliy, etc.) and his "Aunties," (Jessica and I both). Then he hugged Jess and kissed her cheek ;-) He really was a wonderful man, I guess his company got a $6,000,000 order yesterday and he was pretty pumped. He is a friend of Lounes. It was So Fun! I've never seen Lounes laugh so much. The owner brought us all beers but Lounes told him we didn't drink, so that saved us from an uncomfortable situation. The place was so loud and so fun! The owner has been to the States, and to OK where he got a real, leather cowboy hat that is his pride and joy- he tried it on each of us :-) He was absolutely adorable. Jonathan has some pictures that I hope turned out great. I hope that we go back in order to develop and maintian relationships with the people that God is brining into our lives.

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Then, when we finally left, we went to a tea house- very pleasant. Then Lounes found out another friend was upstairs, so we were all ushered into a fairly small room with a large table and 5-6 people all smoking and drinking. We stayed until 12:25 just laughing and talking and pretending to understand :-D. The friend of Lounes used to be in charge of the Wen Zhou mafia but now like caligraphy and water color... he said his heart went from black to red (feeling) and he was absolutely delightful. He invited us to his villa on a semi-private island that we can see Taiwan from. It has a beach and everything and we are not to bring any money. I think that we are going there tomorrow afternoon and staying the night... we shall see. He was wearing this amazing jade necklace (jade beads with a huge jade pendant) and apparantly plans to have necklaces made for us as well. I guess his art is very good as it sells for 280,000 RNB ($41,000)... he also wants to do a painting for us as well! I guess if we go shopping with him most everything is free or next to nothing b/c everyone in Wen Zhou knows him. Pretty unbelievable, actually. So anyway, by the time we left the tea shop (which we found out he owns, and he helped the bar guy set up shop as well- oh yeah, the bar guy also has a lot of money and just tends because he likes to) it was just the 6 of us (JJJ&S, L, and red heart), all having a grand old time. Craziness!!

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I taught a spontaneous class tonight (Thursday, Sept. 25) for one 6 yr old. Hakan really didn't want me to, I don't think, as a matter of principal. I wasn't scheduled to teach, I didn't have a lesson prepared, there was only one student. Plus he was really mad because the parent (dad) threatened to either sue, or un-enroll his daughter. Apparantly money threats usually work in China. There was a mix up and I don't know whose fault it was, but Hakan basically said I was 100% free to refuse to do the class and he would back me up completely. I went ahead and did it because, well, I was bored And because I Really like working with kids one on one, even more than in groups (as you know). So he told me, basically, don't you dare take a book in there- play some games with her and teach her whatever you want, or nothing- THIS IS NOT A CLASS! He wasn't being mean, he just wanted to make a point. My only requirement for teaching her was that her parent not be in the room- too awkward. I taught her head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot- and then we learned applicable songs :-) (Head and shoulders etc., and the hokey pokey). She really learned the body parts though and could point to her when I said them, and could say them when I pointed to mine. I was quite pleased with myself :-) She was just darling and had a really good time by the end.

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We all did some modeling last Sunday for a friend (Andy Gunn) of one of the head teachers here. Andy apparantly did some work in Hong Kong 14 years ago in which he had a lot of experience with foreigners- went to school there as well, I think. Anyway, Now he wants a particular job where international experience is highly valued and while he has paper evidence of his time in Hong Kong the employers want more proof- they said anyone can get a letter of recommendation. So... we went to some sweat shop on the far outskirts of town to take official looking photos with Andy for his resume.

I guess Andy's wife works for the fashion industry- designing upstairs (4th floor), laboring downstairs (2nd & 3rd floors). So we took pictures with a bunch of fancy looking clothes- very beautiful actually. After we took the pictures Andy's wife, who went with us, called me over to tell her what I thought of a particular dress. Honestly it was one of the ugliest things I've ever seen- the fabric was a nasty grey with large faded yellow polka dots, design was basically spaghetti straps on tent. I was trying to find a tactful way to be truthful- when she smiled and said, "it's for you!" So I looked delightful and thanked her profusely. Lol. I decided to try it on when we got back to the apartment- actually Jessica and Jonathan made me. It's hideous. Oh well. :-D (I'll get a picture of it on here eventually)

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Jessica actually didn't go with us (Jonathan, Jeremiah, Tara (another English teacher) and Haikan- a Buffalonian/Long Islander), instead she got locked out of our apartment and went to some obscure Muslim restaurant down a dark ally where there were nothing but a bunch of Muslim men watching her and Lounes, a more-than-unique Algerian who speaks 5 languages and has a special, but strangely not creepy, affinity for Jessica. She said the food was delicious, Lounes blew smoke in her face the whole time, and all of the Muslim men just stood and stared at her via a huge mirror- until she looked at them when they all look away. To finish the night, Lounes ordered a delicacy, in his words, "you cannot get it just anywhere, it's very special. How you say...... cow balls." Haha! So she held her breath and ate lots of bread with it! Oh yes- Jessica got to share part of the Gospel with him! He made some comment about the Muslim religion- great scales in the sky, etc.- and how it was like Christanity, and Jessica shared with him the distinct difference. Going to heaven or hell has nothing to do with how good we are, but our relationship with Him*.

I hope this is somewhat comprehensable!

Love everyone!!
-Shannon

*Please don't leave comments that will get me investigated by the Chns Plice! We are here for a Higher Purpose and I really don't want to be sent home early because of internet indescretion! No discussion of Evnglsm, etc. Thanks!