[mustard&catch-up]

i haven't posted since friday. it's tuesday night. lots has happened. more importantly i've felt a lot of things. and i would love some prayers (go to the end). so here we go.

saturday. we didn't do too much besides homework. it was raining too, so we couldn't really go very far.  in case, you didn't know, china censors the internet, so sites like facebook and pinterest and even blogspot are "blocked." not with my VPN. hence, saturday i procrastinated a lot. i cannot decide if getting a virtual private network (VPN) was a good or bad thing.

saturday was really friday in the US, and something very exciting started this day. eeeeep! i'll be able to disclose more about this later. gotta keep you on your toes right?!

sunday. NO RAIN. i like the rain, but it was great to be able to adventure around a little. first, we went to chinese church, all in chinese. it was translated (ish), but it was very hard to understand. this church was extremely full, 3 floors and several services. It was awesome to see the Holy Spirit manifest how he is moving in Hangzhou.

needless to say, although i am sure the message was great, i did my own devotional on psalm 139. so powerful and i felt like i was wrestling through and thinking about some of the same things that david was. verses 13-16 challenged me; if God created me, then i am a product of that wonderful, fearful, vast, continuous love. far too often, i don't think that i live in light of that reality.
after church, we went on a little walk... mostly to meet every stereotype of americans, that we love....

...coffee. they really don't drink coffee here, but they know that we love it, the instant packs they give us and all! anyway, our walk was great! hangzhou is really beautiful, very urban, but so pretty. here is some of what we saw on our walk.

contrast architecture 

wittle dog

the bikes we can ride. except lesly & richie don't know how. that will be an adventure

finally some sun, so EVERYONE's laundry went out to dry.

monday.monday. we finally started 'clinical'. we visited the surgical oncology (breast & colorectal) and VIP wards. on the surgical oncology unit, we had a doctor lecture on breast cancer and the management of it in China. it felt so good to consider that a review... i know more than i think i know sometimes. he spoke great english too, so we got to have some dialogue afterward. it was quite a long presentation, so we did not tour this unit or interact with patients. 

afterward, we had lunch and were able to "have a rest" as they say. i took a nap. it was glorious. after my cat nap we went to tour the VIP units, on 4 floors. this is something unique, but i am told that we have similar units in the US. basically, the VIP unit has rooms that are private or semi- private, most like the ones we would see at a nice hospital, except with bigger beds. but there are suites too, with a bedroom, dining room, & living room. patients have to pay extra for any of these rooms and it is expensive compared to a 'normal' unit which costs about 40 yuan a night (~$6). However, on the other units you will share a room with 2-5 other patients. the VIP units also service government officials and anyone else that is willing to spend the extra money. i would consider these to be general medical- surgical units. 

the big bed for the patient, the smaller is for the family member

we also had a presentation by a staff nurse. her english was somewhere between conversational and fluent. but she thought she was terrible. wrong. i explained to her that i was so grateful for her attempt at english, as it was far better than my chinese. the effort means so much, even if you chop up every other word, which she didn't. most people here will come up to us (mostly richie, who is filipino) and start speaking mandarin. even when we respond with wo she migoren wo fuie eeyden zhongguo or  i am an american and i speak very little chinese they continue to try to converse with us in chinese. it can be quite amusing. not when they do it to me, but when they do it to richie. needless to say, it meant a lot that she tried!

the sweet staff nurse is in blue. ignore how terrible i look.

our day was over after this and we went and ate dinner. sometimes i feel like all we do is eat. it's great food but i am so full! yesterday evening, i didn't head for my computer. i headed for my book, journal, and bible. so refreshing. i'm reading "finding calcutta". it's a GREAT read, and i'm not even half way finished. she talks about how mother theresa approached her work, when anyone thanked her, she responded with  the 5 word gospel, "you did it for me". read matthew 25.37-40 if you need context. what a powerful message and a great way to share the gospel. this should absolutely be the way that i inform my work- interacting with every person as if everyone was Christ himself. honestly, i've been mean and hurtful to my fellow pals on this trip. i know why (and i'll get there), but there is no excuse. this really gave me clarity on how to be positive and not let my joy be stolen. 

yesterday & today, i cried. a whole lot. i am support-system-homesick. if you know me, i don't do talking about feelings well. and i do miss independent too much. but i learned just how important these people are and how dependent on my support system i am, even if i won't admit it. if you read [thebackstory] you can get a better idea of just how much i had going on. and my hurry-sickness, everything from work, to school, to people is a culture-shock in itself to not have. and sadly i miss my hurry- sickness.  although jordan has been one of my closest friends for a while, i am being close-minded-missindependent-hidingemotionsbehindmybrickwall and not sharing this home sickness feelings with her or anyone else. instead i am responding with a negative, leave me alone, hurtful kind of attitude. and that is not nice or fair. and i'm not okay with it. 

prayer requests

-for the devil to not steal my joy

-to seek joy

-understanding that this 'lack of support system' is not a 'lack of' God's presence & that i would rightfully lean into and trust God fully.

-to share my feelings with my pals. 

-to repent and be forgiven by my pals

-that my awesome support system (family, friends, homegroup, & RAstaffs) would be covered in love and grace.

p.s. i'll share more about today, tomorrow. i have the day "off" and i'll need something to break up the homework. :)

p.p.s i think the herbal tea worked!