Lazy days, you're the only thing they waste away. You're so afraid of all the problems we've been faking
I'm sitting here tonight, reflecting on what happened today, and realizing that it is one of those days where I didn't really do anything, but I'm left very tired by the end of it.
This morning I got up early. I didn't really have a choice. The cold tile floor wasn't very comfortable. And I didn't get a very good nights sleep because my roommate insisted on having the air conditioner on, even though I was sleeping without a blanket of any sort. I woke many, many, many times last night for various reasons. When I got too cold I went into the bathroom, there were two hand towels and two bath towels (all miniaturized for Chinese convenience and my inconvenience). I put the two hand towels down on my backpack to try to soften it up because it was hurting my head (as it doubled as my pillow). I draped one towel over my arms and the other over my midsection in a vain attempt to keep warm. When that failed I got up and turned the air conditioner down, which worked fine. I still didn't get much sleep.
After showering, shaving, and getting dressed we headed over to the conference center for the priesthood session of District Conference. This district is a little special, and explaining the district might help people who are curious understand about the Church in China. There are two districts in the PRC (Mainland China) which are not in SAR's (Special Administrative Regions- Hong Kong and Taiwan). One is the Beijing District and the other is the Shanghai District. The Shanghai District covers Shanghai and all the surrounding cities within a few hundred miles, the Nanjing Branch being the furthest established branch in the district. The Beijing Branch covers northern China, but also has a special Skype Branch that holds meetings over Skype for all members who cannot make it to other meetings while living in China. The members of the church who attend these districts are all foreign nationals. You must either have a foreign passport or be married to someone who holds a foreign passport to attend any church meetings. If any Chinese citizens shows up to a meeting that we are holding as a Church (which is any meeting where any sort of religious ritual is carried out, including prayer) we are required to immediately disband and cannot hold another meeting that week. Chinese citizens can attend church in their Chinese branches, but they cannot have any influence given them by anyone who is not a citizen of China, and they cannot meet any leaders, or be taught by any leaders that are not Chinese citizens. They are under the stewardship of a member of the Seventy, who is from Taiwan (part of China), so he can teach them. In summation, everyone who would be attending District Conference had to be a foreign national (ex-pat) or married to an ex-pat.
Regardless to say there weren't very many priesthood holders who came to Priesthood Session. I was a little taken aback by the fact that Elder Oaks walked into the room just like any other person. There was no throng of people or sudden whisperings. Everyone was standing around talking, and he just walked in and sat down on the stage. After a minute he came down and talked to everyone who was there (maybe 35 brethren) for a minute or two. Elder Perkins came in and did the same. Of course he recognized me and we had a nice little chat.
The Priesthood Session was good, and 15 minutes after it closed the General Session started. There were a few hundred people who arrived for the General Session, probably around 400 people in all. I was surprised at the turnout. They had translators for Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and Japanese. I saw Vietnamese, Indians, Filipinos, along with all the Americans, Canadians, French, and British ex-pats. Quite an array of people.
Fifteen minutes after the General Session closed, the Young Single Adult session opened. It was quite a busy day for everyone.
After the conference was over we went back to the People's Square and walked around, and sat in the park and rested until it was time to catch our train at 6 PM.
One great thing about living in China is I don't have to care what I look like. Today I realized that I had forgotten my church belt, and so after the church meetings let out and I was going to be walking around more I put on my old blue baseball belt with my giant batman logo belt buckle. I also realized my dress shoes were going to give me blisters if I walked around in them, so I changed them to my red Puma's. I must've been a sight to see. Here's a white guy, walking around in a light lavender pinstripe dress shirt, a bright blue belt with a giant batman belt buckle, dress slacks that aren't quite long enough, white socks and bright red running shoes. When I was bored during the afternoon I would 'angry dance' my way through the crowds when crossing the street etc. It was a nice way to keep from getting exhausted from walking around in the hot sun all afternoon. But I'm sure all the Chinese people were wondering who I was.
After getting back home tonight, I started looking through and sorting out the good pictures I took over the weekend from the bad ones. I ended up taking over 300 pictures in the past two days. I only kept about 80 of those pictures though, which all things considered is very good, considering most of them were double shots taken at different exposures etc. and usually I only keep about 10% of the pictures that I take. I'm sure it will be a few days at least until those pictures start getting posted to my photo page though. Hang in there.
For now I need to get to bed. I've got class in the morning, and I haven't had a good night's sleep all weekend.
This morning I got up early. I didn't really have a choice. The cold tile floor wasn't very comfortable. And I didn't get a very good nights sleep because my roommate insisted on having the air conditioner on, even though I was sleeping without a blanket of any sort. I woke many, many, many times last night for various reasons. When I got too cold I went into the bathroom, there were two hand towels and two bath towels (all miniaturized for Chinese convenience and my inconvenience). I put the two hand towels down on my backpack to try to soften it up because it was hurting my head (as it doubled as my pillow). I draped one towel over my arms and the other over my midsection in a vain attempt to keep warm. When that failed I got up and turned the air conditioner down, which worked fine. I still didn't get much sleep.
After showering, shaving, and getting dressed we headed over to the conference center for the priesthood session of District Conference. This district is a little special, and explaining the district might help people who are curious understand about the Church in China. There are two districts in the PRC (Mainland China) which are not in SAR's (Special Administrative Regions- Hong Kong and Taiwan). One is the Beijing District and the other is the Shanghai District. The Shanghai District covers Shanghai and all the surrounding cities within a few hundred miles, the Nanjing Branch being the furthest established branch in the district. The Beijing Branch covers northern China, but also has a special Skype Branch that holds meetings over Skype for all members who cannot make it to other meetings while living in China. The members of the church who attend these districts are all foreign nationals. You must either have a foreign passport or be married to someone who holds a foreign passport to attend any church meetings. If any Chinese citizens shows up to a meeting that we are holding as a Church (which is any meeting where any sort of religious ritual is carried out, including prayer) we are required to immediately disband and cannot hold another meeting that week. Chinese citizens can attend church in their Chinese branches, but they cannot have any influence given them by anyone who is not a citizen of China, and they cannot meet any leaders, or be taught by any leaders that are not Chinese citizens. They are under the stewardship of a member of the Seventy, who is from Taiwan (part of China), so he can teach them. In summation, everyone who would be attending District Conference had to be a foreign national (ex-pat) or married to an ex-pat.
Regardless to say there weren't very many priesthood holders who came to Priesthood Session. I was a little taken aback by the fact that Elder Oaks walked into the room just like any other person. There was no throng of people or sudden whisperings. Everyone was standing around talking, and he just walked in and sat down on the stage. After a minute he came down and talked to everyone who was there (maybe 35 brethren) for a minute or two. Elder Perkins came in and did the same. Of course he recognized me and we had a nice little chat.
The Priesthood Session was good, and 15 minutes after it closed the General Session started. There were a few hundred people who arrived for the General Session, probably around 400 people in all. I was surprised at the turnout. They had translators for Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and Japanese. I saw Vietnamese, Indians, Filipinos, along with all the Americans, Canadians, French, and British ex-pats. Quite an array of people.
Fifteen minutes after the General Session closed, the Young Single Adult session opened. It was quite a busy day for everyone.
After the conference was over we went back to the People's Square and walked around, and sat in the park and rested until it was time to catch our train at 6 PM.
One great thing about living in China is I don't have to care what I look like. Today I realized that I had forgotten my church belt, and so after the church meetings let out and I was going to be walking around more I put on my old blue baseball belt with my giant batman logo belt buckle. I also realized my dress shoes were going to give me blisters if I walked around in them, so I changed them to my red Puma's. I must've been a sight to see. Here's a white guy, walking around in a light lavender pinstripe dress shirt, a bright blue belt with a giant batman belt buckle, dress slacks that aren't quite long enough, white socks and bright red running shoes. When I was bored during the afternoon I would 'angry dance' my way through the crowds when crossing the street etc. It was a nice way to keep from getting exhausted from walking around in the hot sun all afternoon. But I'm sure all the Chinese people were wondering who I was.
After getting back home tonight, I started looking through and sorting out the good pictures I took over the weekend from the bad ones. I ended up taking over 300 pictures in the past two days. I only kept about 80 of those pictures though, which all things considered is very good, considering most of them were double shots taken at different exposures etc. and usually I only keep about 10% of the pictures that I take. I'm sure it will be a few days at least until those pictures start getting posted to my photo page though. Hang in there.
For now I need to get to bed. I've got class in the morning, and I haven't had a good night's sleep all weekend.
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