Apartment & Church

I’ve finally moved out of the hotel and into my apartment. So how did I spend Friday night? Dragging luggage up five stories while making three trips back and forth between the hotel to the apartment. I think I made the girl at the front desk uneasy, since I don’t think she knew my company was paying for my room and that I would officially check out on Saturday. I made three trips because I didn’t want to leave any of my belongings unattended while I hauled my things upstairs. Five stories doesn’t seem to be very much, but in ANT that’s usually the top floor of the apartment, and apartments five stories and under are not mandated by building codes to have an elevator. With two suitcases, my suit and a full backpack, it seemed more like 20 stories. I was so tired and thirsty after moving in and I wanted a drink, so I walked to the corner store. Well, it was closed at 1930. The 24 hour store just keeps closing earlier and earlier.

Dreamhouse

My roommate, a German coworker named Alex, was away in Beijing for the weekend. He’ll be back to his Mutterland by the end of next month. He was nice enough to leave me a clean set of sheets and the wifi login. The connection profile name cracked me up; it read “Dreamhouse.” The front door to the place is an industrial steel door with a dual stage lock. I don’t imagine anyone will be able to break in unless it’s an inside job or we forget to lock it. Also, to enter the lobby of the building you need a key card. Right after entering, the TV room is on the left side, and the dining area is on the right side adjacent to the kitchen area, both of which wrap around the balcony.


A long hallway divides the two sides, and the bedrooms are at the end of the hallway. On the way down, there’s a guest room on the left, a storage room on the right, as well as my roommate’s bathroom (which houses the washing machine). My room is on the left hand side and has its own bathroom.


Being my first apartment, I think it’s pretty cool. It’s quite spacious and more space than two people need. I suppose this is a benefit of living in Anting Ghost Town. There is a “shock” sensor at the front door of each apartment which activates the hallway light. When I reach my apartment, I usually stamp my foot hard and it turns on the light, so I can see my keys. All the rooms are furnished so I don’t have to worry about furniture. My room is also quite large and I have a queen size bed. The air conditioning blows cold and my bedroom has its own machine. There’s plenty of storage space, so I’ve already unpacked most things. I also did my first load of laundry already. We have a side-loading combo washer/dryer produced by Siemens, as are most of the fixtures in this apartment. I couldn’t read the machine so I took a picture and my parents deciphered it for me. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Now, some strange things about the apartment. There are these two sets of lights in the hallway. They are actually LED squares that flash neon pink and blue, which is very strange and turns the hallway into a “rave.” My bathroom has a phone jack, once again. The microwave is on the floor because we don’t have room for it on the counter. The fridge is quite small and for some reason, we don’t have a can opener (I used the corner of a kitchen knife to hack open a can of salmon). But these are all fairly minor issues.


I bought some groceries at Carrefour to fill the fridge up. I noticed that the milk I bought last week isn’t available for sale anymore. I guess I survived melamine.

This is China

So even though church started at 1600, I was still late this past Sunday. It just goes to show that the time church starts isn’t necessarily to blame. Here’s what happened.

I got onto the ANT direct bus to Downtown at around 1320, but unfortunately, all the seats were already taken up by locals. I had no idea where all of these people came from. Apparently it’s a sit-down-only bus. A lady was already standing in the aisle and there were some toddlers sitting in their own seats. Well, two more people came onto the bus after me, creating a situation where four people were standing in the aisle. A mother put her kid onto her lap, freeing up a space right beside the first lady, so she got a seat. Then, another mother picked up her toddler at a seat behind me, so a man who got on after me got his seat. The last lady to get on the bus refused to budge and just stood there, so we were both seat-less. They even got one of the ANT guards (I call them the Gestapo) to check everyone’s bus cards. I didn’t even know I needed a card, as they had never checked before (supposedly all new residents get cards delivered to them when they arrive in ANT). So I just flashed my metro card and somehow got away with it. The last lady didn’t have a card either, but the guard didn’t do anything about it. At this point, the driver threw a hissy fit and got off the bus. It was clear he wasn’t going to move with both of us standing there. I didn’t want to hold everyone up so I got off the bus, thinking the last lady would do the same. But all she did was sit on the steps until the driver got tired of waiting and let her do so. So I was the only one left behind.

Afterward, I was really mad for some reason. Those of you who know me well know that I don’t get mad easily. But it felt like my brain was going to explode. I don’t think I was entitled to be angry. After all, I got to the bus too late. I think I was just unhappy with myself and the chaotic, random manner in which things unfolded. I think generally I’ve been trying to treat people here with the same respect I’d give strangers in the West, even though it’s unlikely many people here would afford me the same courtesy. At that point, I really wanted to kick the last lady off and take her seat on the steps. So that was the culmination of another struggle. Most of all, I had been looking forward to church all week, and missing it would have been a big disappointment. Moral of the story, first come first serve doesn’t work in China. I should have remembered the ethos I developed last week for life in Shanghai, which is “You never know.”

Thankfully, Hilda provided me with some catharsis after the event. I realized that I wouldn’t have enjoyed arriving at church early if it meant that I succumbed to my selfishness and got the lady kicked off.

I got onto the 1530 bus in the hopes of getting to church in time for the sermon (which is at the end of service, after the announcements, unlike RCAC). I got to Zhongshan Park at 1615 and booked it on Train 2 to People’s Square. Then I madly dashed and transferred onto Train 1 to get to Hengshan Road. I got to church at 1645, halfway through service. Traveling in the subway took 10 minutes less compared to last week, which took 40 minutes. The ushers welcomed me, although they were bewildered to see some random Chinese guy jump into the church during “How Great is Our God.”

Shanghai Community Fellowship Church

The church I’m attending in Shanghai is what is considered to be Shanghai’s “mega-church” (http://scfenglish.com). It’s not a state-run church, so people who attend the English services on Sunday at 1400 and 1600 need to be bearers of foreign passports (Hong Kong and Taiwan passports are ok as well). The Chinese services that take place during the other times permit locals to attend.

The church is located on Hengshan Road, which is in an expatriate area with lots of western restaurants (TGI Fridays, Papa John's, etc.) and bars. It’s a nice peaceful area. The church is very big and in fact is featured on maps in the subway station (labeled as “Community Church”). I think the government likes the fact many expats worship there, so they don’t spread themselves out too much in Shanghai.


The church has sound doctrine and very inviting people. It is multi-denominational. A lot of people worship there. Over 60 nationalities are represented in the congregation. They have 62 cell groups throughout Shanghai, and I may join one once I’m settled in (although they will never replace CMN). They also have many different ministries, including volunteering. The worship is very nice, not too traditional and they play the saxophone, guitars and other instruments during. They sang two or three songs I know. I think communion is taken every service. Last week there was a baby dedication service. At least eight babies were dedicated to Him, all of different nationalities.


Both weeks I attended the 1600-1730 service. The 1400 service is identical. I attend the 1600 service because of the transportation schedule.

One thing I enjoyed at SCF was letting my guard down for a period of time. I felt at peace with a kind group of people that could be trusted. When I walk around on the streets outside I am very guarded and careful, to the point of being suspicious, especially in Downtown.

I would say that the English congregation of the church in total numbers over 1200. It took about 10-15 minutes for me to get out of the building after service last week, due to the fact I sat in the fifth row and the large number of people that were vacating. There are some signs of SCF being a mega-church- there is quite a lot of “selling” that goes on in terms of promoting ministries. But in a church this big, it’s easy to become a nameless face if you aren't pushed to join some sort of ministry. A good tradition they have is that they ask all the first time visitors to stand up and ushers pass them welcome cards to sign. They also give “exit interviews” on the spot to people who’ve been at the church six months or longer and are now leaving. I think it helps to cultivate a culture in which “no one is left behind.” I will make SCF my permanent place of worship while I’m here in Shanghai.

This week they focused on men’s ministry, and I heard quite a few dynamic and encouraging testimonies. One person was actually a CEO who talked about his struggles to live as an obedient Christian. It was very humbling.

Afterward, I went to the Raffles City food court in People’s Square for dinner, as I did last week. I’ve wanted to try some local restaurants, and some of the more famed gastronomic factories on the Bund, but I haven’t mustered up the resolve yet to eat at a restaurant alone. The concept remains foreign to me. I probably will next weekend, if I don’t go on an excursion to Yellow Mountain with ze Germans.

I ordered off a Chinese menu, but didn’t know what to drink. So I asked the lady to get me whatever she thought was good “shen me dou ke yi.” She got me a plum drink (not juice, drink), which tastes like prune juice (which I don’t like) gone bad.

After all, this is China and you never know.

Dialogue

- Em, yes I suppose Chinese food here is just "food." But then I'd have to specify which kind: Shanghainese, Hunan, Cantonese, Szechuan, etc.
- Free, kuai, yuan and RMB are all synonyms, sorry I didn't clarify. At Oscars, I was thinking... if I just angle up from 35 to 75 degrees, who would I hit?