Football and church

This morning was an interesting mix for us. First football, then church ... in China. I'd better explain.

Coming from the school where the football team has just won the championship, we really love watching the games. We're familiar with the game day atmosphere, the stadium, and the great performance of the team. However, CBS doesn't broadcast over here. So, how do we keep up with the games?

Well, there is great audio on Yahoo Sports. That is how we made it through the first game, but it wouldn't do for the big games. So, we investigated some other options:
Sopcast: free TV streaming, but very limited selection and unreliable
Gator Vision: official UF game replay site, $50/season
Planet Gator: independent free replay site
skype broadcast: free streaming, but skype quality
CSTV online Pay-per-View: $10/game

This weekend was the first big game, Tennessee, so we woke up at 3:15 AM to watch it by the 4th method above. My brave dad agreed to set his laptop up in front of the TV with one arm (he recently had shoulder surgery). This was good for about an hour, and we got to chat. We saw the Rugenator asleep in his crate, and Hamish standing at the ready. However, skype wasn't made for TV broadcasting. The video update for skype wasn't as smooth as we had hoped; maybe it is skype, or maybe it was the Great Firewall wreaking havoc. In any case, Nick's dad offered to sponsor us to buy the pay-per-view, so we changed over to that about an hour into the game. The game feed is great, but there is an annoying blank screen that comes up during time outs and commercials. I felt like I was back in middle school listening to the AOL noises wondering if it would really sign me on this time. However, the game always came back. And isn't our team great! 59-20!

After that we went back to sleep for about 45 minutes, at which point it was time to get up again and go visit the Christian church in Tianshui with another international teacher (i.e. foreign teacher, not Chinese). So, we met him at the university gate at 8:30 and took a taxi down to the church building.

I really didn't know what to expect from a Protestant church in northwest China, especially due to the state regulation of the churches and their unification under something called the "Three-Self Movement." However, the church was lovely. We walked in to singing. At the opening of the service, there were a few minutes of guided prayer followed by five full minutes of prayer "with your own voices." It looked to me like every person in the congregation was focused, and in audible prayer. The woman next to me began to cry during her prayer, but I didn't feel as though I could even reach out to touch her arm for fear of her reaction and my inability to communicate in Chinese. After this, we sang about 4 songs from the hymnal (our colleague had a bilingual version, though most of the songs are taken from English anyway). After a reading of scripture there was another guided prayer, then began the hour-long sermon. Now, we have studied Chinese pretty intensely for 10 weeks, but that study was not sufficient for this. Not only is his Mandarin non-standard, but I didn't know much of the vocabulary. So, I tried to pick up some things, but mostly read about the history of the hymnal in the front. I found out that Don Snow, who has written a plethora of ESL China literature, has also translated many hymns written by Chinese people. Also, one of his organizations, Amity (Amity Teacher's Toolkit), published the hymnal. At the end, we sang one additional song, and we were out of there. Our colleague spoke to a friend he had met a few weeks previous, and we stood around waving to old people and trying not to look awkward (it's impossible).

I have many questions about the churches here, but I was very pleased with the devotion of the congregation and their enthusiasm. I don't know if we'll go there on a weekly basis since we don't understand most of it, but it was a good experience.

So, onto the rest of our Sunday ...

P.S. The views of this post are mine alone, and don't represent our university, Peace Corps, or the U.S. Government.