Eric's Beijing Diary

I sent Melissa a link for an interactive map of China. This map is hosted by the South China Morning Post. The Post, like many other online news services, has become a pay for use service, but the map itself is still free. For some reason, she missed the map, and ended up at the main website for the South China Morning Post. Instead of an interactive map, she was presented with a demand for payment. She told me her story:

I sat aghast at my computer seat
I'm but I student, I repeat
my funds are low
my mind must grow
henceforth I claim defeat.

For what else shall my money spend
but greater wisdom at days end
I shall not sink to paying fees
for news of action overseas

And so I left that morning post
and headed to a finer host
that offers links at such degree
that I might get the news for free.

and money I shalt now allot,
to, in my mind, a wiser spot
the registrar to which I give
the funds by which I plan to live
oh this payment yet will thrive
and one day soon I will arrive
an education, I'll derive

from funds I spent on my degree
that will one day lib er ate me
to do the things that I love most
.....like pay the fee to China's Post

Labels: Melissa

Got an email from Melissa this morning. She sounded like she had a pretty bad cold:

Well, I got both of your bessages. I am so sorry that I bissed you. This weekend I went up to Eugene to hang out with Michela and Elise. I have been going nonstop it seebs for two weeks now. So I am very exhausted. But I will perservere. I wanted to let you know that I left my wallet in by bag so I have just had by card organizer in by purse. Anyway, so I keep forgetting to put by wallet back hence, there have been some charges on your card as it was the only forb of payment I have in by card organizer that is not libited to one particular store. Anyway, will you just pray that my schedule clears up along with by sinuses and I will try to be better about keeping appointbents, okay?

Love you
Melissa

Melissa's email reminded me of the nasty chest cold I had when I was in Kunming last summer. I think it must have been the damp room I stayed in for a few nights after I moved out of Jim's Guest House. Anyway, I had a hacking cough, a burning in my chest, and I was breathing with some difficulty. When I got to the youth hostel, I asked where I could get some herbal medicine. The guy who worked there took me to a drug store, and got me lined up with about a five day supply. One envelope for the "hot" and one for the "cold" (don't ask me what that means). One of each three times a day. Put them in a class of scalding hot water, and drink it as fast as you can. I was going to be on the train for two nights, so I thought perhaps the combination of the herbal medicine and lots of bed rest would heal me. The first night I was on the train, I forced myself to take the last dosage right before I went to bed. When I started drinking the brew, I was wearing a light jacket, because it was a bit chilly. By the time I finished, I was down to my T shirt, and sweating profusely. I went to bed, and slept like a baby. That was the end of my chest cold.

I have never been a fan of Chinese herbal medicine as a substitute for all Western treatments. There are some things for which Western medicine is a better solution. Most Chinese people feel this way too. Fascination with Eastern medicine in the West is matched by fascination with Western medicine in the East. In fact, when penicillin was first introduced in China, many people were giving it to their children like candy.

Having said this, there are some ailments for which Chinese herbal medicine is superior. I especially recommend traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of colds, for which Western medicine has no cure anyway. Since there never has been a vaccine for the cold virus, the best that Western medicine can do is to treat the symptoms.

The point of Western medicine, especially antibiotics, is to kill something that is hurting your body. The centerpiece of Chinese Traditional medicine is the belief that if you are ill, there is something in your body that is out of balance. So the point is to restore that balance, so that your body can heal itself. If I have some kind of infection, I look for something to fight it. But for a cold, I definitely prefer the Chinese solution.

Labels: Melissa

At our "Purpose Driven Life" Study last Saturday night, the leader asked what someone close to us would identify as the driving force in our lives. Well, the way he put that question provoked me a bit, 'cause I always thought you weren't supposed to live your life by what others think. But as I started thinking about it, I thought I better check it out. I asked Melissa to comment on the question. She wasn't sure what I was referring to, but she put in her two cents worth anyway. Here's Melissa:

The one thing that defines him? God. Through Him all other things that my dad loves are able to breathe and grow. He loves China and green tea, he thinks that knowing more than one language is a necessity. He believes in coffee shops and stacks of thick books. Money spent on educating oneself is money well spent.

He knows that people become mobile by the strength God provides, and the people He puts in our lives to encourage us.

My dad is fascinated by electricity and how things work. He has taken apart cars and vacuum cleaners and computers to further examine each individual part. Which, perhaps, is what makes him a teacher. He knows that he has a class of students in front of him, but he also has the curiosity to investigate each one and see precisely how all the pieces fit together.

Technology is his work but the advancement of evangelism is his forte. He wants to expand the knowledge of his students and provide a basis for the expansive study of a true and loving God.

He appreciates ethnic cuisine, but also has a soft spot for hometown American cookin'.

He has a beard. I'll leave that one alone.

He is somewhat clueless as to the art of keeping a house clean, preventing the "bachelors ring" in a toilet and the seemingly complex emotions of females. But he tries. AND, for what he lacks in comprehension, he makes up for in his understanding approach.

He loves music. He thinks that if one takes a liking to an instrument, one should practice and master it. He can play the harmonica and has embodied a feeling of worship so strong that beating his hand upon the dashboard of an old torino while singing at the tippy top of his lungs was the only way to express it. He reads the bible daily.

He appreciates the art of rhetoric and the healing power of humor. He is witty, comical, and interesting. Strong and obvious values, unwavering beliefs in certain things, and a pro at an eighteen wheeler. He is stubborn, lighthearted, and forthright.

But he knows, with absolute assurance, that he is none of these things without God.

And THAT, is my father, Eric Langager.

Labels: Melissa