Apartment In China
Compared
to the country from which we had flown in,
China had minimal risk of rape or other violent crimes. So, soon after our arrival,
we visited a realtor's office to rent an apartment for Kristin near the
university,
which provided me with an on-campus apartment. The plan was for her to have a
place where she would feel comfortable casting out demons,
and sleep apart from me after spending the day together.
But the realtor informed us that foreigners need many documents to rent, and the minimum rental period is one year. We didn't have those documents, getting them may not be possible and would at least take a while, and my teaching contract was only for one semester. This was before Airbnb took off in China, so Kristin would have to live with me in my on-campus apartment.
The apartment small but had a bedroom, a living room with a desk and three chairs, a tiny kitchen without hot water, and a bathroom. Even though the apartment was small and spartan, Kristin was excited to live in a place that was more than just one room, and set about decorating the walls with pictures that she drew or colored. Most of them looked like they were taken from a children's coloring book, but she seemed happy with them so I was fine with them.
The walls were thin, so we tried to not engage in too much spiritual warfare in our apartment, but sometimes had to do it when Kristin felt oppressed by the demons and couldn't wait to have them cast out. We knew that the guttural noise Kristin made was being heard by my colleagues, all fellow Americans but non-Christians, in the apartments above, below and next to ours. They soon began to give me stern looks, as if I was beating up Kristin. But she didn't have any bruises and always seemed happy when we met them in the hallway and in the stairwell, so they seemed puzzled and we continued to get probing looks.
One day, when we had to cast out demons and Kristin was making the guttural noise, my female colleague in the apartment below us called to say that she is about to go into town to do some shopping with another female colleague, and asked if Kristin would like to join them. She then heard me repeat her question to Kristin, who declined, saying that she has everything she needs, and me relaying to her that while Kristin appreciates her invitation, she has everything she needs.