12/11/07
I spent last weekend as a famous international artist. Yeah, you read right. My American friend here in Guizhou who is a very talented artist was invited to go to an International Art Exhibit event in Hunan province (the province just east of Guizhou) and was all set to go, but at the last minute found out he had classes he was unable to change and he couldn't go to the conference. Problem was, he had already sent his paintings there. Enter…me. He asks my friend Adam and I on Sunday if we want to go to Hunan. Adam's got commitments, but it just so happens I have the weekend free, so I accepted. I left on Wednesday night and took an overnight train and arrived Thursday morning. No one was at the train station to pick me up, but we got it figured out and an hour later I was registering for the event (as my friend). Although I was supposed to register as my friend I had told the translator to call me Jake and thus she then found "my nametag" (which was in Chinese characters). Problem was, this was not my name tag because I didn't register as Jake, but I let it pass and the next day met the man whose identity I stole, he didn't mind, of course he didn't know all the details, but either way, it worked out. The weekend continued to go like this, several more small miscommunications which I found extremely amusing and occasionally stressful, but they always worked out.
On Friday, I even had the honor of sitting at the head table at lunch on Friday with government officials. Seeing as how I was just a poser, I really didn't want this "honor," but still being the lone white male, I received it. The chair of the weekend event introduced me to the officials. After being introduced a man from Malaysia who I had met earlier and told my story said, "wait, I thought you were from America." I confirmed to him I was and he said to me, "oh, she said you were from France." And that is what it was like all weekend. The people who spoke English knew I was just there because my artist friend could not come and I was to return his painting, but the Chinese people…(if they didn't speak English) they had no idea.
The translators were a lot of fun and my situation created some awkward moments for them, but all in all it went well and they helped me out a ton. I had been planning to take a train back Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning, but in order to get the painting I had to wait until Sunday and fly back that night. It was nice. They paid for everything and I completed my task…I got the painting back. They carted us to different tourist attractions and events, but it wasn't too crazy. I was left with a lot of free time and I was able to rest and read a great book. I was even on the front page of the local newspaper.
Yeah, really, not a bad weekend. Amazing hotels, great meals, and oh! The best part…I met a lot of cool people. They were all amazing artists. My favorite were the artists from Malaysia. They all spoke English and we talked for a while. It was great to learn more about Malaysia (a country I knew practically nothing about) and Malaysian people. They were very friendly and we had a lot of fun laughing together. Which was great because often when you meet people from China, they seem to be more serious or have a different sense of humor and there isn't much laughing. But I also met an artist/professor from Texas Tech, a French artist who has studied calligraphy for 20 years and used sarcasm amazingly well, a very kind Israeli/American woman who is currently living in Shanghai, and my translators-Cappuccino, Strawberry, and Sophia (students from a local college with great names).
But I made it back safely. Much to the relief of my friend's wife, a Chinese woman, who was concerned I would encounter the forest people of Hunan and things would get ugly, or maybe just concerned I don't know that much Chinese and I was traveling to another province. Either way, back teaching safe and sound.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A great week
12/1/07
I was just reflecting on my week and I realized, wow, I have had a good week (a great thing since I started it pretty homesick and in a funk of culture shock). I want to share a few of the highlights, so here we go…
Today (Saturday)
-I played basketball for 3.5 hours today at the courts on campus. It started out pretty boring, but a few games/teams later it was some of the most intense basketball I have played my whole time here. The competition was very good and I ended up on a team of some very talented guys and we ran the table until we were too exhausted to play anymore. It must have been good basketball because there were over 100 people surrounding the court cheering for the underdogs and letting out ooo's and aaaah's at the good plays and oh's at the blocks (I had some good ones, it was fun). It was nice to express my competitiveness.
-I met many new people today. The names of three I will share with you well because you will see once you read them. I met a boy named Dragonshy, a girl named Ice Cream, and another girl named Moon. Not everyone learns English names are usually just names, not things we like, but it is more entertaining this way. But one really cool thing. I was talking with Moon and my friend Jerry and they asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I told them about the fellowship and Moon asked oh, what do you do there? So I told her about songs, sermons, and then communion. In sharing about communion I had to lay a lot of groundwork and the like and it was just a great opportunity to share my heart as well. I am thankful for random opportunities like this. She was very interested in all of it, you can continue to Think of her.
Friday
-I taught biology and chemistry to some children of some Dutch friends of mine. They are home schooled and learn about it in their text books, but their parents asked if I would come in to talk about things, answer questions, peak interest, etc., etc. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun. They are very bright kids (they all speak English, Dutch, and Chinese fluently). But it was nice to be teaching something other than English.
-I received a package from home. In the package was a DVD of my Grandmother's memorial celebration/service. I watched it with tear-filled eyes and a smile on my face. It was great. She was an amazing lady with an amazing heart and such a huge desire to serve. Everyone raved about her hospitality and how she just made you feel comfortable. I am so blessed to have had her as part of my life.
Thursday
-I had a Chinese lesson. I am learning slowly. I am still a little shy, but I do enjoy it.
-I spent most of the day with friends though. It was my good friend Kara's birthday. We went hiking in a forest by her school and had a picnic with my other friend Martin (it was nice to be somewhere without tons of people). And we had a big birthday dinner at this restaurant on the river. It had atmosphere, maybe the only restaurant I could say that about in Guiyang.
Wednesday
-Went to orphanage, got drooled on. Had a ton of fun. Loved on kids.
Tuesday
-Rested and read. Things have been busy, this was very much welcomed.
Monday
-Spent the entire day with two classes of adult students at their graduation party. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to deepen relationships. One student, Corey, and I hung out a lot and had a good time. He is staying in Guiyang (many of the students are going back to their hometowns), it will be a great to spend more time with him in the future.
Sunday
-Fellowship with friends, lunch with friends, dinner with friends. Enough said.
He really does provide for us when we need it. Never leaving, nor forsaking us.
I was just reflecting on my week and I realized, wow, I have had a good week (a great thing since I started it pretty homesick and in a funk of culture shock). I want to share a few of the highlights, so here we go…
Today (Saturday)
-I played basketball for 3.5 hours today at the courts on campus. It started out pretty boring, but a few games/teams later it was some of the most intense basketball I have played my whole time here. The competition was very good and I ended up on a team of some very talented guys and we ran the table until we were too exhausted to play anymore. It must have been good basketball because there were over 100 people surrounding the court cheering for the underdogs and letting out ooo's and aaaah's at the good plays and oh's at the blocks (I had some good ones, it was fun). It was nice to express my competitiveness.
-I met many new people today. The names of three I will share with you well because you will see once you read them. I met a boy named Dragonshy, a girl named Ice Cream, and another girl named Moon. Not everyone learns English names are usually just names, not things we like, but it is more entertaining this way. But one really cool thing. I was talking with Moon and my friend Jerry and they asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I told them about the fellowship and Moon asked oh, what do you do there? So I told her about songs, sermons, and then communion. In sharing about communion I had to lay a lot of groundwork and the like and it was just a great opportunity to share my heart as well. I am thankful for random opportunities like this. She was very interested in all of it, you can continue to Think of her.
Friday
-I taught biology and chemistry to some children of some Dutch friends of mine. They are home schooled and learn about it in their text books, but their parents asked if I would come in to talk about things, answer questions, peak interest, etc., etc. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun. They are very bright kids (they all speak English, Dutch, and Chinese fluently). But it was nice to be teaching something other than English.
-I received a package from home. In the package was a DVD of my Grandmother's memorial celebration/service. I watched it with tear-filled eyes and a smile on my face. It was great. She was an amazing lady with an amazing heart and such a huge desire to serve. Everyone raved about her hospitality and how she just made you feel comfortable. I am so blessed to have had her as part of my life.
Thursday
-I had a Chinese lesson. I am learning slowly. I am still a little shy, but I do enjoy it.
-I spent most of the day with friends though. It was my good friend Kara's birthday. We went hiking in a forest by her school and had a picnic with my other friend Martin (it was nice to be somewhere without tons of people). And we had a big birthday dinner at this restaurant on the river. It had atmosphere, maybe the only restaurant I could say that about in Guiyang.
Wednesday
-Went to orphanage, got drooled on. Had a ton of fun. Loved on kids.
Tuesday
-Rested and read. Things have been busy, this was very much welcomed.
Monday
-Spent the entire day with two classes of adult students at their graduation party. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to deepen relationships. One student, Corey, and I hung out a lot and had a good time. He is staying in Guiyang (many of the students are going back to their hometowns), it will be a great to spend more time with him in the future.
Sunday
-Fellowship with friends, lunch with friends, dinner with friends. Enough said.
He really does provide for us when we need it. Never leaving, nor forsaking us.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Elfing yourself
11/26/07
I am currently making lesson plans (I am going to teach my kids about the American Education system). But I am doing my best to procrastinate as well. When I came across the concept of elfing yourself in my good friend Paula's blog I couldn't help, but try it myself... me as an elf (http://elfyourself.com/?id=9608232642). It may not work totally right, but like I said I am lesson planning and I can't waste any more time if I am going to sleep tonight.
...let the Christmas season begin.
I am currently making lesson plans (I am going to teach my kids about the American Education system). But I am doing my best to procrastinate as well. When I came across the concept of elfing yourself in my good friend Paula's blog I couldn't help, but try it myself... me as an elf (http://elfyourself.com/?id=9608232642). It may not work totally right, but like I said I am lesson planning and I can't waste any more time if I am going to sleep tonight.
...let the Christmas season begin.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sorry It's been awhile...
11/23/07
It's late. I should be sleeping. But I just can't make crappy excuses any more. I need to update my blog. I don't know when the day came that I felt like it had been too long since I had written so I would need to write something epic to make up for it, but somewhere along the way that's how I started thinking. I mean, don't give me wrong I haven't cut off all outside contact with the world, I even put out my second "newsletter" (if you didn't get this let me know and I will send it your way), but I have not been posting on my blog. This is a big deal. It was something I wanted to be committed too. I mean, I don't really know if people read it, but even if one person does it's worth it, right? But I just got done reading a lot of my friend's blogs and was put to shame by some and their ability to post and tempted to justify my actions by others and their lack of posting. Either way, I made it hear. I have decided to shy away from something epic because let's be honest, I studied science and not English in college for a reason and I would have never posted again. Instead, I think I gave you this weak sauce monologue…man…maybe I will talk about Thanksgiving, will that make this better?
I was pretty jazzed about Thanksgiving. I mean, it's a day that centers around eating, and I love to eat. And being in China, I really love to eat American food. So, I was getting all geared up for Thanksgiving and I even signed up to bring some sweet potatoes. They have sweet potatoes here, so I thought I would make some candied yams that everyone would be really impressed with and it would be great. Wednesday night I abandoned the candied yam idea because the brown sugar here tastes like molasses and I am not a fan of that and I wasn't about to willingly put an inferior product out there. Instead I was going to go mashed sweet potatoes with some extra additions. Well, I'll tell you what, they actually have two kinds of sweet potatoes here, and I chose the wrong kind. They weren't really starchy enough and what was suppose to be like mashed potatoes looked more like applesauce. Long story short I ended up with a product that not only was inferior, but I refused to even have it put out there. Just plain awful. Ok, not awful, because if you put enough sugar, butter, and cinnamon in something it is bound to test at least ok. Let me describe it like this --it was one of those dishes when you are working through the food like you see it and your curiosity is peaked. It looks new, it looks mysterious. Before you serve yourself, you think this could be really good, but you also think, but it could be really bad so you take the "obligatory spoonful" because you just can't not try it and go sit down to have your dinner. You first eat your "big hitter" items and then it's time to see if the gamble pays off. You eat a bite (about half of what you scooped on your plate) of the mysterious dish to see if it will pan out and just as you feared, disappointment. I mean, you don't spit it out and it tastes alright and you might take another little bite to see if you can figure out what exactly is in it, but in the end you just sort of spread the rest of it out on your plate so it looks like you ate most of it and thus you don't insult the chef. Not to bad you lean over to the person next to you and warn them, but bad enough that when they take their bite they look at you and you just nod and say, "Yeah, I am not sure either." -- I wasn't going to put people through that disappointment, so I didn't serve it and I just received ridicule from some of my teammates here (well deserved and really the same thing I would do to them too if they had done it). So it was humbling, but don't worry, they still let me eat and eat I did. We had all the food essentials (except Sweet Potatoes that is) and everything else that goes along with Thanksgiving for that matter too (a list that includes: NFL football-recorded two weeks ago and mailed over, pickup football, a lot of desserts, a lot of fellowship, a late start to the meal because the turkey took too long, and just a day to give credit to the one who give abundantly). So that's my story. It's a long one, but I suppose I will use length over creative prowess to reestablish my presence in the blog world.
It's late. I should be sleeping. But I just can't make crappy excuses any more. I need to update my blog. I don't know when the day came that I felt like it had been too long since I had written so I would need to write something epic to make up for it, but somewhere along the way that's how I started thinking. I mean, don't give me wrong I haven't cut off all outside contact with the world, I even put out my second "newsletter" (if you didn't get this let me know and I will send it your way), but I have not been posting on my blog. This is a big deal. It was something I wanted to be committed too. I mean, I don't really know if people read it, but even if one person does it's worth it, right? But I just got done reading a lot of my friend's blogs and was put to shame by some and their ability to post and tempted to justify my actions by others and their lack of posting. Either way, I made it hear. I have decided to shy away from something epic because let's be honest, I studied science and not English in college for a reason and I would have never posted again. Instead, I think I gave you this weak sauce monologue…man…maybe I will talk about Thanksgiving, will that make this better?
I was pretty jazzed about Thanksgiving. I mean, it's a day that centers around eating, and I love to eat. And being in China, I really love to eat American food. So, I was getting all geared up for Thanksgiving and I even signed up to bring some sweet potatoes. They have sweet potatoes here, so I thought I would make some candied yams that everyone would be really impressed with and it would be great. Wednesday night I abandoned the candied yam idea because the brown sugar here tastes like molasses and I am not a fan of that and I wasn't about to willingly put an inferior product out there. Instead I was going to go mashed sweet potatoes with some extra additions. Well, I'll tell you what, they actually have two kinds of sweet potatoes here, and I chose the wrong kind. They weren't really starchy enough and what was suppose to be like mashed potatoes looked more like applesauce. Long story short I ended up with a product that not only was inferior, but I refused to even have it put out there. Just plain awful. Ok, not awful, because if you put enough sugar, butter, and cinnamon in something it is bound to test at least ok. Let me describe it like this --it was one of those dishes when you are working through the food like you see it and your curiosity is peaked. It looks new, it looks mysterious. Before you serve yourself, you think this could be really good, but you also think, but it could be really bad so you take the "obligatory spoonful" because you just can't not try it and go sit down to have your dinner. You first eat your "big hitter" items and then it's time to see if the gamble pays off. You eat a bite (about half of what you scooped on your plate) of the mysterious dish to see if it will pan out and just as you feared, disappointment. I mean, you don't spit it out and it tastes alright and you might take another little bite to see if you can figure out what exactly is in it, but in the end you just sort of spread the rest of it out on your plate so it looks like you ate most of it and thus you don't insult the chef. Not to bad you lean over to the person next to you and warn them, but bad enough that when they take their bite they look at you and you just nod and say, "Yeah, I am not sure either." -- I wasn't going to put people through that disappointment, so I didn't serve it and I just received ridicule from some of my teammates here (well deserved and really the same thing I would do to them too if they had done it). So it was humbling, but don't worry, they still let me eat and eat I did. We had all the food essentials (except Sweet Potatoes that is) and everything else that goes along with Thanksgiving for that matter too (a list that includes: NFL football-recorded two weeks ago and mailed over, pickup football, a lot of desserts, a lot of fellowship, a late start to the meal because the turkey took too long, and just a day to give credit to the one who give abundantly). So that's my story. It's a long one, but I suppose I will use length over creative prowess to reestablish my presence in the blog world.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Some fun and competition
If we're being completely honest…I have a favorite class. It puts the others to shame. They are active, they participate unceasingly, they are excited, they do their homework, they even practice oral English outside of class for fun. It's great. It makes Monday mornings tolerable. It makes every other class feel like its missing something. But I think my favorite part of this class is the fact they do class as a community. It's the adult English majors class, so they are all a little older and they have all taught before (most of them primary school). But they all aren't from Guiyang and so they hang out together, live near each other, and do a lot of things together. It was with the students from this class that I ate dinner with earlier this semester and that I had an "autumn outing" with. Well, today brought another unexpected adventure with my class.
I was editing a science journal article (a whole other story in and of itself) at a coffeehouse (actually teahouse-but not like traditional teahouse) and I get a call from another teacher that also teaches this class. "Jake, where are you? Are you coming? We are waiting for you. Come to the basketball court."…ok, I wasn't really surprised. One student mentioned it yesterday, but he said a different time and he failed to tell me I was the starting power forward. So I run and change and make it to the court. All of the girls are sitting in the stands cheering. All the guys are either playing or standing in the unofficial bench area. They put me in immediately. We were playing a team of older guys. I am not really sure where they came from, but they were patient guys. But it was definitely an experience…
(Here comes the part that if you aren't really interested in basketball it might not be as interesting and you should totally just scan it to hear about where I went to cut on a fast break, slipped, and subsequently lost a large amount of hair and skin from my leg…actually, that is about it)…back to the game. We are playing full court, not a great thing seeing as how I have exercised three times in the last two months (at least they were all in the last two weeks though). But they tell me I am playing forward and I go in. First trip down the court I get a feel for the game. The point guard (another teacher) passes to one of my students one dribble and up goes a shot. Not just any shot. A heinous shot. It was ridiculous/amazing all at the same time. I go down to play defense and …well, I just decided to camp out in the lane because our center was cherry picking at the other end and no one could play a lick of D. The other team manages to put up a much better shot than we did, but they missed and to my surprise my teammate gets the rebound and chucks it down the court to the cherry picker who proceeds to miss the layup…ouch. This whole chucking the ball thing happened many more times. Only it stopped working and the ball was either a) stolen by the other team or b) not caught by the cherry picker and thrown out of bounds. My reaction was the closest thing to getting angry that I have felt in a while. I, of course, didn't express this to my team/students, but if I was coaching any one who even looked up court to throw a grenade pass would have been on the bench. My offense contribution to the game took a while to develop, but my students…well they are gunners…all of them. They never saw a shot they didn't like. So I got my hustle points (put backs from all the bricks that were thrown up). I had my fair share of defensive rebounds too. And after a while I completely abandoned the whole outlet pass concept and just ran the break myself. But in a way, it was dangerous basketball. Bodies were flying everywhere; there was no finesse about it. I caught a knee in my quad that left me limping up and down the court for five minutes. The half court offense though…once I went in the post they were actually passing me the ball. I have always had a closest fascination about being a post player. I think it might have been from seeing underachieving post players during my childhood and high school experience and thinking if I was taller I could dominate down there. Well, this was my chance. So I went to town. I'm telling you Tim Duncan would have been proud. I was knocking down 10 foot bank shots like nobody's business. We ended up winning. It was a little anticlimactic as we had managed to gain the lead upon my arrival and keep it (and no one really seemed to care about the score except for me). Overall, it was a lot of fun. Another great experience with my class, they are really feeling comfortable with me now (on my way back to my apartment I talked with some students who had been previously petrified to speak with me, but now are more than comfortable). I got a chance to be competitive (even though I didn't really show it). And I had a lot of fun. Quite the combo. Now if I could only get my other classes on this bandwagon.
I was editing a science journal article (a whole other story in and of itself) at a coffeehouse (actually teahouse-but not like traditional teahouse) and I get a call from another teacher that also teaches this class. "Jake, where are you? Are you coming? We are waiting for you. Come to the basketball court."…ok, I wasn't really surprised. One student mentioned it yesterday, but he said a different time and he failed to tell me I was the starting power forward. So I run and change and make it to the court. All of the girls are sitting in the stands cheering. All the guys are either playing or standing in the unofficial bench area. They put me in immediately. We were playing a team of older guys. I am not really sure where they came from, but they were patient guys. But it was definitely an experience…
(Here comes the part that if you aren't really interested in basketball it might not be as interesting and you should totally just scan it to hear about where I went to cut on a fast break, slipped, and subsequently lost a large amount of hair and skin from my leg…actually, that is about it)…back to the game. We are playing full court, not a great thing seeing as how I have exercised three times in the last two months (at least they were all in the last two weeks though). But they tell me I am playing forward and I go in. First trip down the court I get a feel for the game. The point guard (another teacher) passes to one of my students one dribble and up goes a shot. Not just any shot. A heinous shot. It was ridiculous/amazing all at the same time. I go down to play defense and …well, I just decided to camp out in the lane because our center was cherry picking at the other end and no one could play a lick of D. The other team manages to put up a much better shot than we did, but they missed and to my surprise my teammate gets the rebound and chucks it down the court to the cherry picker who proceeds to miss the layup…ouch. This whole chucking the ball thing happened many more times. Only it stopped working and the ball was either a) stolen by the other team or b) not caught by the cherry picker and thrown out of bounds. My reaction was the closest thing to getting angry that I have felt in a while. I, of course, didn't express this to my team/students, but if I was coaching any one who even looked up court to throw a grenade pass would have been on the bench. My offense contribution to the game took a while to develop, but my students…well they are gunners…all of them. They never saw a shot they didn't like. So I got my hustle points (put backs from all the bricks that were thrown up). I had my fair share of defensive rebounds too. And after a while I completely abandoned the whole outlet pass concept and just ran the break myself. But in a way, it was dangerous basketball. Bodies were flying everywhere; there was no finesse about it. I caught a knee in my quad that left me limping up and down the court for five minutes. The half court offense though…once I went in the post they were actually passing me the ball. I have always had a closest fascination about being a post player. I think it might have been from seeing underachieving post players during my childhood and high school experience and thinking if I was taller I could dominate down there. Well, this was my chance. So I went to town. I'm telling you Tim Duncan would have been proud. I was knocking down 10 foot bank shots like nobody's business. We ended up winning. It was a little anticlimactic as we had managed to gain the lead upon my arrival and keep it (and no one really seemed to care about the score except for me). Overall, it was a lot of fun. Another great experience with my class, they are really feeling comfortable with me now (on my way back to my apartment I talked with some students who had been previously petrified to speak with me, but now are more than comfortable). I got a chance to be competitive (even though I didn't really show it). And I had a lot of fun. Quite the combo. Now if I could only get my other classes on this bandwagon.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Stretched and strengthen...
I don't know, I am just in that kind of mood. You know, the kind of mood where you are looking for a little phrase that sort of sums up your mood/your week/your recent experiences-hmmm…maybe you don't know. Anyway, stretched and strengthened. It's got that whole alliteration thing going. It has an accompanying image/experience everyone has shared (have you ever gotten your fingers stuck in a Chinese finger trap. It stretches only to strengthen its grip). Hmmm…maybe a little cheesy and over the top. Maybe it's a good image because it even has Chinese roots, but if you look into it too much you may think I feel trapped. I don't. Just stretched and strengthened. I have been encouraged this week in some great ways and I have had to rely on my Father above for wisdom and strength and He has come through again, praise Him for His faithfulness. My heart continues to be burdened with the desires to build and deepen relationships here. It was a good week for relationships and I hope next week is simply a step forward in that.
Thanks for your Thoughts, they help in the whole strengthening part.
Thanks for your Thoughts, they help in the whole strengthening part.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
An 11 day break...
10/9/07
I've been in China for eight weeks now. Eight weeks. Sounds like a long time, but really, that hasn't seemed to be the case. In fact, it seems like I just started teaching. So you can imagine that when I had a week break this last week, it seemed a little out of place. It was National Day here in China, Monday, October 1st; the celebration of 58 years of existence for the People's Republic of China. "A long time"…hmmm, we are at 231 and that doesn't really seem too long. All that too be said, I had a week off, well more like 11 days because I still had no classes on Thursday or Friday at this point (I will have classes on Friday for the first time this Friday).
But my vacation started with a banquet dinner at the Guiyang Sheraton hosted by the provincial government with foreign teachers, business people, and engineers in attendance. Dinner at the Sheraton, yeah, not a bad deal. I passed on the caviar though.
After judging an English Contest on Friday afternoon and then getting paid I was ready for that vacation. Things started slow, just spending Saturday with friends and Sunday at fellowship. On Monday though, I went with my teammates Kara, Susie, and Jen to Anshun (1.5 hours west of Guiyang ) for a camping trip with two other teachers from ULS and some students. I left Guiyang with everyone's bedding in my bag/strapped to my bag and needless to say turned more heads than usual on the way to the bus station. We spent Monday in Anshun prepping. I got to stay in a concrete shell of a room that belonged to one of the students. He made it as much like home as possible and I think I would prefer it to living with 8 people in a dorm room, but still, it was quite basic and the toilet facilities…I'll spare you the details. We took a bus to our camp spot-a twenty minute walk from the road into the woods. It was nice, no buildings, no cars, no blaring horns, a little peace and quiet and rest for the senses. Dinner was a bbq over the fire. It was delicious, but definitely not the quickest way too get food and I was hungry. All this meaning it took all that was in me to stay patient and just wait for the food. And after dinner (a three hour event), it was time for bed. Now you may wonder why I bother to mention this part, but it was really one of the more entertaining aspects of the trip. After realizing the tent we were borrowing was not a three person tent as we were told, but rather a two person tent, the two other guys and I shrugged and said, oh well. Actually, I am not quite sure what they said, it was something in Chinese, but I don't think they minded it, they shared a sleeping bag. I was squished against the side of the tent all night however, but I still managed to sleep decently well despite having one side, my head, and my feet up against the side of the tent. But the tent was a little mildew-y and I think I might be allergic because I am still congested-or I have a cold, so I'm not really sure. Ok, enough about camping…
We got back to Guiyang and a day later we were on our way again. This time Kara, Susie, Jen, Miah (another American teacher here), Hanna (an American studying Chinese), and Martin (Susie's old student and my closest Chinese friend) were going rafting. We boarded a train and four hours later we had arrived. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the river and I even climbed a little mountain. It was a great way to let the testosterone flow. Just going and climbing. And I had to really do some climbing. I was sort of set on summiting the little mountain, but to do this I had go over a little open faced area and climb up, not the safest, but here I am typing to you today, alive and well. Rafting was quite the experience though. The setting is a shallow river that winds through a beautiful green canyon. Towering limestone walls draped with vegetation. It was beautiful, every turn on the river was another gorgeous view. But I say a shallow river because, well, it was white water, but it wasn't. They gave us a two person raft and a six foot wood pole and said good luck. Of course, I was quite excited for the opportunity, but some of the girls weren't really interested in guiding themselves down the river. The float was a lot of fun. In the rapids you just had to get as low as possible without putting your butt on the bottom of the raft because it was bound to hit boulders in the river, all the while holding the pole like a kayak paddle and just bounce around, trying best to not get turned sideways and tip. Oh, and to not hit poor Miah in the head with the pole. This was my biggest fear and yes, it did happen once, but she has since forgiven me and no long term damage was done. We had to stop a few times and empty the boat of water. One time we managed to fill it to the brim. It was quite the trip. We arrived back to Guiyang late Saturday night. I got some rest, went to fellowship on Sunday, worked on lesson plans for five hours (still a difficult and painful experience. You can be Thinking of that) and went to bed only to start teaching again the next morning not really feeling like I had 11 days off. I guess that's how it is when you pack in trips like that and travel all over the province. So things are good here. Hopefully I won't leave you hanging as long on the blogs in the future, but as you see, I've been busy.
I've been in China for eight weeks now. Eight weeks. Sounds like a long time, but really, that hasn't seemed to be the case. In fact, it seems like I just started teaching. So you can imagine that when I had a week break this last week, it seemed a little out of place. It was National Day here in China, Monday, October 1st; the celebration of 58 years of existence for the People's Republic of China. "A long time"…hmmm, we are at 231 and that doesn't really seem too long. All that too be said, I had a week off, well more like 11 days because I still had no classes on Thursday or Friday at this point (I will have classes on Friday for the first time this Friday).
But my vacation started with a banquet dinner at the Guiyang Sheraton hosted by the provincial government with foreign teachers, business people, and engineers in attendance. Dinner at the Sheraton, yeah, not a bad deal. I passed on the caviar though.
After judging an English Contest on Friday afternoon and then getting paid I was ready for that vacation. Things started slow, just spending Saturday with friends and Sunday at fellowship. On Monday though, I went with my teammates Kara, Susie, and Jen to Anshun (1.5 hours west of Guiyang ) for a camping trip with two other teachers from ULS and some students. I left Guiyang with everyone's bedding in my bag/strapped to my bag and needless to say turned more heads than usual on the way to the bus station. We spent Monday in Anshun prepping. I got to stay in a concrete shell of a room that belonged to one of the students. He made it as much like home as possible and I think I would prefer it to living with 8 people in a dorm room, but still, it was quite basic and the toilet facilities…I'll spare you the details. We took a bus to our camp spot-a twenty minute walk from the road into the woods. It was nice, no buildings, no cars, no blaring horns, a little peace and quiet and rest for the senses. Dinner was a bbq over the fire. It was delicious, but definitely not the quickest way too get food and I was hungry. All this meaning it took all that was in me to stay patient and just wait for the food. And after dinner (a three hour event), it was time for bed. Now you may wonder why I bother to mention this part, but it was really one of the more entertaining aspects of the trip. After realizing the tent we were borrowing was not a three person tent as we were told, but rather a two person tent, the two other guys and I shrugged and said, oh well. Actually, I am not quite sure what they said, it was something in Chinese, but I don't think they minded it, they shared a sleeping bag. I was squished against the side of the tent all night however, but I still managed to sleep decently well despite having one side, my head, and my feet up against the side of the tent. But the tent was a little mildew-y and I think I might be allergic because I am still congested-or I have a cold, so I'm not really sure. Ok, enough about camping…
We got back to Guiyang and a day later we were on our way again. This time Kara, Susie, Jen, Miah (another American teacher here), Hanna (an American studying Chinese), and Martin (Susie's old student and my closest Chinese friend) were going rafting. We boarded a train and four hours later we had arrived. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the river and I even climbed a little mountain. It was a great way to let the testosterone flow. Just going and climbing. And I had to really do some climbing. I was sort of set on summiting the little mountain, but to do this I had go over a little open faced area and climb up, not the safest, but here I am typing to you today, alive and well. Rafting was quite the experience though. The setting is a shallow river that winds through a beautiful green canyon. Towering limestone walls draped with vegetation. It was beautiful, every turn on the river was another gorgeous view. But I say a shallow river because, well, it was white water, but it wasn't. They gave us a two person raft and a six foot wood pole and said good luck. Of course, I was quite excited for the opportunity, but some of the girls weren't really interested in guiding themselves down the river. The float was a lot of fun. In the rapids you just had to get as low as possible without putting your butt on the bottom of the raft because it was bound to hit boulders in the river, all the while holding the pole like a kayak paddle and just bounce around, trying best to not get turned sideways and tip. Oh, and to not hit poor Miah in the head with the pole. This was my biggest fear and yes, it did happen once, but she has since forgiven me and no long term damage was done. We had to stop a few times and empty the boat of water. One time we managed to fill it to the brim. It was quite the trip. We arrived back to Guiyang late Saturday night. I got some rest, went to fellowship on Sunday, worked on lesson plans for five hours (still a difficult and painful experience. You can be Thinking of that) and went to bed only to start teaching again the next morning not really feeling like I had 11 days off. I guess that's how it is when you pack in trips like that and travel all over the province. So things are good here. Hopefully I won't leave you hanging as long on the blogs in the future, but as you see, I've been busy.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Words Can't Explain It
It's weird, sometimes I try to use words to try and explain my experiences and the subsequent emotions, but I just end up rambling and then am left feeling like I didn't even approach what is going on in my head and heart. I went to the orphanage today. It left me in that type of state. I tried telling a friend about it in an email, but it ended as just that, under expressed with the meaning hiding somewhere between my ramblings and my thoughts still bouncing around in my head. All I know is that...a.) I am humbled. and b.) We live in a broken and ailing world. But His love is greater than our selfishness and the world's brokenness.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
An Autumn Outing
9/22/07
It seemed like it would at least be a little fun, not to mention an amazing opportunity to spend more time with my students and get to know them a little better. But I really had no idea what an "autumn outing" was. All I knew is that we were leaving at 8:30 on Saturday morning, we were going to some kind of park, and we were going to play some Chinese games-yes, Chinese games. So of course, I'm game. I am going.
I met up with my class (my first year adult learners) and two other teachers in the morning and we made our way to the minibus they had rented to take us to our destination (our own personal minibus--I was impressed). We drove 20-30 minutes North of town and we were dropped off on the side of the road in some field. Not really what I was expecting, so I ask for a little translation. I soon find out we are going through the gate just down the road into the park, but we have to meet for a contact that will get us in for free. We enter the park and I don't really know what to think. Its sort of a river, sort of a run down swim area/carnival combo, small village, etc. But after dropping our stuff off and after having at least 40 pictures taken with me, all of which were awkward solo shots or shots with me standing in my standard Jake picture pose (you probably have one too, you just don't realize it) while peace signs fill the periphery. But I tell them my cheeks hurt from smiling and I get a little break and we continue to head up river until we can go no farther and then proceed to be shuttled one a speed boat up the river, which was now surrounded by a huge canyon with walls at least two hundred feet high in some points-not bad for a park.
The trek goes on past some man made waterfalls and we then hop into some metal boats that carry 10 people each. Where we are going, I have no idea, but I sort of like the suspense and the views of the river are amazing. And then we turn. And go in a cave. And not just any cave. This was a Chinese cave. It had funky colored lights gracing the walls and then…yup, there were colored Christmas lights too. Yeah, amazing. In America we would have had some white lights illuminating enough of the cave that it was showcased and not pitch black, yet you could still appreciated the mystery of it all. In Guizhou-just straight up colored lights. Most visible, many not functioning, but in plain view because of the other lights. But still, it was pretty cool. We exit the cave and head back to the beginning, but not before my "adult" students decide it is a good idea to splash their classmates in the other boat. Away goes the camera, out comes the umbrella, and I just hunker down. Later I am apologized to by some girls, but I insist it was a good time.
By this time, it's lunch time and I am starving and I am quite curious when these games are coming in because I thought we were only going to be here for "five to six hours." Lunch was simple because "dinner would be very nice." Wait, dinner? I already had dinner plans. Looks like I am a little kidnapped and I am calling to cancel my dinner plans. And about these Chinese games…amazing. Well, amazing to tell stories about, because the Karaoke wasn't amazing to hear. And the gambling majiang (phonetically spelled) was entertaining as well. Some other games we played was the Chinese variation of Honey If you love me will you please, please smile and then a random session of making people get up and entertain the class. Of course I was asked to get up and do whatever I wanted. Whatever I want? I am not Sideshow Bob here, what do you want? I can't think of any songs, well any that you all would know. "Tell a joke!" A joke? Ha, that's a good one. I don't think I could get it even close to over the language barrier. Well, when in doubt…dance? Yeah, so I danced for my students. One of them busted out a cell phone, I showed them my very basic hip-hop moves, got my round of applause, and a half hour later we were at dinner. Now this entry is already too long, so I will keep dinner section short. All I will say is that you know the little Mohawks that roosters have? What are those called again? Any way, I ate it. The first bite was on accident, the second was out of cultural obligation to not throw away "good meat." Yeah, who even cooks that thing anyway? And why would anyone think it has any nutritional value? At least it went down easy.
To wrap it up…at the start of the day, no one really talked to me. The few guys who did said everyone was really nervous to talk to me. They "couldn't express themselves, were very nervous, and didn't want to make mistakes." But by our arrival back to campus at 9:00 pm I had had many good conversations, talked with many of my students, and managed to get many of them confident in their speaking abilities. They are comfortable with me now, I mean, after seeing the crazy foreign English Teacher dance in a field to a cell phone, who wouldn't feel comfortable with you? It was a good day. A long day, but a good day. Oh, and the slightly tipsy students (they played a drinking game after dinner, I had some good conversations) hitting on me was a little awkward, but they tell everyone they are handsome, right? Let's hope so.
Well, He is faithful as always. Blessings.
It seemed like it would at least be a little fun, not to mention an amazing opportunity to spend more time with my students and get to know them a little better. But I really had no idea what an "autumn outing" was. All I knew is that we were leaving at 8:30 on Saturday morning, we were going to some kind of park, and we were going to play some Chinese games-yes, Chinese games. So of course, I'm game. I am going.
I met up with my class (my first year adult learners) and two other teachers in the morning and we made our way to the minibus they had rented to take us to our destination (our own personal minibus--I was impressed). We drove 20-30 minutes North of town and we were dropped off on the side of the road in some field. Not really what I was expecting, so I ask for a little translation. I soon find out we are going through the gate just down the road into the park, but we have to meet for a contact that will get us in for free. We enter the park and I don't really know what to think. Its sort of a river, sort of a run down swim area/carnival combo, small village, etc. But after dropping our stuff off and after having at least 40 pictures taken with me, all of which were awkward solo shots or shots with me standing in my standard Jake picture pose (you probably have one too, you just don't realize it) while peace signs fill the periphery. But I tell them my cheeks hurt from smiling and I get a little break and we continue to head up river until we can go no farther and then proceed to be shuttled one a speed boat up the river, which was now surrounded by a huge canyon with walls at least two hundred feet high in some points-not bad for a park.
The trek goes on past some man made waterfalls and we then hop into some metal boats that carry 10 people each. Where we are going, I have no idea, but I sort of like the suspense and the views of the river are amazing. And then we turn. And go in a cave. And not just any cave. This was a Chinese cave. It had funky colored lights gracing the walls and then…yup, there were colored Christmas lights too. Yeah, amazing. In America we would have had some white lights illuminating enough of the cave that it was showcased and not pitch black, yet you could still appreciated the mystery of it all. In Guizhou-just straight up colored lights. Most visible, many not functioning, but in plain view because of the other lights. But still, it was pretty cool. We exit the cave and head back to the beginning, but not before my "adult" students decide it is a good idea to splash their classmates in the other boat. Away goes the camera, out comes the umbrella, and I just hunker down. Later I am apologized to by some girls, but I insist it was a good time.
By this time, it's lunch time and I am starving and I am quite curious when these games are coming in because I thought we were only going to be here for "five to six hours." Lunch was simple because "dinner would be very nice." Wait, dinner? I already had dinner plans. Looks like I am a little kidnapped and I am calling to cancel my dinner plans. And about these Chinese games…amazing. Well, amazing to tell stories about, because the Karaoke wasn't amazing to hear. And the gambling majiang (phonetically spelled) was entertaining as well. Some other games we played was the Chinese variation of Honey If you love me will you please, please smile and then a random session of making people get up and entertain the class. Of course I was asked to get up and do whatever I wanted. Whatever I want? I am not Sideshow Bob here, what do you want? I can't think of any songs, well any that you all would know. "Tell a joke!" A joke? Ha, that's a good one. I don't think I could get it even close to over the language barrier. Well, when in doubt…dance? Yeah, so I danced for my students. One of them busted out a cell phone, I showed them my very basic hip-hop moves, got my round of applause, and a half hour later we were at dinner. Now this entry is already too long, so I will keep dinner section short. All I will say is that you know the little Mohawks that roosters have? What are those called again? Any way, I ate it. The first bite was on accident, the second was out of cultural obligation to not throw away "good meat." Yeah, who even cooks that thing anyway? And why would anyone think it has any nutritional value? At least it went down easy.
To wrap it up…at the start of the day, no one really talked to me. The few guys who did said everyone was really nervous to talk to me. They "couldn't express themselves, were very nervous, and didn't want to make mistakes." But by our arrival back to campus at 9:00 pm I had had many good conversations, talked with many of my students, and managed to get many of them confident in their speaking abilities. They are comfortable with me now, I mean, after seeing the crazy foreign English Teacher dance in a field to a cell phone, who wouldn't feel comfortable with you? It was a good day. A long day, but a good day. Oh, and the slightly tipsy students (they played a drinking game after dinner, I had some good conversations) hitting on me was a little awkward, but they tell everyone they are handsome, right? Let's hope so.
Well, He is faithful as always. Blessings.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Who I have Met...
9/20/07
I came to China and was really excited to meet my students and build relationships with them. But since arriving I have interacted regularly with…
-Like minded Expats
-University Workers-some a little easier to work with than others
-Foreign Language Department Teachers-great people
-Students that aren't mine-sometimes they make me wish I taught seniors
-Students not even at my university-just a good guy
-Korean Exchange Students-so funny
-Japanese Exchange Students-the kid loves to play the guitar and any one with the name Kazu has got to be legit
-An American studying abroad-something else. Language ability blows my mind.
-My crazy door guard that may smile at me or may yell at me when I walk through the gate (Mr. Mei or Mei Xiansheng)- we aren't quite friends, he doesn't speak English and I don't speak Guiyanghua or Mandarin, but hopefully someday we'll be friends. Either way, we are a part of each others lives.
-Kids that yell "HELLO!" to me when I walk by them in
-The lady I buy my fruit from (Satsumas for $.20 USD a pound, not bad)
-Oh yeah, my 550 students (the other 100 don't start until October), some of which I am already corresponding with regularly outside of class
-Other random neighbors and people
The crazy thing is I get to love on all of them. To be a part of all of there lives. It's exciting. It's…well, it makes me laugh and scratch my head at how I can be so narrow minded sometimes. I just Hope a little light can get to places that can seem so dark sometimes.
I came to China and was really excited to meet my students and build relationships with them. But since arriving I have interacted regularly with…
-Like minded Expats
-University Workers-some a little easier to work with than others
-Foreign Language Department Teachers-great people
-Students that aren't mine-sometimes they make me wish I taught seniors
-Students not even at my university-just a good guy
-Korean Exchange Students-so funny
-Japanese Exchange Students-the kid loves to play the guitar and any one with the name Kazu has got to be legit
-An American studying abroad-something else. Language ability blows my mind.
-My crazy door guard that may smile at me or may yell at me when I walk through the gate (Mr. Mei or Mei Xiansheng)- we aren't quite friends, he doesn't speak English and I don't speak Guiyanghua or Mandarin, but hopefully someday we'll be friends. Either way, we are a part of each others lives.
-Kids that yell "HELLO!" to me when I walk by them in
-The lady I buy my fruit from (Satsumas for $.20 USD a pound, not bad)
-Oh yeah, my 550 students (the other 100 don't start until October), some of which I am already corresponding with regularly outside of class
-Other random neighbors and people
The crazy thing is I get to love on all of them. To be a part of all of there lives. It's exciting. It's…well, it makes me laugh and scratch my head at how I can be so narrow minded sometimes. I just Hope a little light can get to places that can seem so dark sometimes.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
A Dinner Party
9/13/07
I had dinner with some of my students from my first-year adult English major class today. It actually was really random. I was at the meat and vegetable market and I happened to run into one of my students. After struggling through three minutes of awkward conversation, he asks me over to his apartment to have dinner. Not wanting to be rude and wanting to build relationships, I agreed. Jen, my colleague was invited to, but she isn't feeling well, so he insisted we walk her back to her apartment before we started shopping (the Chinese take colds very seriously).
So, we make our way back to the market and we stroll around for a little bit and he asks, do you like chicken (as we are approaching the live chickens). I mean who doesn't like chickens? So he proceeds to pick out a chicken. It was very interesting; it seemed that the quality of a chicken is judged by its feet. Or at least that is how it worked today. So the man took the chicken and disappeared. I could have gone with the butcher to watch, but I didn't want to come across as that much of an amateur.
We made our way up to his apartment, a studio, if you could all it that. It was one room, with a bed, two computers, and a bench/makeshift kitchen and some stools. Oh, and what I assume was a very small bathroom. And I am pretty sure three people lived there. A space the size of my bedroom and living room, but for the whole apartment AND three people. Pretty impressive. This whole time I have been a little anxious because his English isn't that good and we have already had numerous awkward…uh…moments, but then everything gets better when Oliver, the best speaker from the class walks through the door. Oliver…my saving grace. It was good to have a more confident speaker there (although he will have to shut up in class next week so other people can practice). But Oliver wasn't the end of the new arrivals. Slowly, just like class on Monday people start to trickle in. Word is out. Mr. Jake has come for dinner, get over here and hang out with the foreigner. By the time dinner had started there were seven students, three friends of my student (two of which lived with him), and one very precious 4 year old daughter of another student. Yeah…a party, and to think, I was just out to get some bananas.
But in my time here I have experienced a lot of conversational overkill. I have become overly encouraging. It is necessary and it doesn't bug me, but if you were here watching you would laugh. But my students are overly flattering and overly apologetic. The feel they are the luckiest students because they have a foreign teacher. And they would have never DREAMED that they would eat dinner with him. In fact, I am only the second foreigner Oliver has ever met or spent time with (it didn't fully cross the language barrier).
All in all it was a good time and I am glad I accepted the invitation. I think these will be some important relationships this year and I think He has a plan for them (how else can you explain tonight). Hopefully we can learn a lot from each other. Worst case scenario, they will get a lot of opportunities to practice their oral English.
I had dinner with some of my students from my first-year adult English major class today. It actually was really random. I was at the meat and vegetable market and I happened to run into one of my students. After struggling through three minutes of awkward conversation, he asks me over to his apartment to have dinner. Not wanting to be rude and wanting to build relationships, I agreed. Jen, my colleague was invited to, but she isn't feeling well, so he insisted we walk her back to her apartment before we started shopping (the Chinese take colds very seriously).
So, we make our way back to the market and we stroll around for a little bit and he asks, do you like chicken (as we are approaching the live chickens). I mean who doesn't like chickens? So he proceeds to pick out a chicken. It was very interesting; it seemed that the quality of a chicken is judged by its feet. Or at least that is how it worked today. So the man took the chicken and disappeared. I could have gone with the butcher to watch, but I didn't want to come across as that much of an amateur.
We made our way up to his apartment, a studio, if you could all it that. It was one room, with a bed, two computers, and a bench/makeshift kitchen and some stools. Oh, and what I assume was a very small bathroom. And I am pretty sure three people lived there. A space the size of my bedroom and living room, but for the whole apartment AND three people. Pretty impressive. This whole time I have been a little anxious because his English isn't that good and we have already had numerous awkward…uh…moments, but then everything gets better when Oliver, the best speaker from the class walks through the door. Oliver…my saving grace. It was good to have a more confident speaker there (although he will have to shut up in class next week so other people can practice). But Oliver wasn't the end of the new arrivals. Slowly, just like class on Monday people start to trickle in. Word is out. Mr. Jake has come for dinner, get over here and hang out with the foreigner. By the time dinner had started there were seven students, three friends of my student (two of which lived with him), and one very precious 4 year old daughter of another student. Yeah…a party, and to think, I was just out to get some bananas.
But in my time here I have experienced a lot of conversational overkill. I have become overly encouraging. It is necessary and it doesn't bug me, but if you were here watching you would laugh. But my students are overly flattering and overly apologetic. The feel they are the luckiest students because they have a foreign teacher. And they would have never DREAMED that they would eat dinner with him. In fact, I am only the second foreigner Oliver has ever met or spent time with (it didn't fully cross the language barrier).
All in all it was a good time and I am glad I accepted the invitation. I think these will be some important relationships this year and I think He has a plan for them (how else can you explain tonight). Hopefully we can learn a lot from each other. Worst case scenario, they will get a lot of opportunities to practice their oral English.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
First day of teaching
9/10/07
When I looked in the mirror today before I headed off to class I had to laugh a little bit. I was wearing a tie and my beard is nicely trimmed. I was going for the distinguished I am older than 22 look. It may have worked. Chinese people are actually somewhat surprised when they hear my age because one, I am six feet tall and any one that tall must be older, and two, I have a full beard (height and facial hair, two distinguishing things in Southern China). But all this to say, my response to my reflection was…
"Are you serious? You're a teacher? You haven't taught an organized/official class in your life. But the beard doesn't look to bad and you did a decent job with the Windsor knot, so I guess you can give it a go. Maybe you're students won't care that you are younger than all of them. Maybe they won't mind the fact that you feel like you are going to be up there winging it even though you have thought hours about your lesson plan and what exactly the first day will look like. Actually, maybe you should roll up the sleeves, you don't want to be too much of a poser, yeah, definitely roll up the sleeves."
It's funny how a glance in the mirror can send thoughts whirling. As I headed down the steps out of my apartment I realize that I know just enough to be dangerous. That I am equipped with some basic tools and that is good enough. It's because I only have the basics that maybe Father will be able to do something through me and I won't get in the way this time. That I can be used to teach people how to speak English a little better. I stop thinking so much of my abilities and give credit where credit is due.
My first class went great. In fact, it's National Teacher's Day in China. My class gave me a standing ovation…hmmm, on my first day. Maybe He will be able to use this bearded 22 year old.
…I typed this up after my first class. My second and third didn't go so hot. I think there is still some learning about teaching that needs to be done. It's just rough that it's hands on. Thanks for your Thoughts.
When I looked in the mirror today before I headed off to class I had to laugh a little bit. I was wearing a tie and my beard is nicely trimmed. I was going for the distinguished I am older than 22 look. It may have worked. Chinese people are actually somewhat surprised when they hear my age because one, I am six feet tall and any one that tall must be older, and two, I have a full beard (height and facial hair, two distinguishing things in Southern China). But all this to say, my response to my reflection was…
"Are you serious? You're a teacher? You haven't taught an organized/official class in your life. But the beard doesn't look to bad and you did a decent job with the Windsor knot, so I guess you can give it a go. Maybe you're students won't care that you are younger than all of them. Maybe they won't mind the fact that you feel like you are going to be up there winging it even though you have thought hours about your lesson plan and what exactly the first day will look like. Actually, maybe you should roll up the sleeves, you don't want to be too much of a poser, yeah, definitely roll up the sleeves."
It's funny how a glance in the mirror can send thoughts whirling. As I headed down the steps out of my apartment I realize that I know just enough to be dangerous. That I am equipped with some basic tools and that is good enough. It's because I only have the basics that maybe Father will be able to do something through me and I won't get in the way this time. That I can be used to teach people how to speak English a little better. I stop thinking so much of my abilities and give credit where credit is due.
My first class went great. In fact, it's National Teacher's Day in China. My class gave me a standing ovation…hmmm, on my first day. Maybe He will be able to use this bearded 22 year old.
…I typed this up after my first class. My second and third didn't go so hot. I think there is still some learning about teaching that needs to be done. It's just rough that it's hands on. Thanks for your Thoughts.
A trip to the Countryside
9/9/07
It's 8:20 am, I get a phone call. We aren't leaving till 9:00. Good, time to eat an actual breakfast. Well, an actual breakfast is just peanut butter and jelly on sweet rolls, but that was better than the cup of OJ which had been the only option seconds earlier.
You see, I am going to the countryside and we need to catch a bus. Only two go directly to our destination per day, we are gunning for the second one. The bus station brings bad news, the bus is broke, can't leave till 3. We opt for two buses over the one. Nothing special one the first leg of the trip, but the second leg is the type I was hoping for. I get on the bus and am greeted two chickens, which I'm not sure if they were dead or alive until one seems to wink at me. We aren't been driving more than two minutes before we stop and some guy is throwing 10 pieces of 20 ft long aluminum piping on the top of the bus. We head up windy roads that I wouldn't dare take any car I own on. It's rained the past few days and the dirt road isn't doing so hot. But the bus goes on, weaving past terraced rice fields that accent the side of ridiculously green mountains. We pass another bus, only this bus is stuck in the mud and all its passengers are out pushing it. The bus has only been half full, but a trip through a village in the middle of market day (once every five days), fills it to the brim and I am sandwiched between a couple of old Chinese dudes puffing on cheap cigarettes who we eventually drop off somewhere in the hills to head who knows where.
We arrive in Huangping, a city of sorts, and its already 4:30, but the trip went fast, it was an amazing ride that brought entertainment in a brand new way. Nothing too crazy tonight except for accompanying a basketball court full of Chinese senior citizens in their nightly dance aerobics. They seemed to appreciate my raving aerobics. The combo of new moves and being white will captivate most any people not living in a city of 5 million+ here.
Not knowing what to expect I am not let down as Friday brings a run in with a sip of some drink that makes even the Chinese guys faces grimace in pain, three trips to schools to hand out scholarships (one of which we walk to b/c rain took out the road) and spend time with some of the cutest kids ever, and a lot of people saying "No, you can't go, you must come eat with us."
A new day, thus a new place to stay. This time in a hotel which is built on the riverside, a beautiful setting really-nothing like sleeping along the river. Also nothing like waking up to the cock-a-doodle-doos of what seems to be every rooster in the province and 20 minutes straight of firecrackers (paving the way for someone's afterlife).
A hike up a mountain to a minority village of 100 people and another forced (but also welcomed-we skipped breakfast-and you know I don't do well if I don't eat) meal later I have forgotten of my bitterness towards the roosters and am again in awe of the beauty of the countryside and the simplicity of country living. Our hike brought us alongside a water buffalo that was out for a little breakfast, past fields of peppers, and through rice fields a week away from harvest.
Funny thing is, I started the weekend not really liking hot food, but I now think food isn't served any other way-actually I kind of missed it at my next meal back in Guiyang.
It's 8:20 am, I get a phone call. We aren't leaving till 9:00. Good, time to eat an actual breakfast. Well, an actual breakfast is just peanut butter and jelly on sweet rolls, but that was better than the cup of OJ which had been the only option seconds earlier.
You see, I am going to the countryside and we need to catch a bus. Only two go directly to our destination per day, we are gunning for the second one. The bus station brings bad news, the bus is broke, can't leave till 3. We opt for two buses over the one. Nothing special one the first leg of the trip, but the second leg is the type I was hoping for. I get on the bus and am greeted two chickens, which I'm not sure if they were dead or alive until one seems to wink at me. We aren't been driving more than two minutes before we stop and some guy is throwing 10 pieces of 20 ft long aluminum piping on the top of the bus. We head up windy roads that I wouldn't dare take any car I own on. It's rained the past few days and the dirt road isn't doing so hot. But the bus goes on, weaving past terraced rice fields that accent the side of ridiculously green mountains. We pass another bus, only this bus is stuck in the mud and all its passengers are out pushing it. The bus has only been half full, but a trip through a village in the middle of market day (once every five days), fills it to the brim and I am sandwiched between a couple of old Chinese dudes puffing on cheap cigarettes who we eventually drop off somewhere in the hills to head who knows where.
We arrive in Huangping, a city of sorts, and its already 4:30, but the trip went fast, it was an amazing ride that brought entertainment in a brand new way. Nothing too crazy tonight except for accompanying a basketball court full of Chinese senior citizens in their nightly dance aerobics. They seemed to appreciate my raving aerobics. The combo of new moves and being white will captivate most any people not living in a city of 5 million+ here.
Not knowing what to expect I am not let down as Friday brings a run in with a sip of some drink that makes even the Chinese guys faces grimace in pain, three trips to schools to hand out scholarships (one of which we walk to b/c rain took out the road) and spend time with some of the cutest kids ever, and a lot of people saying "No, you can't go, you must come eat with us."
A new day, thus a new place to stay. This time in a hotel which is built on the riverside, a beautiful setting really-nothing like sleeping along the river. Also nothing like waking up to the cock-a-doodle-doos of what seems to be every rooster in the province and 20 minutes straight of firecrackers (paving the way for someone's afterlife).
A hike up a mountain to a minority village of 100 people and another forced (but also welcomed-we skipped breakfast-and you know I don't do well if I don't eat) meal later I have forgotten of my bitterness towards the roosters and am again in awe of the beauty of the countryside and the simplicity of country living. Our hike brought us alongside a water buffalo that was out for a little breakfast, past fields of peppers, and through rice fields a week away from harvest.
Funny thing is, I started the weekend not really liking hot food, but I now think food isn't served any other way-actually I kind of missed it at my next meal back in Guiyang.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Cockroachs...
I am a competitive person. This is no secret. I try my best to only express it in moderation, and as I have matured I have definitely seen this happen. Although some friends like to stir up my competitive side, I usually contain it pretty well. But I love good spirited competition. I feel like it just makes everything more interesting, gives life a little more “pizzazz” if you will. Yes, it can easily backfire, especially if you get a group of strong personalities (my friends) together, separate into teams, and play a game like nouns in a bucket, but when it doesn’t get too intense and people have a loving, yet cutthroat spirit, it’s great. Being in China, I haven’t had many competitive moments or people who really bring that side out of me, so it has rested like a sleeping giant.
As I was getting ready for bed the other day I suppose you could say I had an epiphany of sorts. I was brushing my teeth and came face to face with a cockroach. This wasn’t my first encounter, actually it was my fourth. And as I killed it, I said to myself (I find I have been saying a lot of things to myself lately, I guess this is what happens when no one else understands the language you speak), man, I have to keep track of how many of these things I kill. And then, BAM! It hits me. A cockroach kill sheet. Not only does it allow me to express my competitive side by seeing how many I can kill, it gives me something to decorate my barren walls with-granted it’s only a six inch by ten inch paper that is now curled up b/c of the humidity, but it is quite decorative. I proceeded to put four tally marks on the sheet posted it and called it a night.
The next day was a let down…zero roaches (a let down, but also a relief. I like it when bad news is also good news. The same reason I didn’t put any Lions on my fantasy football team. If they do poorly I won’t have them on my fantasy team and if they do well, I am happy because they are the team I cheer for. And if they do poorly, it is someone else’s problem).
But the cockroach count doubled last night. It was a little crazy. I literally started brushing my teeth (again) and said to myself, hmm, no cockroaches tonight. I guess that is ok. Then I walked into my kitchen and there were four. Three were already dead (my roach killers got them-and yes, I am counting them still-they are MY roach killers). The fourth one though, let's just the only reason he was alive was because he didn't fit in the roach killers to get the poison. So I swiftly stomped him, resulting in some messy clean up, but if you aren’t swift they run and you wouldn't believe how fast these things are.
This series of events also gave me a hypothesis for why it is customary to wear slippers in houses and apartments in China. Not to keep the house from getting dirty, but to always have on hand (well really they are on your feet, things aren’t that backwards here) to kill bugs. So, yeah. The count rests at 8
As I was getting ready for bed the other day I suppose you could say I had an epiphany of sorts. I was brushing my teeth and came face to face with a cockroach. This wasn’t my first encounter, actually it was my fourth. And as I killed it, I said to myself (I find I have been saying a lot of things to myself lately, I guess this is what happens when no one else understands the language you speak), man, I have to keep track of how many of these things I kill. And then, BAM! It hits me. A cockroach kill sheet. Not only does it allow me to express my competitive side by seeing how many I can kill, it gives me something to decorate my barren walls with-granted it’s only a six inch by ten inch paper that is now curled up b/c of the humidity, but it is quite decorative. I proceeded to put four tally marks on the sheet posted it and called it a night.
The next day was a let down…zero roaches (a let down, but also a relief. I like it when bad news is also good news. The same reason I didn’t put any Lions on my fantasy football team. If they do poorly I won’t have them on my fantasy team and if they do well, I am happy because they are the team I cheer for. And if they do poorly, it is someone else’s problem).
But the cockroach count doubled last night. It was a little crazy. I literally started brushing my teeth (again) and said to myself, hmm, no cockroaches tonight. I guess that is ok. Then I walked into my kitchen and there were four. Three were already dead (my roach killers got them-and yes, I am counting them still-they are MY roach killers). The fourth one though, let's just the only reason he was alive was because he didn't fit in the roach killers to get the poison. So I swiftly stomped him, resulting in some messy clean up, but if you aren’t swift they run and you wouldn't believe how fast these things are.
This series of events also gave me a hypothesis for why it is customary to wear slippers in houses and apartments in China. Not to keep the house from getting dirty, but to always have on hand (well really they are on your feet, things aren’t that backwards here) to kill bugs. So, yeah. The count rests at 8
8/29/07
Arriving to Guiyang has been relieving. I have been anxious to get to the place I would call home for the next 11 months. My first day has been good. My apartment is…an apartment. It’s mine, a place to call “home,” to be comfortable in, to have food at my finger tips, a place to go to and not have to worry about how to communicate, read, or act. But it will need some adjustments. Like turning my 7 ft x 11 ft entrance/living room into my entrance/bedroom and my 10 ft x 11 ft bedroom into a space capable of hosting people. The kitchen/laundry room…well it has a rice cooker, hot plate, fridge, and some utensils…that will do. The bathroom…the dolphin and penguin shower curtain I got at Walmart (which is underneath the People’s Square overlooked by Mao-a bit ironic if you ask us foreigners) has been a good edition. Oh, but the cleaning, that was a project. The first thing I bought…cleaner. It’s ok if my place is dirty (everything in China is dirty), but I want it to be my dirt. Not mystery dirt. So everything at least got sprayed down. It’s nice to have a place I can call my own.
9/1/07
You know, if you just don’t look at the people staring at you it isn’t THAT bad. It’s only frustrating if you let it be. I never thought I was cool/weird enough to be stared at for the sake, but I guess that is the case. There aren’t many foreigners here in Guiyang, we’re about 1 in 10,000. This being the case, we are quite the spectacle when we go out in public. Not because we are doing anything strange, just because we look different. I sort of want to just start walking on my hands to do something to actually warrant the stares, but I guess I will just have to settle on the fact that I just look different and that is why people stare. I suppose it makes you grateful for diversity in the states. Even if we think we are in a bit of a bubble sometimes we still don’t question the presence of someone who looks different from us. They have the same amount of rights to be there as we do. Not that I am complaining ;-) Culturally it is acceptable and I have only been here for a couple of weeks, who am I to question 3,000 + years of culture?
9/3/07
I guess the “September 3” on my teaching schedule was a misprint. I went to teach my first class this morning and to my surprise class doesn’t start until next week. Wait…actually, let’s have it start Friday. So I have classes Friday…I think. Maybe we won’t start until next week. Maybe I will go in again tomorrow and ask for another confirmation. If I don’t have to teach on Friday that means I may go out to the countryside with some new friends and visit a school that the company they work with helped fund. Visiting the countryside is something I really want to do, so in a way I hope I don’t have class.
Speaking of new friends…I have met some amazing people here. They are people with huge hearts, doing great things. The world is a broken place and these people have set out to try and make it a little better. Strong willed and trusting they love people and show people Fathers love. What an inspiration. Leaves me scratching my head and searching my heart as to what more I can do, as to what more is desired of me.
Arriving to Guiyang has been relieving. I have been anxious to get to the place I would call home for the next 11 months. My first day has been good. My apartment is…an apartment. It’s mine, a place to call “home,” to be comfortable in, to have food at my finger tips, a place to go to and not have to worry about how to communicate, read, or act. But it will need some adjustments. Like turning my 7 ft x 11 ft entrance/living room into my entrance/bedroom and my 10 ft x 11 ft bedroom into a space capable of hosting people. The kitchen/laundry room…well it has a rice cooker, hot plate, fridge, and some utensils…that will do. The bathroom…the dolphin and penguin shower curtain I got at Walmart (which is underneath the People’s Square overlooked by Mao-a bit ironic if you ask us foreigners) has been a good edition. Oh, but the cleaning, that was a project. The first thing I bought…cleaner. It’s ok if my place is dirty (everything in China is dirty), but I want it to be my dirt. Not mystery dirt. So everything at least got sprayed down. It’s nice to have a place I can call my own.
9/1/07
You know, if you just don’t look at the people staring at you it isn’t THAT bad. It’s only frustrating if you let it be. I never thought I was cool/weird enough to be stared at for the sake, but I guess that is the case. There aren’t many foreigners here in Guiyang, we’re about 1 in 10,000. This being the case, we are quite the spectacle when we go out in public. Not because we are doing anything strange, just because we look different. I sort of want to just start walking on my hands to do something to actually warrant the stares, but I guess I will just have to settle on the fact that I just look different and that is why people stare. I suppose it makes you grateful for diversity in the states. Even if we think we are in a bit of a bubble sometimes we still don’t question the presence of someone who looks different from us. They have the same amount of rights to be there as we do. Not that I am complaining ;-) Culturally it is acceptable and I have only been here for a couple of weeks, who am I to question 3,000 + years of culture?
9/3/07
I guess the “September 3” on my teaching schedule was a misprint. I went to teach my first class this morning and to my surprise class doesn’t start until next week. Wait…actually, let’s have it start Friday. So I have classes Friday…I think. Maybe we won’t start until next week. Maybe I will go in again tomorrow and ask for another confirmation. If I don’t have to teach on Friday that means I may go out to the countryside with some new friends and visit a school that the company they work with helped fund. Visiting the countryside is something I really want to do, so in a way I hope I don’t have class.
Speaking of new friends…I have met some amazing people here. They are people with huge hearts, doing great things. The world is a broken place and these people have set out to try and make it a little better. Strong willed and trusting they love people and show people Fathers love. What an inspiration. Leaves me scratching my head and searching my heart as to what more I can do, as to what more is desired of me.
Shanghai to Xi’an
8/26/07
We just finished up traveling from Shanghai to Xi’an. I had a lot of fun, but I have been anxious to get to Guiyang and find out a little more what my next year will look like. I have been traveling with all my stuff for the year, which makes travel days very interesting. There have been times where I have nearly doubled my weight to help my teammate Jen make it up the stairs with her luggage. A 45 lbs. duffle bag, a 40 lbs. backpack, a 20 lbs. messenger bag, and a 50 lbs. suitcase, it was quite the sight to see. No one really wanted to get in my way.
But the two weeks of traveling have included some very cool things. Shanghai was a huge city that just went on and on with skyscrapers. I actually had an opportunity to meet up with an old friend from high school there (Jonathan Meador). It was great to see him and he is doing very well there. He is studying Chinese and working very hard at it, it definitely shows as he was able to talk with people effortlessly. It was fun to see all the lights and to get my first taste of China. Shanghai is definitely a blend between East and West though, a good city to transition into life in China.
From Shanghai Jen and I went to Nanjing to stay with an old family friend of hers that lives there with her husband, who works for Ford there, and nine month old son. It was a nice break from the big city and it was wonderful to be in a well lit place that was clean, unlike the Shanghai Youth Hostel. Nanjing was nice, but nothing super note worthy. BUT, I did see my first pagoda there--something that I had been anticipating.
My favorite part of traveling was Xi’an. In Xi’an we met up with two more teachers that live in Guiyang and work with our same company, so our teammates. They were a lot of fun and one of them, Kara, even went to Seattle Pacific and lived in Seattle for a few years after that, something that definitely made me feel a little more comfortable and a little more homesick. Suzie, my other teammate is originally from Colorado. They both appreciate the outdoors and camping and backpacking, so that is nice to have some people on board with similar passions. Xi’an is a very neat city though. It has a ton of great history (along with what seems to be a lot of cities in China). The old city wall is still intact and you can walk along it (which we did) and there are other areas of town that are very interesting, specifically the Muslim quarter, an eclectic combination of culture, shopping, food, and tourists. The big hit in Xi’an though is the Terracotta Warriors. This army of over 7,000 clay warriors built to guard and emporer in the afterlife was discovered in 1974 and is quite the sight to see. They date back 3,000 years and their detail could be described as mind boggling. No two are alike and many of the weapons were still sharp when they were unearthed.
While at the Terracotta Warriors I had a pretty crazy experience. I was looking into one of the pits and I turned to my left and I see a guy that looks a lot like Jared Hiebert. I was actually convinced it was him. But I start thinking to myself…I don’t recognize the guy he’s with, he doesn’t see me, and wait…does he have blue eyes? Maybe it isn’t him, but maybe I should take a picture b/c if it isn’t him then he needs to see how much this guy looks like him. Well, truth be told, his eyes are blue, I hadn’t ever met his brother, and yes it was him. He looks up and sees me as is like, Jake? So yeah, 5900 miles from Seattle and I run into one of my classmates. Very weird.
We just finished up traveling from Shanghai to Xi’an. I had a lot of fun, but I have been anxious to get to Guiyang and find out a little more what my next year will look like. I have been traveling with all my stuff for the year, which makes travel days very interesting. There have been times where I have nearly doubled my weight to help my teammate Jen make it up the stairs with her luggage. A 45 lbs. duffle bag, a 40 lbs. backpack, a 20 lbs. messenger bag, and a 50 lbs. suitcase, it was quite the sight to see. No one really wanted to get in my way.
But the two weeks of traveling have included some very cool things. Shanghai was a huge city that just went on and on with skyscrapers. I actually had an opportunity to meet up with an old friend from high school there (Jonathan Meador). It was great to see him and he is doing very well there. He is studying Chinese and working very hard at it, it definitely shows as he was able to talk with people effortlessly. It was fun to see all the lights and to get my first taste of China. Shanghai is definitely a blend between East and West though, a good city to transition into life in China.
From Shanghai Jen and I went to Nanjing to stay with an old family friend of hers that lives there with her husband, who works for Ford there, and nine month old son. It was a nice break from the big city and it was wonderful to be in a well lit place that was clean, unlike the Shanghai Youth Hostel. Nanjing was nice, but nothing super note worthy. BUT, I did see my first pagoda there--something that I had been anticipating.
My favorite part of traveling was Xi’an. In Xi’an we met up with two more teachers that live in Guiyang and work with our same company, so our teammates. They were a lot of fun and one of them, Kara, even went to Seattle Pacific and lived in Seattle for a few years after that, something that definitely made me feel a little more comfortable and a little more homesick. Suzie, my other teammate is originally from Colorado. They both appreciate the outdoors and camping and backpacking, so that is nice to have some people on board with similar passions. Xi’an is a very neat city though. It has a ton of great history (along with what seems to be a lot of cities in China). The old city wall is still intact and you can walk along it (which we did) and there are other areas of town that are very interesting, specifically the Muslim quarter, an eclectic combination of culture, shopping, food, and tourists. The big hit in Xi’an though is the Terracotta Warriors. This army of over 7,000 clay warriors built to guard and emporer in the afterlife was discovered in 1974 and is quite the sight to see. They date back 3,000 years and their detail could be described as mind boggling. No two are alike and many of the weapons were still sharp when they were unearthed.
While at the Terracotta Warriors I had a pretty crazy experience. I was looking into one of the pits and I turned to my left and I see a guy that looks a lot like Jared Hiebert. I was actually convinced it was him. But I start thinking to myself…I don’t recognize the guy he’s with, he doesn’t see me, and wait…does he have blue eyes? Maybe it isn’t him, but maybe I should take a picture b/c if it isn’t him then he needs to see how much this guy looks like him. Well, truth be told, his eyes are blue, I hadn’t ever met his brother, and yes it was him. He looks up and sees me as is like, Jake? So yeah, 5900 miles from Seattle and I run into one of my classmates. Very weird.
Getting Here
8/15/2007 Getting Here
So…I can’t get access to my blog over here, but that is ok. I have some contacts back home that are more than happy to post things for me (thank you Abby). But I am a ways behind in sharing my experiences and I want to make sure that I share them b/c there have been some great ones and I am learning a lot. Something to be Thinking about is that I can’t check my friend’s blogs either and it is really important to me to be connected with them, so I hope to find a way to do that still.
Well, how about my first story… I arrived to SeaTac only to find long lines and disgruntled travelers. I finally made it to the security checkpoint only to be told that my Nalgene full of water couldn't go through (I am a fool, should have known). The security lady said I could poor it out outside and wait in line again/drink it/toss it. I decided there was no way I was standing in the Hades line again and then I debated about drinking it, but it was full and I felt like the guy behind me was sympathetic and I could have asked him, but didn't want to, so I just tossed it. I then made my way to the N gates where I get in line for a bagel only to be standing next to the same guy again. Not that weird, but I board my plane an hour later...he is on it. I get to San Francisco and have to leave the security gate to deliver mail I forgot to take care of earlier and then go back in and as I am on a moving walkway to my gate someone hits my bag, same guy. I am like "Where are you going?" of course...Shanghai. I tell him I am going there as well and I ask him what he is doing and he tells me he has been studying there for 8 years and he has a lot of the same Passions I do about living here. We got a chance to talk some more and then I met some more people on the same flight from his company and we all talked for a while and sat in the same area of the plane (which was only half full...great deal). On the plane we exchange information and he tells me that he wanted to help me drink my water...too bad I didn't ask. But I get to Shanghai and one of my bags doesn't come through. I am like, what in the world do I do. I don't know where I am staying, what Jen's cell # is (she is my teaching teammate in Guiyang that I would be traveling with and she was on the other side of customs), or how to even tell them my bag is missing. But this guy just comes in, has them send it to his place gives him his # and takes care of it all. The next day he has them drop it off at my hostel and bam, everything is just fine.
Quite the story, I think. Just a reminder of how I am Taken care of.
So…I can’t get access to my blog over here, but that is ok. I have some contacts back home that are more than happy to post things for me (thank you Abby). But I am a ways behind in sharing my experiences and I want to make sure that I share them b/c there have been some great ones and I am learning a lot. Something to be Thinking about is that I can’t check my friend’s blogs either and it is really important to me to be connected with them, so I hope to find a way to do that still.
Well, how about my first story… I arrived to SeaTac only to find long lines and disgruntled travelers. I finally made it to the security checkpoint only to be told that my Nalgene full of water couldn't go through (I am a fool, should have known). The security lady said I could poor it out outside and wait in line again/drink it/toss it. I decided there was no way I was standing in the Hades line again and then I debated about drinking it, but it was full and I felt like the guy behind me was sympathetic and I could have asked him, but didn't want to, so I just tossed it. I then made my way to the N gates where I get in line for a bagel only to be standing next to the same guy again. Not that weird, but I board my plane an hour later...he is on it. I get to San Francisco and have to leave the security gate to deliver mail I forgot to take care of earlier and then go back in and as I am on a moving walkway to my gate someone hits my bag, same guy. I am like "Where are you going?" of course...Shanghai. I tell him I am going there as well and I ask him what he is doing and he tells me he has been studying there for 8 years and he has a lot of the same Passions I do about living here. We got a chance to talk some more and then I met some more people on the same flight from his company and we all talked for a while and sat in the same area of the plane (which was only half full...great deal). On the plane we exchange information and he tells me that he wanted to help me drink my water...too bad I didn't ask. But I get to Shanghai and one of my bags doesn't come through. I am like, what in the world do I do. I don't know where I am staying, what Jen's cell # is (she is my teaching teammate in Guiyang that I would be traveling with and she was on the other side of customs), or how to even tell them my bag is missing. But this guy just comes in, has them send it to his place gives him his # and takes care of it all. The next day he has them drop it off at my hostel and bam, everything is just fine.
Quite the story, I think. Just a reminder of how I am Taken care of.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Final Preparations
The last couple months have been a bit of a whirlwind. After graduating in early June, I spent sometime with my family in Seattle and then headed home at the end of the month. It was quite the trip, I have never driven that much before in my life. I spent a little while in Montana, but the latter half of my trip included two 14 hour driving days. But my time at home was great. I was able to spend more time with my family and also I had some training for my upcoming time in China. A lot of it focused around adjusting to living in another culture and teaching English as a second language, among some other good things. After a week in Michigan I spent time in Idaho with friends and I am now in Seattle making final preperations for my trip. I leave August 14th for Shanghai. I will be travelling with a fellow teacher for the first two weeks. We are going to spend time in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xi'an. I am very excited for this and I think it will be a good warm up to actually living in a new and very different culture. It is exciting to think that I leave in two weeks, but a lot of my feelings seem to deal with me not really knowing what to expect. I guess I am just looking forward to getting on the plane and going because until then I don't think I will feel much different than I do now. I still have some things to complete before I go, but everything is coming together pretty well...hopefully before the 14th I will have everything ready to go as needed.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Teaching
Hey Team,
So not to long ago going to China became a little more real. I now know where I will be spending my next year. I will be teaching English at a university in the Guizhou Province in southwest China. Guiyang is the capital city of Guizhou, and it has a population of 800,000 city and 3,000,000 for the whole metropolitan area--so it is right about Seattle's size. I also found out I will be working alongside another teacher and that two other teachers, that work at another university, and a couple and their family (my team leaders) will also be in Guiyang. I have had the chance to email most of them and they are all very nice and most of them have some kind of ties to Michigan or SPU, so you can't go wrong with that.
But things are coming along. I still have some paper work that needs to get completed, as well as many other tasks such as: raising start up costs ($5,000), learning Chinese (I want to at least get "an ear" for it and be able to distinguish between different words before I go), training, getting life organized, oh, and graduating. So that is what I am busy with now, but I am really excited to be going to Guizhou. Oh, Guizhou is home to Asia's largest waterfall and some cool mountains and caves, etc. I just wanted to update with what all was going on though. Once something else exciting happens, I will write again.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
blogging?
i've never "blogged" before, but then again, who really had before last year? i think it might be good for me. it will help keep me communicating while i am teaching english in china. that's good, right? we'll see how it goes, i will try and keep it entertaining...i suppose we're really not off to that hot of a start, eh?
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