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.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
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.
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