3rd week of teaching

Every Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. you can look outside my apartment window and see hundreds of students standing in rows and groups behind red banners. At 7 a.m. about 10 soldiers in really crisp olive-colored dress uniforms march out across the field. They march very slowly toward the flag pole, with their legs going up and down to 45 degrees. Two men in white gloves and uniform then take the Chinese flag, and the flag snaps onto the flag pole. The anthem plays as the soldiers salute and the students stand silently. Once the anthem is over, the soldiers slowly march out and then all the students disappear. So I can watch this scene every Monday morning while I'm brushing my teeth or putting in my contacts.

I had office hours and then I taught one class this morning. Class was enjoyable. I worked on learning all 50 of their names, and now I can remember most of them. It seems to help knowing their names-- it's easier to engage them in class that way. It is just hard remembering their names because some of them do not have any distinct trait that stands out to me. They all have black hair and black eyes and glasses. So I have to look at the color of their glasses, the way their bangs are cut, or the shape of their face.

And today we talked about adjectives in describing a city. At one point I described two cities that were opposite of each other in about every way: Beijing and Topeka. It was a lot of fun. And it is always great to help them expand their vocabulary, especially where adjectives are concerned. They think everything is either "delicious" or "beautiful."

At noon I took the bus back to old campus. The bus let us off by the back gate and I wandered down the street through the lunch-time crowd. For the first time, I felt like I was a part of the crowd, and not just a person everyone wants to stare at. I didn't even hear anyone say "laowei" (foreigner). I bought a watermelon slice from the usual lady and her daughter on one corner. The toothless woman smiled broadly when she saw me. She ran over and grabbed my hands in her hands that were covered with watermelon juice. She cut a slice for me that was twice as big as usual. Then I walked over to the fried bread vendor and got some. It is soooo good, but soooo bad for you. It was a nice little treat though.

For the rest of the day I will meet with my team leader and then we'll have a "faculty meeting." I also have to practice my Chinese because I'm being held accountable by many people. To get on the right bus today I successfully asked in a few words of Chinese if they were going to the old campus. They were! It was sort of fun asking.

Yesterday we went to fellowship and then Rachael and I finally found the post office. The China Post on Bai Yi square downtown is the only place in the whole city that will mail things to America. I had two letters to send. We walked into the huge place and stood at about 10 different counters before being directed to the right one. We were told to go to a counter which was the only one without lines. I guess it was the "international counter." Two very bored looking women sat behind it reading magazines. We bought stamps--one letter took 5 awesome, bright-colored stamps. Then we went to this little machine where you roll glue on everything--on the stamps and the envelopes which they give you. Anyway, I felt like we accomplished a lot just mailing those letters.

For dinner I managed to cook some spaghetti noodles! I had to turn on the propane under the counters. Then I had to click the stove knobs around until flames shot from the burners. I only scorched a towel when I was trying to put the pot on the stove. Besides that, I didn't get scorched, nor did the noodles. It was another small accomplishment for the day.

A quiet day in the neighborhood

Saturday has been nice. It is the first time in several days that I have had a few hours to rest and just do whatever I want for a little bit. So this morning I did laundry, read, mopped the floors, and read the Word.

At about 2 p.m. my Chinese tutor showed up with her friend. So I guess I have 2 Chinese tutors. They are helping me with my Chinese and I'm helping them with English. I really want to learn Chinese. There's just so little time in each day. The girls stayed for about 3 hours. It was fun hanging out with them and they were trying to teach me all different kinds of food I can order at the restaurant. I have a particular problem with the 3rd tone. In class yesterday people laughed when I tried the 3rd tone and today they laughed again. Learning Chinese with all of its tones reminds me of learning to sing. And I can't sing.

For dinner Jodi and I went to our favorite restaurant, which we have named the "Cold Tea Shop." They have the best cashew chicken and fried green beans. It was good and there was some left over so I brought it home in a couple little boxes. Unfortunately the box of rice spilled all over the fourth floor of our apartment building when I was coming up the stairs. I still have to go out there and clean it up... :)

Now we're going to watch a movie. I hope you have a blessed day! (The picture is of the apartment building next to us. Ours looks the same and I live on the fifth floor. I'll have buns of steel after living here!)

Being a Teacher and a Student

Ni hao, everyone! I hope you are all healthy and well! Today there has been a lot of air pollution and smoke from burning trash, so a few of us (including me), are dealing with coughs. I hope it clears up soon.

Last night we had a good time celebrating Jonathan's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants. Our teammates, Shannon and Rachael, even brought a cake for him. We were all sitting at a circle table eating, when this really sketchy looking man appeared. He had a menu in front of him and was saying something about we should order more. We were all very confused because we had never seen him before. Well, it turns out he was a con artist and we never knew! He was leaving when another Chinese man at a table close to us, grabbed him and started yelling at him. The con man yelled back and we thought they were going to fight. The con man ran out of the restaurant and the other man gave Jodi her camera and purse back. She didn't even know that the con man had stolen it while we were all trying to understand what he was saying. It was so great of that man to stop that guy. He about wrestled the thief to the ground. Jodi was very thankful and got a picture taken with the new hero.

This morning I taught my Business English class and tried to have a lot of extra grace with the students after the crazy class I had with them last time. They were pretty receptive and we were able to get through the lesson much better. Sometimes I still wanted to get really frustrated with them, but instead I was all encouragement and smiles. That certainly wasn't me with all the patience. I had a lot of help.

This afternoon Joelle and I had a short break and we walked to the supermarket to try to find more food. It was nice going to the store when nobody else was there, because then we could think a lot more clearly. On the way back we passed 2 buses of soldiers who were yelling at us, albeit in a friendly way. It sort of reminded me of Norfolk.

Then we had Chinese class with our FAO for about 2 hours. It is fun to be a student again, except it's not anything like being in a plush classroom at ODU. We sat on tiny little peg stools at old wooden desks. The burning trash smell wafted through the windows the whole time.

All in all, I'm okay. I'm pretty tired. It is difficult adjusting to not having much down time or time to my self. We always are at school from 7:30 to 5:30 on most days and then we have team activities. Let me know if I can be thinking of you in any way.

Photo opportunities

Today has been another long, but enjoyable day. I got a good eight hours of sleep last night and was ready to teach. At 8 a.m. I taught on "small talk," which turned out to be a good, practical lesson. About 5 minutes until the end of class the FAO's assistant came in and told me to continue teaching so someone could take pictures of me. A policewoman came in and took pictures of me as I reviewed the lesson. I hoped I looked glamorous. I guess they needed proof in pictures that we were actually teachers.

Then after class, Joelle and I were taken from the new campus to the police station for more pictures. It was really random and sort of funny, but it was rather nice to get off campus for a while. We drove to the station and walked in as officers stood around in nice blue uniforms. A man took us to a counter with a sign over it in Chinese and English. In English it read, "Crime Emergencies." So we stood there at the counter as the officer sort of looked at our passport, but didn't really do anything. Another officer took pictures of this event as other officers looked on. They just told us the pictures were for "a file." I wouldn't really be surprised if we see our pictures on some billboard, proclaiming "We welcome you to our fair city!" So that was a nice outing.

In the afternoon I had another class, which was also good. It is nice that the weather is still very pleasant. It was about 80. After class we went to English corner on the new campus. We were each surrounded by a million people again. This time is wasn't as suffocating though. The students are all very eager to learn English. At 5 p.m. the FAO assistant whisked us away and we stepped into the van we usually take, which has tinted windows. I think this is what it must feel like to be a celebrity...

Today is our teammate Jonathan's birthday so we're going out for dinner. I hope you all have a great day!

The sun is shining

Thank you so much for your thoughts yesterday. I got a better night's sleep last night and I also spent a lot of time in the word, which renewed me quite a bit. If yesterday was awful, today was wonderful.

I had two classes of freshmen University English. The students are a little more studious and well-behaved than Business English. Today I also made sure I spoke slower and more kindly than usual. I smiled a lot more and sat down and talked with the kids who were sitting all alone. I tried to make my lessons more engaging. So today turned out really well. The students interacted and actually spoke pretty well and with confidence. I knew I wasn't alone as I taught today.

During office hours today, a student actually visited me! He was my first student to come to office hours. At first I was surprised. I had put my head down on the desk to take a nap, because all the other teachers were at lunch. Then in walked this student whom I vaguely remember seeing in class. (I know, I'm a terrible teacher, but I'm trying to get better). He had this book in English about American culture. There was an article about 9/11 and how people in Kansas, in the center of America, viewed it. It was really random. He remembered I was from Kansas and wanted to know all about this "disaster." That led us to talk about the earthquakes in China, etc. His English was pretty decent and we could carry on a conversation okay. Anyway, I was excited somebody came to my first ever office hours.

In classes today I took pictures of the students in groups. I had them stand under their English names at the chalkboard. That way, I can look at the pictures later and try to remember their names. All 200 of them. After class everybody wanted to take their pictures with me. They have become braver. Usually I see them taking a picture of me with their cell phone during break and then they quickly look down, like they're guilty. It seems like the students are becoming more relaxed with me, although they are still very respectful.

Tonight Joelle, our team leader, made us all spaghetti and biscuits for team night dinner. I about died eating that wonderful spaghetti. It was fun to sit around the table in her apartment laughing and eating. Afterward we studied the word together and then a couple of us went out to buy ice-cream off the street.

A not so great China day

Hello, my people. I hope you all are having a blessed week! Today was probably the roughest day I've had here so far. I was so tired and little issues sort of piled up really fast today.

I couldn't sleep very well last night and then I was woken at 5 a.m. because my roommate got up at that time. But then I was okay as I went to school at 7:30. This morning I taught two classes in a row-- meaning I had to shout for about 4 hours straight. I was exhausted and it doesn't help that I already have a sore throat to begin with.

The first class was okay and then my Business English class wasn't too great. Their English level is the lowest of all my classes and it is a struggle to get all 55 of them to pay attention or interact. Several students were talking so loudly in Chinese and kept playing with each other's hair or pushing each other. I finally separated a few of them and had them sit closer to the front of the class. For the rest of the class I had many of them share out loud with the class about things we had discussed. Since it is an oral English class, it is our goal to have them speak as much as possible and to practice. With this class it is rather like pulling teeth. I found myself constantly lifting up my thoughts to the father, asking for a much bigger supply of patience and love than I had in me.

Things were okay until I took off my jacket during class-- sin of all sins in Chinese culture, I found out later. The morning started out very chilly and then it was blazing hot soon after. I was wearing a nice khaki jacket over a nice black shirt. So during class I took off my jacket and set it on the podium. I heard a collective gasp. I realized I had committed some kind of faux pas, but I wasn't sure what. I looked down at my clothes and everything was okay to me, so I didn't know what I had done. Later I told my team and everyone looked at me with sort of a disappointed look or something. I wasn't sure what. Apparently taking off your jacket means you are stripping. Oh, okay. I guess I had missed that memo. So that class probably thought I was a scandal.

Then after class one girl came up to me and said to me she thinks I should be more "positive." I couldn't really understand what else she said, but it was something like it was harsh of me to ask people to talk so much when they didn't want to. I just nodded and told her thanks for her suggestion. I just want them to learn and practice their English. This is their major and they've already studied it for 9 years previously. It is difficult to express that practicing out loud as often as possible is going to help them improve so much. Later it will also help them to get good jobs...

After that class I found it sort of hard not to cry. I had to continue to lift my thought up and I had to tell myself that it is okay to make mistakes. I can't be perfect, especially if I've never been a teacher before.

The rest of the afternoon I spent writing lesson plans in my office. I also tried going to the post office to mail some letters, but they don't mail anything to America. I have to go downtown.

We got back to the old campus at about 5:20. Jodi and I went to the noodle shop out the back gate and had a good dinner. Then we went to buy some bananas. I caused another ruckus that I didn't mean to cause. I was going to buy 3 little beat-up bananas from a street vendor. He wanted to charge 3 kuai, which was twice what I knew they charged Chinese people. So I tried to barter in my limited Chinese. I offered 2 kuai, thinking he would settle for maybe 2.5 kuai. But instead he got very angry and ended up running into these huge bamboo stalks that the vendor next to him had stacked. They collapsed all over and landed mostly on a bicycle. Then he got even more angry and threw the bananas back on his cart. I wanted to melt away. I didn't end up with any bananas. I don't think he would have given them to me now even if I wanted them for 3 kuai.

So I'm back in my room. I talked to some of my teammates and I read the word for a long time. I feel a little better. A good night's sleep will probably be the best. Could you please think of me and especially the difficult class I have? Please think of all 55 of those Business English students. I really need renewed strength and patience. I'm sorry I had to share all these things. I wasn't going to, but then I realized that perhaps it was good for you to know not only the joys and good times I'm experiencing here, but also the difficulties.

A good China day

This Sunday has been a great day. Everything has seemed sunny, despite my sore throat and runny nose. I've begun to relish the second I can step out of my quiet apartment into the hustle and bustle of the Nanchang streets. I think I'm becoming more of an extrovert instead of an introvert. I feel withdrawn and a little sad when I'm not out in the crazy, colorful world here.

Early this morning we went to fellowship downtown again. There were maybe 40 people there, which was amazing. Many of the people who had gone away for the holiday had returned. The simplicity and sort of haphazard way the service runs is starting to grow on me. The worship seems so much more powerful. The message seems more meaningful. The crumbled Chinese cookies used for communion seem so much more real. After fellowship ended at noon about 20 of us went out to eat at a restaurant. It was fun to be around other foreigners who weren't just my team, although I love my team dearly.

Then my roommate, Rachael, and I headed to Wal-mart to find contact solution. That is what outings to the store are like here. You really can only get a couple things at a time and usually takes a while to find them/ stand in line. We used charades to ask employees where contact solution was. They sent us to the eye cream aisle, the mascara aisle, and then the eye-drop aisle. We stumbled upon the contact solution in a very isolated corner of the "vision center." Just finding that one item made us feel victorious.

While at Wal-mart we also looked at cameras, because it wasn't as crowded as a few days ago. I wanted to replace my broken camera. We looked at several Kodaks, like my old camera, but the ones they sell in China aren't very good at all. They seemed a lot cheaper quality and so I had to pass on the Kodaks. I'm sorry, Grandpa! I know we all love Kodak and are loyal to Kodak, especially because you worked there...

Then we happened upon a whole street filled with camera shops! I went into several and ended up in a nice little shop. After much consideration, I bought a brand new Sony that was at a reasonable price. It also seemed pretty high quality after looking at a bunch of others. So I'm a proud new owner of a swanky camera. After finding contact solution AND a camera, it felt like our day was complete. We spoke some English and Chinese (Rachael speaks much more than I do) and we smiled a whole lot with the people around us.

As we were leaving the store we had to figure out how to get home on the bus. I'm ashamed to say I was thinking, "what's the catch?" The day had gone too smoothly. Well, we shoved our way onto Bus #231. Somebody's elbow was in my face and my bags were probably digging into people's legs. It was pretty crowded, but nothing new. We were ready to get off the bus near the old campus when it turned the exact opposite way at the last second. It drove for several minutes before coming to another stop and the end of the line.

We were deposited in what I'd like to think of as the Chinese suburbs. The wide streets and sidewalks, lined with palm trees and huge flowering bushes, were entirely deserted. It was the quietest I've ever heard China. So we started the long trek back to campus. It took 40 minutes to get to the gate, but we were still in a pretty good mood.

Tonight we had praise and request-sharing as a team, which is refreshing. I think we are all anticipating the start of a new week of teaching. Thanks for your thoughts as we start this week anew. Please let me know if I can be thinking of you!