Before I started to write this blog, I sort of sat and stared at an advertisement at the top of my computer screen. It says "Memorial Day Sale" at Ace, the helpful place. Do I even remember what a hardware store is? I'm picturing the one at home. It always was sort of a comfortable place to go, usually with Mom. We'd get mulch, or paintbrushes, or light switch plate covers, or a room heater, or a hose. Everyone wore little red vests who worked there, and many of the customers wore coveralls or jeans and outdated shirts. And everyone spoke in that Kansas way of talking, and nobody ever seemed in a hurry.
Now why am I getting sentimental about Ace Hardware of all places? I'm sure when I eventually do see it again, I won't really care. But then it makes me start thinking of America in general. America seems like this very distant place that might or might not actually exist. I hear about it in the news, or from my students, or from my family through Skype. And now that I'll be back in America in just a little over a month, once and a while I think about what it's like there.
Anyway, I also sometimes think of America when I trek across the city to Metro, the German foreign goods store, about every four or five weeks. I usually don't get a whole lot--maybe some spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, raisins, or peanut butter. When I went recently, I splurged and bought a box of blueberry muffin mix. Yummmmmm...
So today I finally got around to making the mix after trying to collect the ingredients needed to bake it. I bought some eggs from the lady and her vegetable cart on the corner alley. I bought a little baggy of milk from a cardboard box in the tiny school store. And I had to put fish oil in place of vegetable oil, which doesn't exist, or is too difficult to find. A muffin tin doesn't fit in the toaster oven (real ovens are rare), so I made blueberry bread. Sometimes cooking food is more effort than it's worth, but this time I think it was worth it. :)
And I'm going to write about other things I'm looking forward to this July in America. I'm super excited to go to the gym (it is culturally unacceptable for girls to "work out" here), I will be even more excited to see shoes and clothes in my size and length (everything is made for tiny fairies here), I'm going to run and sit in the grass (if you find any grass here, usually it is more dirt than grass and other people are most likely sitting on it), I want to drink water out of the tap and not have to boil it (like most other countries in the world, you can't swallow the water from the faucet in China), I can't wait to chuck toilet paper down the toilet (if you throw paper into the toilets in China, it's a mini-disaster), I want to dry my clothes in a dryer (instead of line drying everything), I want to stand in a bathtub (instead of taking a shower in a "shoilet," which is taking a shower over the toilet), I think it might be nice to have some fresh food (instead of MSG, oil-saturated dishes), I can't wait to see the blue Kansas sky (you can't see the sky most days because of the buildings or clouds or pollution here), I can't wait to fully understand what people are talking about, I will be glad to really say or write what's on my mind, it will be nice to not be a celebrity for a couple months, and I can't wait to see and hug my family after so many months!!
Thanks for letting me share. It wasn't meant to be a complaint list; I think it was been good for me to live more like 90 percent of the world lives since September. And I have realized that America really is an exception. I'm just looking forward to a little rest.
Time to for me to go to English corner/everyone-talk-to-the-foreign-teachers-at-once place. See you next time!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Back in the blog business
Hi, friends and readers. I don't know where I've been. I've just been teaching and living and loving, like usual. And all of a sudden the end is looming on the horizon. Well, thankfully it's not really the end, but changes are coming.
My teammates and I are rushing to prepare our final exams for next week. Actually I'm not really rushing, but quietly and steadily preparing. Ever since I got to China, I sort of take things in little steps. I try not to make many plans (they'll change again, anyway), I don't have many ambitions at the moment (well, at least not beyond teaching and being with students and teammates), and I kind of just let the Big Guy do all the work.
It is a very strange feeling, because most of my life I've been planning, scheming, and striving. Now I just put one foot in front of the other, in a very contented sort of way. And you never, ever know what is around the corner here. But it's not scary or worrisome. At least I have never woken up even one day feeling bored or purposeless.
Now that I've been philosophical for a bit, I'll talk about some other news. The past couple of days we've been talking about "fears" and what we're afraid of in class. They are fearful of many things most people are afraid of: not getting a good job, never getting married, getting sick, losing a family member, etc. But there also are some fears thrown in there that I don't usually even consider. "Losing face" is huge in Chinese culture, which many of them mentioned. One boy seriously said that if he lost face he might as well die. Other students said how their biggest fears were realized when they failed the college entrance exam and had to come to this university. It was either attend this university or work in a factory. To many students both of those options seem nearly equally pointless.
After everyone was thoroughly depressed (well, not really), I asked them, "Okay, we've talked about things we are afraid of. Now how do you cope with your fears?" "Cope" was a new vocabulary word for the day. Many of them talked about listening to music, talking to their friends or parents, taking a walk, sleeping, or making themselves think positive thoughts. One class, which is the eternally curious class (and my favorite), then asked me, "How do you cope, Miss Laura?"
Well, dear little students, let me tell you. So I told them how naturally I'm a very scared person. I get scared of spiders, people, elevators, the future, etc. etc. I said that I sometimes take a walk or try to think positive thoughts also, in order to cope. But, I explained, the thing that helps me the absolute most is [thinking] to Him. This helps me the most--from little fears and decisions to big fear and decisions.
Later I told them that we should hang out in June, because I'll be at the university for another whole month, without teaching responsibilities. So I think my students and I will be planning many activities. Then I finally broke the news to them that I'm returning to this university next year. They started applauding like crazy. Oh, dear freshmen, nobody can replace your enthusiasm and innocence.
One of my Chinese friends today told me that there are now 2 cases of swine flu in this province. I'm not very alarmed, just like nothing really surprises me anymore. It's just not a good sign, I'm thinking, because now that flu will probably spread in about five minutes to 100,000 people. Soap and warm water are literally not used here. This country is quarantining people who arrive on international airplanes with no signs of the flu, but nobody is told that it is vital to at least wash your hands with soap and warm water. Basic prevention and hygiene is key.
But enough of my cynicism! It's time for me to get some dinner. Bye for now!
My teammates and I are rushing to prepare our final exams for next week. Actually I'm not really rushing, but quietly and steadily preparing. Ever since I got to China, I sort of take things in little steps. I try not to make many plans (they'll change again, anyway), I don't have many ambitions at the moment (well, at least not beyond teaching and being with students and teammates), and I kind of just let the Big Guy do all the work.
It is a very strange feeling, because most of my life I've been planning, scheming, and striving. Now I just put one foot in front of the other, in a very contented sort of way. And you never, ever know what is around the corner here. But it's not scary or worrisome. At least I have never woken up even one day feeling bored or purposeless.
Now that I've been philosophical for a bit, I'll talk about some other news. The past couple of days we've been talking about "fears" and what we're afraid of in class. They are fearful of many things most people are afraid of: not getting a good job, never getting married, getting sick, losing a family member, etc. But there also are some fears thrown in there that I don't usually even consider. "Losing face" is huge in Chinese culture, which many of them mentioned. One boy seriously said that if he lost face he might as well die. Other students said how their biggest fears were realized when they failed the college entrance exam and had to come to this university. It was either attend this university or work in a factory. To many students both of those options seem nearly equally pointless.
After everyone was thoroughly depressed (well, not really), I asked them, "Okay, we've talked about things we are afraid of. Now how do you cope with your fears?" "Cope" was a new vocabulary word for the day. Many of them talked about listening to music, talking to their friends or parents, taking a walk, sleeping, or making themselves think positive thoughts. One class, which is the eternally curious class (and my favorite), then asked me, "How do you cope, Miss Laura?"
Well, dear little students, let me tell you. So I told them how naturally I'm a very scared person. I get scared of spiders, people, elevators, the future, etc. etc. I said that I sometimes take a walk or try to think positive thoughts also, in order to cope. But, I explained, the thing that helps me the absolute most is [thinking] to Him. This helps me the most--from little fears and decisions to big fear and decisions.
Later I told them that we should hang out in June, because I'll be at the university for another whole month, without teaching responsibilities. So I think my students and I will be planning many activities. Then I finally broke the news to them that I'm returning to this university next year. They started applauding like crazy. Oh, dear freshmen, nobody can replace your enthusiasm and innocence.
One of my Chinese friends today told me that there are now 2 cases of swine flu in this province. I'm not very alarmed, just like nothing really surprises me anymore. It's just not a good sign, I'm thinking, because now that flu will probably spread in about five minutes to 100,000 people. Soap and warm water are literally not used here. This country is quarantining people who arrive on international airplanes with no signs of the flu, but nobody is told that it is vital to at least wash your hands with soap and warm water. Basic prevention and hygiene is key.
But enough of my cynicism! It's time for me to get some dinner. Bye for now!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Can you read this?
Hi, faithful readers. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update my blog for a few days! Hopefully you can read this fine. When I got around to updating the blog, I found out that China has started blocking access to the blog website, as well as websites like YouTube (which has been blocked since March). So I managed to get this blog on here by going through a hidden server. I have to keep blogging or I'll go crazy!
So life is pretty challenging here lately. Usually it's a good kind of challenge, but sometimes a really frustrating kind of challenging. For example, I'm still meeting with my special student. Today she told me that her mom has forbidden her to go to fellowship. Her mom said that people who believed in him were crazy. Only "old women" did. So it's a big deal. Chinese rarely disobey their parents, but she still needs to and wants to go to fellowship with other local family members. Please think of her!
And today we were informed that we might be finished teaching within the next two weeks. Yesterday we were counting on teaching for another four weeks. So that means it's crunch time for final classes and finals. But they'll probably change the schedule yet again, so I'm not too worried.
Well, that's all for now! Have a splendid weekend!!
So life is pretty challenging here lately. Usually it's a good kind of challenge, but sometimes a really frustrating kind of challenging. For example, I'm still meeting with my special student. Today she told me that her mom has forbidden her to go to fellowship. Her mom said that people who believed in him were crazy. Only "old women" did. So it's a big deal. Chinese rarely disobey their parents, but she still needs to and wants to go to fellowship with other local family members. Please think of her!
And today we were informed that we might be finished teaching within the next two weeks. Yesterday we were counting on teaching for another four weeks. So that means it's crunch time for final classes and finals. But they'll probably change the schedule yet again, so I'm not too worried.
Well, that's all for now! Have a splendid weekend!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Living the May 12th spirit
Today's May 12th. Perhaps you might remember that one year ago today, there was a devastating earthquake in southwest China that killed around 90,000 people and left 5 million people without homes. It's was very tragic, especially for all Chinese. Chinese are some of the most patriotic/nationalistic people I've ever been around--they have immense pride in their country and people. So when something like this happened, they all felt it. They also still often talk about it.
For example, sometimes I give my students essays to write. No matter the topic, at least one student manages to talk about the "Sichuan earthquake" or the "May 12th earthquake." Their heroes nowadays are the rescuers and the PLA soldiers who dug through countless crumbled buildings by hand to find people.
They even talk about the "May 12th spirit." Every momentous event or famous person in Chinese history has some "spirit" associated with it, it seems. This particular "spirit" is rather shadowy it seems, and I can't quite peg it. But, from what I've gathered, this May 12th spirit is one of a Chinese unity, sacrificing everything for the common good, and a strong, unwavering will that can overcome even the most powerful forces of nature. It's a really interesting thing to witness, especially as sort of an "outsider" looking in.
Another "spirit" I've witnessed first-hand was a couple of months ago. March 5th of every year is "Learn from Lei Feng Day." Students still study the "Lei Feng spirit," just like every other Chinese student for the past 45 years. Lei Feng was a soldier who was the model soldier and citizen. He loved Mao and his country more than anything. He also apparently performed every duty selflessly and perfectly. Unfortunately he died when he was 21, when a telephone pole fell on him after a truck backed into it.
Anyway, not too much else has been happening. We have done some different activities in class that have helped give me more of a glimpse into the lives of my students. The past two days we have been drawing "timelines" of our lives. They are fascinating to look at and ask questions about.
I discovered that my students have a wide array of ages--some were born in 1988, while others were born in 1991 or 1992. So some students are just two years younger than I am, while some are five or six years younger. They also were born in a variety of provinces and come from a variety of classes--well-off, middle class, and quite poor.
Many of them have also suffered from some sort of catastrophe: "The big flood destroyed our home." "My dad almost died in traffic." "My parents left us to work in the factory in 1996." "I had to give up drawing, which I really loved, because I was told there is no future in it." "I almost drowned in the river, but my mother saved me." "Flames from cooking burned my eyes." Etc, etc.
Well, that's all to report for now. Teaching, living, and relationships are going well. Please continue to think of my students and for my support raising for next year!! Thanks!!
For example, sometimes I give my students essays to write. No matter the topic, at least one student manages to talk about the "Sichuan earthquake" or the "May 12th earthquake." Their heroes nowadays are the rescuers and the PLA soldiers who dug through countless crumbled buildings by hand to find people.
They even talk about the "May 12th spirit." Every momentous event or famous person in Chinese history has some "spirit" associated with it, it seems. This particular "spirit" is rather shadowy it seems, and I can't quite peg it. But, from what I've gathered, this May 12th spirit is one of a Chinese unity, sacrificing everything for the common good, and a strong, unwavering will that can overcome even the most powerful forces of nature. It's a really interesting thing to witness, especially as sort of an "outsider" looking in.
Another "spirit" I've witnessed first-hand was a couple of months ago. March 5th of every year is "Learn from Lei Feng Day." Students still study the "Lei Feng spirit," just like every other Chinese student for the past 45 years. Lei Feng was a soldier who was the model soldier and citizen. He loved Mao and his country more than anything. He also apparently performed every duty selflessly and perfectly. Unfortunately he died when he was 21, when a telephone pole fell on him after a truck backed into it.
Anyway, not too much else has been happening. We have done some different activities in class that have helped give me more of a glimpse into the lives of my students. The past two days we have been drawing "timelines" of our lives. They are fascinating to look at and ask questions about.
I discovered that my students have a wide array of ages--some were born in 1988, while others were born in 1991 or 1992. So some students are just two years younger than I am, while some are five or six years younger. They also were born in a variety of provinces and come from a variety of classes--well-off, middle class, and quite poor.
Many of them have also suffered from some sort of catastrophe: "The big flood destroyed our home." "My dad almost died in traffic." "My parents left us to work in the factory in 1996." "I had to give up drawing, which I really loved, because I was told there is no future in it." "I almost drowned in the river, but my mother saved me." "Flames from cooking burned my eyes." Etc, etc.
Well, that's all to report for now. Teaching, living, and relationships are going well. Please continue to think of my students and for my support raising for next year!! Thanks!!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
AMAZED (Mother's Day edition)
(It looks like I was photo-shopped into the picture, but I wasn't! :) Here's a few of my students who came to today's dance on old campus)
What a Saturday! What a life!
It was a sweltering hot day, but I couldn't have been more content. This afternoon my special student came over to hang out. We ended up talking for a really long time about a lot of different issues. For instance, she is worried about her parents who have to work long hours at menial jobs to pay for her tuition. Her mom just started working at a cafeteria, and her dad is a night guard at a bank. She was crying because she was so distraught that her parents must always work so hard to send her to school. She is also concerned about her parents, because they do not understand why she now believes what she believes. So it was a difficult, but good discussion.
Since we were talking for so long, we were late to the "Spring Fling" dance party Jodi, et al. planned on the old campus, but we still got to dance for a long time. About 85 of our students showed up in the killer heat to dance like crazy. We taught them some line dances, the chicken dance, the hokey pokey, etc. I tried teaching the hokey pokey, but I did a horrible job, so Jodi took over. But it was still so much fun!
After being totally exhausted my student and I continued our follow-up study. It was great, and she got to tell me how she has been able to share about him to countless students. For example, she is currently the only sister in her class, but everyone knows. There's so much more I want to tell you about. But I will say that so many students in that class are so curious about how she has changed, etc. So more students might join studies! It's so crazy and amazing. Everything else in life pales in comparison to knowing him, telling others about him, and hearing that others are also telling others about him!
Well, tomorrow is another jam-packed day. I thought I would take this occasion to wish my dear Mom a happy Mother's Day!! I love you, Mom!! This video was made especially for you!!
Friday, May 8, 2009
All's well in the 'Chang
Ah, I love warm/hot weather! This is when I thrive! All of a sudden it's a pleasant 88 degrees outside and inside. But it's even better, because the watermelon lady is back to doing what she does best--selling watermelons! Her little cart is once again stacked with slices of watermelon, and she once again is smiling brightly. I try to buy fruit from her about 5 times a week, which is good for "guanxi" (relationships).
After dinner today, there were a bunch of students hovering around buying watermelon slices she had already cut. I handed her my one kuai as she turned around with her gigantic knife and smashed open a huge, juicy watermelon. Then she merrily handed me a gigantic slice, twice as big as the others. It's all about that guanxi!
So I happily munched on it as Jonathan and I stood talking to one our team's favorite Chinese friends. The watermelon dripped all over my feet and face, and I deposited all the millions of watermelon seeds on the pavement. Lots of students milled around, as the last glimmer of sun slipped beyond the hazy horizon. Sounds poetic, doesn't it? Well, I think this is when I'm most content--just talking to friends, gnawing on some fresh fruit in the summer heat--all without a care in the world.
Anyway, thanks so much for your thoughts! I'm back to my chipper self after finally getting some good sleep last night! Life doesn't seem so tragic and bizarre when you get sleep...
So today I was much more motivated in teaching, being with people, and studying Chinese. And the class sizes are slowly increasing again. Today I had about 35 students in class, which is encouraging.
Here's a few things happening this weekend:
-I finally get to continue the study with my special student, after a few weekends that were interrupted by visitors, random activities, or holidays. Maybe you can lift her up? Ever since she became a sister, countless distractions have been thrown at her. For example, she told me yesterday that she now has a boyfriend, who she doesn't even really like and who does not believe the same things she believes.
-Jodi has been diligently preparing for a "spring fling" dance of sorts this Saturday on old campus. We have invited our students and we will teach them some dances. Hopefully a lot of students will come, despite the heat and the fact that they will have to climb 9 stories to get there.
-We have fellowship on Sunday, and then another team in our city will be visiting our campus for some additional fun and fellowship.
Have an amazing weekend!
After dinner today, there were a bunch of students hovering around buying watermelon slices she had already cut. I handed her my one kuai as she turned around with her gigantic knife and smashed open a huge, juicy watermelon. Then she merrily handed me a gigantic slice, twice as big as the others. It's all about that guanxi!
So I happily munched on it as Jonathan and I stood talking to one our team's favorite Chinese friends. The watermelon dripped all over my feet and face, and I deposited all the millions of watermelon seeds on the pavement. Lots of students milled around, as the last glimmer of sun slipped beyond the hazy horizon. Sounds poetic, doesn't it? Well, I think this is when I'm most content--just talking to friends, gnawing on some fresh fruit in the summer heat--all without a care in the world.
Anyway, thanks so much for your thoughts! I'm back to my chipper self after finally getting some good sleep last night! Life doesn't seem so tragic and bizarre when you get sleep...
So today I was much more motivated in teaching, being with people, and studying Chinese. And the class sizes are slowly increasing again. Today I had about 35 students in class, which is encouraging.
Here's a few things happening this weekend:
-I finally get to continue the study with my special student, after a few weekends that were interrupted by visitors, random activities, or holidays. Maybe you can lift her up? Ever since she became a sister, countless distractions have been thrown at her. For example, she told me yesterday that she now has a boyfriend, who she doesn't even really like and who does not believe the same things she believes.
-Jodi has been diligently preparing for a "spring fling" dance of sorts this Saturday on old campus. We have invited our students and we will teach them some dances. Hopefully a lot of students will come, despite the heat and the fact that they will have to climb 9 stories to get there.
-We have fellowship on Sunday, and then another team in our city will be visiting our campus for some additional fun and fellowship.
Have an amazing weekend!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
In the furnace
Today we are certainly still in the "furnace city." This city is living up to its nickname. It was 90 degrees today, which is pretty warm without air conditioning or air circulation of any kind. During my office hours today my feet got so swollen, that I couldn't put my shoes back on! I had to hobble around in Shannon's too-small flip-flops. However, I'd still much rather be too hot than too cold!
Not much of note has occurred during this week. I just have pretty much been trying to survive this week. Ever since I returned from the weekend in Ping Xiang, I have been sleeping horribly. Every night I haven't been able to fall asleep until 3 or 4 a.m., and then I have to wake up at 6:30 or 7 a.m.
There isn't a whole lot on my mind when I'm trying to fall asleep, but I feel like I have this sleep problem whenever something pretty momentous is happening. This seems especially true when relationships are going well, and a lot of big things are occurring in either my life, or in the lives of people I'm close to. Can you please lift this up? I'm really ineffective when I'm sleep deprived.
Anyway, there is some good news. A lot of my students who went out "recruiting" have returned to school! Out of all the students who went recruiting, only one girl was able to find any students who want to come to this university. And somehow she recruited 14 other students.
A lot of the students seem dejected that they wasted money to go home, missed a lot of classes, and then didn't find any students. Now they also have to deal with the disappointment and anger of their head teacher who is upset that they didn't find other students. But I'm thankful they have returned! :)
In other news, people continue to remark how little time left we have here before we return to America. I'm just thankful that I get to come back for yet another year of teaching and loving these students! There are still so many conversations to be had, so many lessons to teach and to learn, and so many other things yet to happen...
I will be back in America on June 30th (that's next month!) I'll be back in Kansas on July 2nd and then I'm visiting Rochester just in time for my birthday on July 17th. After Rochester, I'll be going to Virginia from July 23-27th. If you'll be in any of those places during those times, please let me know! I want to hang out with you and see you!
Thanks as always for your special thoughts and encouragement!
Not much of note has occurred during this week. I just have pretty much been trying to survive this week. Ever since I returned from the weekend in Ping Xiang, I have been sleeping horribly. Every night I haven't been able to fall asleep until 3 or 4 a.m., and then I have to wake up at 6:30 or 7 a.m.
There isn't a whole lot on my mind when I'm trying to fall asleep, but I feel like I have this sleep problem whenever something pretty momentous is happening. This seems especially true when relationships are going well, and a lot of big things are occurring in either my life, or in the lives of people I'm close to. Can you please lift this up? I'm really ineffective when I'm sleep deprived.
Anyway, there is some good news. A lot of my students who went out "recruiting" have returned to school! Out of all the students who went recruiting, only one girl was able to find any students who want to come to this university. And somehow she recruited 14 other students.
A lot of the students seem dejected that they wasted money to go home, missed a lot of classes, and then didn't find any students. Now they also have to deal with the disappointment and anger of their head teacher who is upset that they didn't find other students. But I'm thankful they have returned! :)
In other news, people continue to remark how little time left we have here before we return to America. I'm just thankful that I get to come back for yet another year of teaching and loving these students! There are still so many conversations to be had, so many lessons to teach and to learn, and so many other things yet to happen...
I will be back in America on June 30th (that's next month!) I'll be back in Kansas on July 2nd and then I'm visiting Rochester just in time for my birthday on July 17th. After Rochester, I'll be going to Virginia from July 23-27th. If you'll be in any of those places during those times, please let me know! I want to hang out with you and see you!
Thanks as always for your special thoughts and encouragement!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)