Happy 2010!

(Some of the glamorous hosts of the New Year's performance).


(The final act of the performance, which was about how the Communist Party has revived the homeland and will continue to do so in the new year).


(With some of my favorite friends on New Year's Eve).


(Launching one of the paper lanterns outside on New Year's Eve).


(Some of the police who soon arrived and confiscated our lanterns).

I'm sorry I couldn't think of a more creative title for this blog, but it is indeed a marvelous new year. I am only 23 years old, but I have lived to see four decades so far! Is that possible? I've experienced the '80s, '90s, '00s, and now the '10s.

The past couple of days have been chock-full of activities and conversations. On Wednesday night the other American girls and I performed our Christmas dance in front of 2,000 people at the school's annual New Year's performance. There were many school officials and some of our students there. Performing in China can be a hassle, because they take it so seriously. There isn't much joy in performing in China, especially when it's so over-the-top and they think national prestige is at stake.

But we tried to change that mindset when we performed our incredibly cheesy but amazing N'Sync dance. Our number was nestled among countless performances about communism, the glories of the nursing profession, glittery national dances, and even more songs and dances about the wonders of their homeland and the Communist Party. The students screamed their heads off when we performed (especially when I did two cartwheels!) It was a wonderful time spreading joy not related to love songs and communist slogans. And I think my students came away from the performance thinking Miss Laura was pretty cool.

New Year's Eve was also quite interesting, especially since I was still teaching. One momentous thing that I discovered is that one of my students is a female... but I thought she was a male all these past few months. I can't believe I thought "she" was a "he." He/She/It has a very gender neutral English name, dresses like a boy, talks like a boy, and sits with boys. It is especially strange in a country which is quite traditional and where girls are quite feminine. Girls are very girlish and boys are very boyish.

However, the rest of the last day of 2009 was memorable and refreshing. In the evening many of our closest and dearest friends gathered in Joelle's apartment to play games and hang out. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else; I was so incredibly content and happy. Later in the night, we wrote wishes on paper lanterns, which we then tried to launch outside by lighting candles under them. It's a very popular Chinese tradition.

We managed to release one lantern in the air, and dreamily watched as the gleaming light soared off into the dark sky, joining other lanterns that other people in the city had launched. We were ready to release another one when some police saw us and decided we were doing something unacceptable. About ten of them marched over in their uniforms and red armbands to break up our lantern festivities in a rather heavy-handed fashion.

They snatched the lanterns and tore them up, while scolding us for practically trying to burn the campus down. They were very surly and demanded to know "who was in charge." Our Chinese friends just started to argue and plead with them all at once. In a very dramatic fashion, one of my precious friends pushed her way through the small crowd and bravely appealed to them to give us the lanterns back. But they just got more indignant and lectured some more in Chinese. (If you have any power in China, no matter how small, people like to leverage it over others). Then they all marched away in formation, after they were satisfied that we wouldn't cause more trouble. (My friend Kelsey captured a photo of some of the police with our wadded-up lanterns. For some reason they were smiling when the photo was taken. Maybe they didn't want everyone to think they were really mean).

After that event, somebody pulled out some silly string and we all ran around screaming and going crazy. I felt so light and carefree, just laughing and nearly crying. It was a wonderful way to end the year. I went to bed in the wee hours of 2010, pretty certain that 2009 had finished well and that 2010 would also be filled with a lot of new, meaningful memories.

Christmas Aftermath

(After our spectacular Christmas performance to N'Sync).


(All of our friends and many brothers and sisters who turned out to celebrate Christmas Eve with us in the rain).


(Lighting some candles on Christmas Eve).


(One of our recipients of our Christmas caroling. This man is poorer than poor, but we are good friends. He looked like he was going to cry).


(Eating lunch with some of my students who are eager beavers).

The past few days have been very special and blessed, although I'm not sure why. I guess I finally feel that perseverance is paying off--my students are attentive and we get along well with each other; relationships are also great; and the end of the semester is on the horizon. There is also never a shortage of activities or things to keep me on my toes. I have hardly noticed the cold weather and rain. (This morning there was terrible fog, though, and at least 10 people died on the roads in our province).

First of all, Christmas was wonderful and simple, although I certainly missed my family! On Christmas Eve we went caroling around the campus and back streets in the pouring rain. The Chinese people didn't have a clue what we were doing, but everyone still enjoyed it. Many of us and our Chinese friends then went to another university to celebrate a very meaningful Christmas Eve together.

On Christmas night, the seven of us foreign teachers went to new campus to audition for the school's huge New Year's performance. Last year our team sang a song and did dismally at the auditions--we were probably the only foreigners in China that were barred from a school performance. (Performing is China's favorite past-time. Remember the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony?)

This year, we decided to dance to an incredibly cheesy song--"Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by N'Sync. We wore sparkly Santa hats and busted out our most outrageous moves. In China the rule is the flashier the better. Today we found out that we made the cut and will be performing Wednesday night for the big performance--in front of two or three thousand people. Hooray!

We still have two weeks of teaching before our holiday break, but He has given me a burst of energy to continue. My students are becoming more precious every day. Recently I was reading my journal from the first week of school in early September--I was in despair because I had to teach mostly new, crazy students. I'm just in awe how He has turned my heart around, and how well we get along with each other. I'm sure your constant thoughts have a lot to do with it too!

Another amazing thing that is happening after our Christmas lessons is that our students are approaching us to study the Word. All of a sudden there are almost more students who are interested in Him than we know what to do with. Please lift this up! It's a wonderful dilemma to have.

All right, thanks for everything! Stay warm and well!

Blessings upon Blessings

It has been a whirlwind past couple of days. We actually have two days of holiday--Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Then we'll keep on teaching. I'm just glad for a rest, even if it's just a few days. We have been teaching non-stop for nearly four months now in a "second world" country where everyday has something crazy and unexpected happen, and it can be a little tiring. :)

Anyways, He has been doing great things! On Saturday we visited the deaf kindergarten again with our Chinese friends Eva and Reborn. So of course I've had to include a few pictures again. That night we also had an open house again (our 13th for the semester).

Sunday was my favorite because of fellowship. Our international fellowship doesn't have a leader really, so we take turns sharing. This past weekend Jodi and I shared, because we always do everything together and are joined at the hip--we are a funny picture. She is a petite and outgoing Asian-American and I am a lanky and pale white girl. We have been doing a study together, and one of the things we've really been convicted about is His heart for the needy and the poor in spirit.

Jodi and I shared from the Word about this in the middle of the congregation of Americans, Indonesians, Indians, and the lone guy from Madagascar. Then we decided to get out and actually do something, since there were so many of us there. Because we don't have to pay for a fancy building, music equipment, or pastor salaries, we usually have tons of money left over from offering. So on that day, Jodi and I decided to split everyone up into groups and purposefully wandered around downtown with some of the offering. We bought hot food for people and handed out scarves that my aunt had mailed me.

We gave a lot of money and love to people on the street who were disabled, desperately poor, or just had the lowest of the low kind of jobs (like the impoverished street sweepers). Not many people ever stop to notice them or even look them in the eyes to show them that they're also dignified human beings.

My favorite story was with my friend Joelle. She had taken one the scarves that my Aunt Susie's 92 year-old friend had lovingly knit. Joelle was on the hunt for someone really special to give it to. She finally found him--a man who people would shrink back in horror from. He sat on some stairs in the cold, as thousands of people walked around him without acknowledging him. But he couldn't see their looks of horror and avoidance because he is blind. His face is severely burned and deformed. He has no hair, no eyes, no nose, no ears. He basically only has a mouth. Joelle crouched down next to him and gently put the scarf in his hands so that he could feel it. Hopefully it will keep him warm and he will know that the Creator of the universe loves him.

Although I talked about Christmas last week in class, there have been many conversations with some of my students since then. Some of them are actually going to come with us to a Christmas type "service" tomorrow with Chinese brothers and sisters. Your continued thoughts would be appreciated!

Now for another random story to cram into this blog. Last night we went out for a banquet dinner in honor of Christmas with our foreign affairs office, the school's vice-president, and the dean of the foreign language department. We went to the nicest restaurant I've ever been to in Nanchang. I'm not sure what it is called, but it's in a very old building, like it's ancient China. The food was pretty good (all 17 or so dishes!) and the owner of the restaurant is somewhat of a celebrity. Apparently he is famous for being able to write Chinese calligraphy without even lifting his brush.

He heard that some foreigners were visiting, so on this rare occasion, he decided to grace us with his presence. He said he could write my Chinese name in this special way so I wrote down the Chinese characters for my name: 谢佳曦. First he said my Chinese writing was really good, so that made me feel somewhat encouraged. The last character is particularly difficult, especially if he was going to write it without lifting his pen. He seemed a little chagrined about that last character. He said that this would be a "test of American-Chinese relations." He succeeded, however, so I've included a picture of him at our banquet and my Chinese and English names that he wrote using one stroke.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

The week in review

This week has seemed like one of the longest weeks in a while. It has also been one of the best. I basically felt like I was on a battlefield the whole week. It was a constant fight for energy, truth, and justice in many ways. I was constantly reminded to rely on Him for strength and the right words to say.

I think the enemy knew that we would be teaching probably our most important lessons of the year this week- about the true meaning of Christmas. I was pretty prepared and ready to go. My cold still lingered (after 3 weeks of dealing with it), I was feeling a little melancholy from missing family for my second Christmas in a row, and it is back to freezing in the classrooms.

But the joy of teaching about the Son who came to earth made it all more than worth it. Where else would I rather be than being able to teach about Christmas in a communist country's classroom? I talked about the "secular" part of Christmas, but focused primarily on the "sacred" part of the holiday. My students are sophomores so they heard a lot about it last year, but I think they still learned a lot this year. Their hearts are extremely open, and despite my poor words, they are more intrigued than ever.

During a homework exercise, many of them wrote questions directed to me such as "Why should [the Son] save the world?" and millions of other similar questions. I have been carefully writing responses back to all 190 of their unique questions. It's actually pretty overwhelming, because they are so curious. Sometimes I feel like if I say the wrong thing that they will forever be turned off to the truth. But I know that's a lie! At least they are hearing the truth and He will speak to them how He will.

On Friday morning I also got to talk about Christmas with a class of sweet freshmen girls. One of the teachers on the other team was sick, so I filled in for her. It was refreshing, because I was reminded of how eager they were to soak in this news. And I basically presented the Good News to them. Maybe I could be a professional Christmas lesson-giver. That's probably one of my favorite things to do in the world... :)

Please remember my students, especially the dozens of very interested students. Lift them up so that the seeds of truth in their hearts will grow and flourish. I hope that they will come talk to me if they have more questions.

We also started final exams the last couple days of this week. Yesterday was rather dramatic in one of my classes. We have discussed cheating probably 600 times--how it is wrong and does not help them in the long run. It is a constant battle, because cheating isn't necessarily seen as wrong here. Cheating for a friend is especially seen as okay. In China you help your friends at all costs. Some people even take huge, nation-wide exams for each other. No officials ever bat an eye.

But in my class, at least, I intend to maintain some sense of fairness and justice. I have repeatedly warned them that they will receive zeros and probably fail the class if they cheat. Despite those warnings, there were two cases of blatant cheating. In each instance, they weren't sorry they had cheated, but were mostly humiliated at being caught. I ripped up their papers right then and there without flinching. At first they were in shock and in disbelief. When they realized I was serious and they had just failed they both stormed out of the classroom. After that, nobody dared to cheat--especially in my other classes where word of the exam-ripping quickly spread.

The students who studied did well, and fairness won out, at least for that day. It is frustrating, though, that the grades I give them don't actually matter in the end. The head teachers or secretaries will change the grades I give if they have favorites. Nobody is allowed to fail even if they never come to class. Sigh... Hopefully the students who actually try and have integrity will do well in life.

So it has been a long and challenging week. He gave me a lot of courage when I didn't have any. It was difficult to teach all about Christmas. What if I get in trouble? What if the Muslim girl sitting in the front row doesn't like what I'm saying? What if I say the wrong thing about Him? And it also took a lot of courage to stand my ground in trying to promote fairness in my classes. It would be easier to look the other way, like most Chinese teachers. But He gave me the confidence to look everyone in the eyes all week and to stick to justice and truth, even if they were all relatively small matters.

Well, that's the update for now from my tiny corner of China. Thanks for your continual thoughts!

Candle sticks and dynamite sticks

The past two nights have been rather interesting and "enlightening." Jodi and I wandered down one of our favorite alleys as darkness began to envelope our fair city. We went to one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants where they serve pseudo Korean food. We sat at the tiny wooden tables in the concrete shell of a room, which is half blackened by the flames from the stove. The two young cooks fried the food on the woks in the corner and they served us heaping bowls of steaming hot rice with tiny pieces of chicken, cauliflower, and potatoes.

Right as we began to eat, the lights flickered and went out. Power outages happen rather frequently here, but usually we aren't eating in a restaurant during that time. Without missing a beat, the cooks picked up some little unevenly shaped candles from a nearby box, lighting them for the 15 or so people gathered inside around the 5 miniature tables. We watched as all the customers expertly dripped wax on the table and then jammed the candle stick onto the hot wax, which helped the candles stand upright. They looked like they had experience with these kinds of situations. It was actually quite cozy and exciting to eat by candlelight. The dingy restaurant looked much more serene and the usually noisy place was rather calm and quiet. The cooks just went right on cooking--apparently the two-feet tall flames from the propane stove gave off enough light.

Then on Tuesday night I was sitting at my computer near the windows working on lessons. There was suddenly a loud explosion that I felt all through out my body as the building shook. I seriously thought the windows were bending. Jodi and I immediately wondered what had happened. We leaned out the window to see nothing out of the ordinary. One of our Chinese friends just matter-of-factly stated that it was "only" dynamite being set off underground. (Maybe it is not an extremely rare event around here).

I was rubbing my head wondering why dynamite had been set off in the middle of a very densely populated area. And I could feel it four stories in the air. Apparently in the back gate they were trying to get rid of rocks in the ground to clear the way for sewer lines. Oh, okay.

I think that's all the exciting events I have to share for now. Stories about class just aren't as interesting as dynamite shaking your apartment. Have a great week!

A Day Redeemed

On Saturday I woke up feeling inexplicably tired and annoyed. How can I wake up and feel annoyed? I don't know, but I sure did. Everything was annoying--my oatmeal even annoyed me while I was cooking it.

After breakfast I realized I couldn't continue the day this way. So before my day could progress any further, I made sure to spend some quality time with the Father. I just really didn't want to spend the weekend feeling this way.

I didn't feel better immediately, but a couple girls came over for our Word study at 10 a.m. I willed myself to be attentive and interested and caring. Then I think the Father did the rest, because my irritation and dark mood eventually melted away.

After our study we went out the back gate to eat noodles together. We had a great time slurping hot soup in the freezing restaurant while sitting on little peg stools.

Then in the afternoon I diligently worked on Christmas lesson plans for two hours. After that, three of Jodi's students (my old students), Sweet, John, and Johnson came over to our apartment from new campus. Together we rode bicycles a little ways away to a deaf kindergarten.

We played games and just held the most precious little Chinese children. My Chinese is actually improving, but it didn't really matter because they couldn't hear us. So we just hugged them and played with them. There was one little boy who attached himself to me. He held me and stroked my hands with his little wind-chapped hands, coughing on me the whole time.

I think the Father has a great sense of humor. He knows that my worst nightmare in China is getting sick. I'm honestly more sick than I am healthy. I'm finally recovering from a cold I've had the past two weeks, and he sends me this sweet, but very sick and contagious little boy to crawl all over me. :)

Then at night we had another open house with Jodi's students. Twenty girls came over to play games and eat snacks. Two disabled girls who were my students last year even made the long trek to our apartment for this special occasion. They wouldn't miss it for the world.

So this weekend has been very blessed. The day was redeemed even better than I could have hoped. I'm leaving you with a few pictures of us at the little kindergarten.

Bats and Love are in the Air

Some of my favorite moments come in the classroom. This week has been pretty wonderful. I just felt like I was quite more alive than usual. I also felt like He gave me love for my students that was practically spilling out of me.

Although it has been about 40 degrees, students love to leave the windows open for "fresh air." Chinese people are very hearty, I've decided. They are small, but extremely hearty. You have to be hearty to live in dorms 8 people to a room, to work at jobs for 2 dollars a day, and to stand in rice paddies hours on end. And I'd like to think that I'm growing heartier too--maybe the constant chilly temperatures, the unique germs, and constant chaos that China offers have given me thicker skin.

On Tuesday during one of my classes, the windows were open like usual. I was standing in front of the podium teaching when I saw something fly into the classroom. I thought it was a bird, but we all quickly realized it was a very frenzied bat. My students weren't phased by it. I even managed to stifle the scream that I was about to let loose. I simply sat down with my students and we watched patiently as it circled crazily around our heads for several minutes. It finally decided not to eat us, and flew back out the windows.

So my students learned the English word for "bat." Jiangxi has a lot of bats (maybe because we're surrounded by damp, mythical mountains). In warmer weather at dusk, you can see swarms of bats around our buildings as they're eating mosquitoes.

Anyways, then at the break halfway during the two-hour class, I noticed a dead mouse at the doorway. Again, the students were very matter-of-fact. One of the boys quietly took a dustpan and broom and swept it off the floor. Nobody even said a word. Apparently "fighting mouses" (in their words), is a daily occurrence in their dormitories.

And now for an update about a love story which I introduced to you last month. Do you remember the cute students in one of my classes, Echo and Armstrong? Well, they are now a couple, and the cutest one ever. Someday I'll provide photographic evidence of this. They both sit at the front of my class, and I like to chat with them during the break, especially because they both have such good English. Today I finally asked them, "So...are you together now?" Echo buried her face in her arms, and Armstrong whispered happily, "Yes!" I asked how they knew they liked each other and Armstrong stated, "We knew when we looked in each other's eyes." I nodded encouragingly. They are the most innocent, cutest people ever--how cannot I not be happy for them?

Then I recalled that Armstrong had asked to be in this class in the first place because there was only one other boy, Jack, in the class. Armstrong had claimed he wanted to keep Jack company. So today, when I was talking to Armstrong in the front row, I looked at Jack sitting entirely all forlorn about 8 rows back. Jack was just staring at the ceiling and whistling to himself. I knowingly said to Armstrong, "I knew that you didn't come to this class for Jack. Look at him all alone!" He just said, "I know! I'm sorry. It was for Echo." All I could do was smile. I think I like to tease my students too much.

Another funny story was the recent issue of our university's newspaper. There was a story printed about Joelle, our team leader from last year, who is a team leader again for the other new team at this school. Somebody had translated the story from Chinese. Just about everything had been completely fabricated. Joelle was painted as an absolute angel (which she is), but all made up. My favorite part was where they said she had donated 400cc of blood at a blood drive, and donated 500 kuai to the Sichuan earthquake victims. She had never done any of those things.

So those are a few random stories from the past few days. Oh, China!