Happy early Merry Christmas!
This week we've been talking about Christmas in class! And I think so far that this week has been the best yet of my teaching experience. I really put a lot of thought and effort into the two separate lessons about Christmas that I'm teaching, which I think helped make the lessons more successful so far. And above all, I know that there are a lot of people thinking about us in the classroom this week.
Christmas is a great opportunity for us to share truth a bit more openly than we can otherwise do here in China. I just am so thankful that my team and I get to be a part of it!
In my classes of freshmen, we have been talking about the true meaning of the holiday, and doing neat activities to learn about it. It amazes me that nearly all 190 of my students have never heard the story of Christmas. When I've shared about it, they see it through new, open eyes. We get to talk about the Son, Bethlehem, the star shining in the East, etc., and they are so excited. I think it has already opened some doors to be able to talk about Him, and more doors may open later because of this week.
Some other fun things happened in my classes during this lesson. I brought a miniature Christmas tree with lights that Mom had mailed me last week. They were fascinated by it and took pictures of it. I even passed it around so they could look at it more closely. I also passed around pictures of our decorated Christmas tree from home, which my sister happened to be standing by. They were much more interested in looking at Andrea than the tree. They thought she was so amazing. :)
My teammate Shannon has also come in a few times to play "Silent Night" on her guitar, because none of them have heard Christmas carols before. I was so excited because of their excitement. They were taking picture forever, and it looked like their eyes were going to fall out of their heads. You can tell I'm maybe a more confident person in China, because I was singing right alongside Shannon. I wrote the words on the board and they later sang with us, too. I don't think it's very often that "Silent Night" is sung in classrooms in communist China. My heart was so glad.
In other news, Jodi, Rachael, and I finally ventured to the China Post bank to get some money out. We brought our bank books, as well as Joelle's and Jonathan's, so we could withdraw money for them since they were busy. I think it's sort of funny that we can just go in and get out money from other people's accounts if we have their bank book. The only "security" feature is that we have to hand our bank books through the window, while remembering the last six numbers of the account. Rachael slid Joelle's bank book under the window, but couldn't remember Joelle's account number, so the lady wouldn't give her any money. Rachael just took the bank book back, and tried again about three minutes later after the rest of us had gone. This time she was successful in getting Joelle's money out for her.
Jodi rode her bike to the bank, so I rode the tiny bike back to our apartment, with Jodi on the back. We actually didn't crash into the side of a building and onto the pavement like last time! The bike is so rickety and old, and it's really difficult to ride with someone side-saddle on the back. It was hard not to scream, because we couldn't stop and we were zig-zagging all across campus. People were in shock as they saw the giant foreigner girl furiously peddling a bicycle twelve sizes too small for her.
Anyway, it's been a great week so far. I hope you're having a great week, also, and remembering the true reason for the season!
(About the pictures: Thanksgiving Day with my team; girl's night on Friday; at English corner with some of my students.)
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