Four weeks from today I'll be back in the States!! How crazy is that?! So here's a little look-see at what's in store for my final four weeks in China...
Friday (June 1st) is Children's Day. Our school will spend the whole weekend celebrating with performances by each class from grades 1-6; that's around 60-65 classes/performances that we get to watch! Actually, I'm really excited about it, cause these kids put on the most adorable performances ever! They'll all be decked out in costumes and make-up (yes, even the boys), and the kids have to practice even more than community theaters back home do before a show. 1/3 of the classes will sing, 1/3 will recite poetry, and 1/3 will perform short plays. Oh yeah- my team was asked to perform a dance, so we choreographed a dance to the most popular English song in China... "Baby" by Justin Beaver. I'd made it years without ever hearing that song in its entirety and now I know every word and a choreographed dance to it (don't worry, there will be a video)!
June 15th is our last day of teaching. Before then I'm throwing goodbye parties in each of my classes, and I'm sure I'll be an emotional wreck! Man, I'm going to miss those kids so much.
During the last week of teaching the school leaders and government will host banquets in our (the foreign teachers) honor. Those usually turn out to be pretty interesting experiences that make great/awkward stories later on, so get excited for those to come soon!
After that I don't have any plans until June 24th. Maybe I'll do some traveling, or stay in Taiyuan and spend as much time as possible with everyone here, or head to Beijing early, or maybe even do a combination of all three! Then June 24th-25th I have debriefing in Beijing with all of the other 1st year teachers that I had training with back in August. I'm not really sure what debriefing will entail, but it's supposed to help us adjust back to Western life and prepare us for what to expect when we go back to the States.
That brings me to June 26th. Most of us will take a group flight from Beijing to LAX; we'll leave here around 2pm and arrive in LAX at 11am the same day, three hours before we left Beijing! Finally, I'll fly back to the East Coast and arrive late that night. My parents and Tim and Tracie will be there to greet me- I couldn't ask for a better homecoming!
So that's the plan for my next/final four weeks here in China. As sad as it will be to leave, I'm getting more and more excited about going back to the States as it gets closer. I can't wait to see you all!!!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
I'm so not ready for this.
Tomorrow marks the 50-day countdown! 50 days until I leave China and return to the States.
50 days until I get to see my family and friends and have the comforts of home again...
Sadly, I have to remind myself that I should be stoked about going home; to be honest, I'm terrified. I've been told that it'll be harder to go home than it was to leave, that everything will be different from what I remember, that the home I'll be returning to won't be the same home that I left, and that it'll be a bigger culture shock to go back to the States than it was to come to China. When I came to China, my life back in America was basically put on hold, but everything and everyone else kept moving forward. I'm truly grateful that so many of you have made such huge efforts to include me in both joyful and painful life events. I've heard about a lot of really exciting changes for my friends and family: engagements and weddings, new babies, moves to exciting places, new jobs, and life dreams being realized! I've also heard about a lot of devastating changes: deaths, divorces, unemployment, terminal diagnoses, and difficult life-altering decisions to make. It's heartbreaking that I haven't been able to be with you to celebrate joyous occasions or to grieve through crises; hearing about those things, instead of experiencing them with you, makes them seem somewhat unreal and I keep telling myself that not that much could have changed in just a year. But not knowing what I'll be returning to is only partly what terrifies me; I think the even bigger part is knowing what I'll be leaving.
50 days until I have to say goodbye to everyone and everything that I love in China...
At some point in the past 9ish months I've come to view this place as my home. My teammates have become my family. My co-teachers, local university students, the volunteers at Taiyuan Teens (China's version of Young Life), and other foreigners have become my close friends. My students have become some of the greatest joys in my life. It's heartbreaking to know that I might never see most of these people again. I've (mostly) learned to embrace an entirely different way of life and it has become my reality. It's hard to comprehend that many of the things that are such a huge part of daily life in China will suddenly feel irrelevant once I leave.
I'm terrified of going back to the States and being completely overwhelmed by how different everything is. I'm terrified of feeling like I'll be intruding into the lives that kept moving forward while my life was 17,000 miles away. I'm terrified of wondering if I'll belong there anymore.
Embarrassingly, that was the end of my update and I almost clicked "Publish" to share with the world my rant of self-pity and lack of trust in Father. Graciously, Father stopped me and reminded me of some of His truths:
50 days until I get to see Father's provision in entirely new ways! Have I seriously been complaining because I'm worried about what I'll face when I return home? Don't I believe that He will guide and protect me through all trials, big or small? We're told that "everyone born of Father overcomes the world."
50 days until I get to follow Father to the next part of our journey together! Didn't I tell Him that I would follow Him to the ends of the earth, to serve wherever He chooses to lead me? Did I only mean that if it was to exotic places among unreached people? Shouldn't that also mean to my hometown, among my neighbors, even in my home Fellowship among Brothers and Sisters?
50 days until I get to serve Him among my home community! We're told to "share with His people who are in need." Isn't that why I'm going back, to get my M.Ed. in Counseling so I can work with disadvantaged people? No matter where in the world we are sent, He will always provide us with opportunities to serve His children.
Thank you, Father, for constantly providing such a faithless daughter with Your grace and mercy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve You.
50 days until I get to see my family and friends and have the comforts of home again...
Sadly, I have to remind myself that I should be stoked about going home; to be honest, I'm terrified. I've been told that it'll be harder to go home than it was to leave, that everything will be different from what I remember, that the home I'll be returning to won't be the same home that I left, and that it'll be a bigger culture shock to go back to the States than it was to come to China. When I came to China, my life back in America was basically put on hold, but everything and everyone else kept moving forward. I'm truly grateful that so many of you have made such huge efforts to include me in both joyful and painful life events. I've heard about a lot of really exciting changes for my friends and family: engagements and weddings, new babies, moves to exciting places, new jobs, and life dreams being realized! I've also heard about a lot of devastating changes: deaths, divorces, unemployment, terminal diagnoses, and difficult life-altering decisions to make. It's heartbreaking that I haven't been able to be with you to celebrate joyous occasions or to grieve through crises; hearing about those things, instead of experiencing them with you, makes them seem somewhat unreal and I keep telling myself that not that much could have changed in just a year. But not knowing what I'll be returning to is only partly what terrifies me; I think the even bigger part is knowing what I'll be leaving.
50 days until I have to say goodbye to everyone and everything that I love in China...
At some point in the past 9ish months I've come to view this place as my home. My teammates have become my family. My co-teachers, local university students, the volunteers at Taiyuan Teens (China's version of Young Life), and other foreigners have become my close friends. My students have become some of the greatest joys in my life. It's heartbreaking to know that I might never see most of these people again. I've (mostly) learned to embrace an entirely different way of life and it has become my reality. It's hard to comprehend that many of the things that are such a huge part of daily life in China will suddenly feel irrelevant once I leave.
I'm terrified of going back to the States and being completely overwhelmed by how different everything is. I'm terrified of feeling like I'll be intruding into the lives that kept moving forward while my life was 17,000 miles away. I'm terrified of wondering if I'll belong there anymore.
Embarrassingly, that was the end of my update and I almost clicked "Publish" to share with the world my rant of self-pity and lack of trust in Father. Graciously, Father stopped me and reminded me of some of His truths:
50 days until I get to see Father's provision in entirely new ways! Have I seriously been complaining because I'm worried about what I'll face when I return home? Don't I believe that He will guide and protect me through all trials, big or small? We're told that "everyone born of Father overcomes the world."
50 days until I get to follow Father to the next part of our journey together! Didn't I tell Him that I would follow Him to the ends of the earth, to serve wherever He chooses to lead me? Did I only mean that if it was to exotic places among unreached people? Shouldn't that also mean to my hometown, among my neighbors, even in my home Fellowship among Brothers and Sisters?
50 days until I get to serve Him among my home community! We're told to "share with His people who are in need." Isn't that why I'm going back, to get my M.Ed. in Counseling so I can work with disadvantaged people? No matter where in the world we are sent, He will always provide us with opportunities to serve His children.
Thank you, Father, for constantly providing such a faithless daughter with Your grace and mercy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve You.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The Chinese version of Field Day!
I remember being in elementary and middle school, when the most exciting day of each school year was Field Day. We'd all get to spend a 1/2 day outside playing games, having friendly competitions, winning prizes, and hanging out with friends; it was a completely carefree day when you could just be a kid! Well, China has Sports Day, which is kind of like Field Day if Field Day was on steroids.
On Thursday and Friday, the school that I teach at held "The 12th Spring Games of Primary Part of SMBS Show of Cohesion of Class Spirit and Style of Athletes", or "Sports Day". But this wasn't the same carefree day of friendly competition that I remember from my childhood. Sports Day here is an intense die-hard competition that the students have spent hours a day over the past month training for. It's the kind of thing where students can get into some serious trouble if they don't do well.
So Thursday began with an opening ceremony and, oh my goodness, the things that our 6-12 year old students can do would put any American high school marching band to shame. The performances that these kids do are incredible!
The games and races they have are pretty intense, too. Some of the typical races are 100M, 400M and relays. They also have races where you have to carry tires or other people, slowest bike race, some kind of team hamster wheel-type race, 4-legged race, Dragon Race, and Caterpillar Race. Some of the games are Chasing the Pig, various jump roping competitions, shot-put, high-jump, long-jump, some kind of balloon-catching competition, and a hula-hoop competition.
Even with the high-stress atmosphere everyone had an amazing time! After 9 months of teaching these students, that was the first time I've seen them act like kids. I got to hang out with each of my classes throughout both days and actually got to interact with some of my students on a personal level.
The girls and I made bracelets, braided hair, taught each other various hand games, and they taught me how to make those cool string-design-things.
The boys taught me how to make various origami shapes and tricked me into trying disgusting foods, we arm wrestled (I actually won a lot!) and I taught them several practical jokes that any "good" teacher probably shouldn't ;-)
Hanging out with my students and getting to build relationships with them during Sports Day(s) has by far been the most amazing part of teaching in China!
On Thursday and Friday, the school that I teach at held "The 12th Spring Games of Primary Part of SMBS Show of Cohesion of Class Spirit and Style of Athletes", or "Sports Day". But this wasn't the same carefree day of friendly competition that I remember from my childhood. Sports Day here is an intense die-hard competition that the students have spent hours a day over the past month training for. It's the kind of thing where students can get into some serious trouble if they don't do well.
So Thursday began with an opening ceremony and, oh my goodness, the things that our 6-12 year old students can do would put any American high school marching band to shame. The performances that these kids do are incredible!
Even with the high-stress atmosphere everyone had an amazing time! After 9 months of teaching these students, that was the first time I've seen them act like kids. I got to hang out with each of my classes throughout both days and actually got to interact with some of my students on a personal level. 
The girls and I made bracelets, braided hair, taught each other various hand games, and they taught me how to make those cool string-design-things.
The boys taught me how to make various origami shapes and tricked me into trying disgusting foods, we arm wrestled (I actually won a lot!) and I taught them several practical jokes that any "good" teacher probably shouldn't ;-)
Hanging out with my students and getting to build relationships with them during Sports Day(s) has by far been the most amazing part of teaching in China!Saturday, March 24, 2012
Kids say the darndest things
So, yeah, it's been more than a month since my last update and I’m really sorry about that. On the bright side, though, this post is going to be packed full of a whole lot of awesomeness! So much has happened during the last month that you would hate me if I wrote about all of it and actually expected you to read it. Instead, this post will be about all of the adorable things my students and Chinese friends have said/done recently.
Yesterday, I informed one of my classes that they have an exam next week. Since they don't know the word "exam" I said in Chinese "kǎoshì" (exam); the entire class broke into applause and were cheering and simply couldn't believe that this white chick from America just spoke Chinese! There is no other place in the world that students would applaud after hearing they have an upcoming exam.
I played a review game with my students and included some pictures of my family in the PowerPoint. I pointed out my dad in one of the pictures, and a couple of the boys said, "Woah, he is SO cool!" and "He is rockstar!" Here's the picture that deemed my father a rockstar:
I played a review game with my students and included some pictures of my family in the PowerPoint. I pointed out my dad in one of the pictures, and a couple of the boys said, "Woah, he is SO cool!" and "He is rockstar!" Here's the picture that deemed my father a rockstar:
One of the words I'm teaching my students is "restaurant". For some reason they have a really hard time with this word. When I showed them a picture and asked what it was, I got all kinds of responses, but my favorites were: "ru-ru-ru-ressienot", "eating shop" and "eat hamburger store".
March 5th was my co-teacher's birthday. I handed her a card I'd made and she asked what it was for; I said, "Today is your birthday, yes?" She explained that Chinese people celebrate their birthdays on the Lunar New Year, which I already knew, so I clarified, "It is the day of your birth, yes?" She then said, "sān yuè wǔ hào" (March 5th). I very humbly replied, "Jīntiān shì sān yuè wǔ hào" (Today is March 5th). This was followed by a very long pause, then she looked over at the calendar, did some math on her fingers, and a shocked look appeared on her face, "OH! Today is my birthday!"
Last week I completely lost my voice. I wasn't able to teach a couple classes because I couldn't speak above a whisper and when I attempted to use a microphone the class, including my co-teacher, couldn't stop laughing. Later in the week I walked to class and a student stopped me in the hallway, placed one hand on her throat and the other on mine, and whispered, "Have speaking?" When I replied, "Yes, I can speak.", she clapped and hugged me and kissed her hand then touched my throat again and escorted me to class.
The teachers and their families eat in a cafeteria on campus. One of my class masters has a toddler that she eats lunch with everyday. This child is absolutely terrified of the foreign teachers, specifically the white female foreign teachers. Every day during lunch, if we're sitting in the same room as this kid, he spends the whole meal demonstrating his disdain for us! If we look at him, he covers his eyes or puts his head down. If we make faces or try to play with him, he turns completely around in his chair until his back is to us. Yesterday, no joke, he turned around in his seat for a full 10 minutes and refused to eat or talk or look at his mother until we left. His mom and grandma have both tried to intervene, but even my teammate's co-teacher had to admit, "He is a very happy baby, he likes everyone... but maybe, maybe he does not like you." If it wasn't so incredibly amusing, I think my feelings would be a bit hurt.
Today I tried an experiment. I needed to go to the supermarket, but I was in one of those moods where I just didn't feel like being the foreigner-celebrity of Taiyuan. So I decided to try a tactic that another foreign teacher at our school uses every time she leaves campus; I covered every part of skin and hair I possibly could, even though it was in the 60's and sunny. Then I walked to Meet-All. Not a single person looked at me! It was like I was totally invisible, even when I went in the store and talked to a couple of people, no one knew I was a foreigner! The difference between today and a normal trip to the store was the most astounding thing- I kid you not, typically every single person we walk by will pause and stare at us, several will say any English words they've ever heard, and some might stop to take pictures or a video. Today: nothing. I almost didn't know what to do with myself, I'm so used to being constantly on display. Here's a picture of my disguise:
Oh China, you are certainly never boring :-)
Sunday, February 19, 2012
288 Valentines and a whole lot of love
So Valentine's Day, or the more aptly named “Singles' Awareness Day”, was less than one week ago. China’s version of Valentine’s Day is celebrated in August, so February 14th wasn’t marked by an excess of pink and red hearts, roses galore, or advertisements suggesting that you only truly love someone if you buy them a big enough diamond. It was really nice to get away from the commercialization of the holiday, and I probably would’ve forgotten about it entirely if I hadn’t been teaching a lesson on it!
The lesson I taught was somewhat superficial, considering that it wouldn’t have been entirely appropriate to teach my non-English-speaking 4th graders about the tragic history behind the holiday or about couples and romance. I did teach them about love and how love can be shown to family members, friends, leaders, etc. Then I helped them make cards to give to their parents whenever they get to go home next; it was a pretty fun lesson and I made sure to take a bunch of pictures to share with my supporters back home. Valentine’s Day came and went the same as any other day.
The next day, as I was talking with my team about our best Valentine’s Day dates, it struck me that I’ve never not had someone special to celebrate the day with; I realized that this was the 1st time I’ve been alone on Valentine’s Day. Over the next several days that realization started getting to me, and I was becoming pretty discontent over not having the typical American lifestyle of settling down and starting a family.
Then I started to write this blog update about my Valentine’s Day lesson; as I was deciding which pictures to post, I started really looking at the faces of my 288 students, and I saw their smiles and thought about their lives and felt their desperate desires to be loved. My heart broke for each of them all over again. Father struck me with a reminder that I desperately needed: the fact that I don’t have the typical American lifestyle isn’t something to be discontent over; what I’m doing here, living and teaching in China, isn’t some huge sacrifice that I’ve made. I have this incredible opportunity to teach, to love, and to share Hope with His children in China! This Valentine’s Day, I got to spend the holiday with 288 special someones that I desperately love and who desperately need to be shown love. How could I possibly be discontent over that? Now that I really think about it, this was the best Valentine’s Day ever :-)
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| These are some of the many children I have the privilege to love! |
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