Well, time sure flies.
I haven’t written in a while and you may have noticed that some of my posts of ‘disappeared’.
I’ve got to be a bit more careful about what I write, so that had to be taken care of.

Anyway, I’m back once again.

For those of you who happen to check out my Flickr photos, you may see that I’ve been uploading (more to come) photos of all of my students. I just had midterm exams, so I’ve gotten a picture of each of them. Labeling them to post them up has been quite helpful as far as getting me to remember names and faces. Too bad I don’t have much time left.

Thought I’d share a quick humorous exam story. The freshmen, as one part of their exams, had to give a short (2-3 min) speech about themselves.
I was listening to one girl’s speech and suddenly she surprised me with this sentence:
“I’m not very good at intercourse.”
I’m sure that she didn’t mean it as I heard it, but wow, it was terribly hard not to laugh out loud at that one. I wrote in her comments that she might want to rethink that phrase, so I’m sure she’ll be asking me about it later this week.

This weekend, Kyle and I met up in Nanning. We’re planning a (very!) short trip to Vietnam at the end of the month, so I had to pick up my passport and visa.
It was incredibly hot there (I am absolutely dreading this heat…I despise humidity) and it seems, now that I am back, that the heat has picked up in Yizhou as well.
I had a fantastic time. We met up with other teachers that we know for dinner, we walked around the city, found real ice cream, (No joke! New Zealand ice cream for only 6 yuan per scoop. Anyone who’s in Nanning should look for it. It’s amazing.) working on wedding/marriage planning, and we visited the medicinal plant garden.
I’ll be posting photos on Flickr sometime this week. Perhaps tomorrow, if I get around to it.
One of the great things about the weekend was attending church this morning. We went to this church with other teachers last year and it was quite similar to other Chinese Christian churches. However, this time it was different. They had an English translation of the service! We got a headset and the translation was broadcast over the radio and into our headsets. It’s such a fantastic thing to know what’s going on rather than constant guessing. This is the first time I’ve sat through a service in Guangxi and had the whole sermon translated for me. I loved it.

Speaking of churches and China- I don’t think I ever remembered to post this article from last fall. I was contacted about the use of some of my photos for an article about Bible printing in China. It’s definitely worth your time to check it out:
http://shanghaiist.com/2008/01/03/godless_china_t.php

Ah, yes- and the BIG news-

I finally have plane tickets to go home! Huzzah!
On the morning on June 26th, I will be flying from Nanning to Beijing, then Beijing to San Francisco. I will stay there for a while and then on July 8th, I’ll fly from San Francisco to Texas (strange layover, if you ask me!) then from Texas to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It feels good to know when I’m getting home now.
To be honest, simply knowing that I have a flight makes me itch to get out of here.
It’s probably for the best that I didn’t have tickets earlier.

It’s going to be really hard to leave China, but for the moment, the idea of seeing people that I haven’t seen in nearly 2 years over-rides all of that.

On Friday, Kate and I had an Easter egg hunt with an impressively large group of students.
(Check Flickr for photos)

On Saturday, we went to Liuzhou to meet with 8 other teachers. Kate and I led an Easter Vigil service (modified with condensed readings and other bits cut out) and we all sang wonderful Easter songs together.

We made Easter craft type things, feasted on delicious meals (and amazing candies and snacks from abroad) and played games.

Happy Easter, everyone!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

p.s. I have only been getting spam comments lately…even though I tried posting Kate’s quiz in an effort to make my blog more interactive. Is anyone still reading?

Kate and I are having an Easter egg hunt with the students on Friday. This could either be amazing fun or a colossal mess. We’ve brought in eggs for the students to dye at lunch and those are the eggs we’ll be hiding. We did the coloring bit last year, but this is our first attempt at hiding them. Unfortunately, it has been raining/drizzling non-stop for two weeks now, so it might have to be inside. I hope that’s not a problem with any of the administrator-types.
We’ve also created a “silver egg” (couldn’t find gold paint/nail polish) that I’ve put 3 yuan in. They students are incredibly eager to find that one.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.

I have been teaching lessons about Easter this week.
It’s quite amusing to see the students confused the idea of the Easter Bunny with Jesus’ crucifixion. I think they finally understand that those are two separate concepts though. Goodness, at least I hope so!
For grade two, this is my second Easter with them, so they learned quite a bit last year…and I must say, it was appalling to see how much most of them had forgotten. I guess that just goes to show how useful my teaching is!
I’m sure it’s probably largely because the entire idea of Easter is something utterly foreign to all but my two Christian students.

Speaking of Christianity, one of my students came to my apartment a couple of times last week and she was talking to me about how she is considering becoming a Christian and she really finds prayer comforting. Of course, given my position, I really couldn’t continue much of a conversation along those lines, but it was a fantastic thing to hear.

All of this talk of Easter has been causing me to develop Easter candy cravings!
I don’t miss Peeps so much, but man…. I sure miss those Reeses Peanut Butter Cup eggs, the little Candbury mini eggs, and the Cadbury creme filled eggs.
Mmmmmmmmmmm…….

I hope that you’re all enjoying those for me.

Kate and I are heading to Liuzhou on Saturday to celebrate Easter with 8 other foreign teachers. The two of us have been put in charge of a Saturday service…so we’re doing a modified Easter Vigil before dinner. Should be interesting. I think it’ll be nice.

Here’s a little Easter quiz that Kate wrote….
See if you can get all the answers:

Easter Quiz

1.What does Mardi Gras have to do with Easter?
a. It’s the first day of Lent.
b. It’s the last day before Lent.
c. It’s the mid-point of Lent.

2.What is the origin of the word ‘Easter’?
a.It was a deity associated with rain and agriculture.
b.It was the name of a spring goddess
c.It was a mythical beast crucified by its herd.

3.What’s the difference between a rabbit and a hare?
a.Rabbits are more often seen in daytime.
b.Rabbits have shorter ears and legs.
c.Rabbits are born covered in fur and their eyes open.

4.Which US president did the first White House annual Easter egg roll?
a.Calvin Coolidge.
b.Theodore Roosevelt.
c.Andrew Johnson.

5.How is the date for Easter calculated?
a.The first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
b.The second Sunday following the harvest moon.
c.The tenth Sunday after Epiphany.

6.On how many dates is Easter observed?
a.1
b.2.
c.3.

7.What day was Jesus crucified?
a.Good Friday
b.Holy Saturday
c.Easter Sunday

8.Which of these did NOT happen on Maundy Thursday?
a.Last Supper.
b.The feeding of the five thousand.
c.Judas betrays Jesus.

9.What happened on Palm Sunday?
a.Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey.
b.Jesus washes his followers’ feet.
c.Jesus eats the first Easter egg.

10.What kind of Easter egg would Kate like this year?
a. Smarties.
b. Crunchie
c. Mars bar

As the countdown to the end of the term gets closer and closer, I thought that perhaps I should reflect a bit on my first year in China.
(okay, I know- technically I won’t have been here for a year until the end of July, but just humor me, please)

First of all, teaching has certainly gotten much easier. My first term was a serious challenge for me. I wish that I could tell you all that it’s a piece of cake and that I am just a natural teacher. Unfortunately, I am not. The courses I taught the first term were not easy or fun for me most of the time. The freshmen spoken English class (2 year program) was horrific. Many of the students were lovely people, but they had very English to work with and they were not very motivated. My culture classes were fun, but ridiculously large- it’s tough to teach over 80 students at once. We did have some fun- going outside and playing baseball and Christmas pictionary on the board, but for the most part, teaching so many students was rough.
This term I taught spoken English to the 4 year program freshmen and it has been much easier- smaller classes and their level of English is astounding. Best of all, most of them are highly motivated. It makes my work much more pleasant.

I’ve been able to make some friends here. Kate, of course, and I am very thankful for that. I think that having her around makes life in Yizhou a lot more fun. It’s much easier to face the craziness of China when you have someone to laugh at it with you. Some of the teachers have become like friends and it’s always nice to have colleagues that you can call friends. There are several students here that I have become somewhat close to, and I’ve got Weilinling outside of the school…when I can figure out where on earth she is.
Also, even though he’s seven hours away and I see him for maybe five days a month, it’s really nice to have Kyle around.

Homesickness and culture shock… I guess that comes and goes in waves.
I’m going to be really honest though; I’ve been really quite a bit homesick lately. So many people back home are moving and getting married and having kids this summer and I’m missing it. Recently, Kate had a friend visit and Kate is also going home in two weeks. Her father is coming out to China next year and her mother came to Hong Kong earlier this year. This summer some of Kyle’s family is coming to visit for a couple of weeks. I know that I should really feel happy for both of them, but I’d be lying to myself and to anyone reading this if I said that I’m not jealous. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so jealous of anyone in my whole life. I’m trying really hard to get over it, but it’s greatly compounded by the fact my communication with people back home is made of up mostly short instant message conversations. I have received a number of packages and kind letters and emails every now and then and I’m incredibly grateful for that and I’m also terribly sorry that I’m so bad at replying. I keep promising myself that I will be better at that, but more often than not, when I have spare time, one of the last things I feel like doing is thinking about people that I miss.

On the brighter side, the mountains here are still gorgeous. The butterflies still astound me- they’re gigantic and incredibly colorful. There’s an abundance of fruit and flowers that I haven’t seen before and things are always surprising me. I’m really grateful that I am able to be here and see these amazing things. It’s such a huge contrast to western Michigan. I find both places beautiful, but in completely different ways.

Spiritually, China has been a challenge. I find it difficult to attend services in an entirely different language. It’s nice where there’s a student or someone who is able to translate little bits of and pieces of the sermon for me, but otherwise I try to bring in some kind of devotions or I sit and read some verses because the sermon is really quite long. It has also been strange to feel so disconnected from a congregation when I have been attending services for nine months. I’m used to seeing my congregation back in Michigan as an extension of my family, so it has been strange not having that. However- the situation here has changed somewhat since Kate and I started doing our Tuesday night classes. It makes me feel a little bit more connected and every little bit helps. I’m used to coming from an area where the majority of people are Christians- you don’t really even need to ask, you mostly just assume unless they tell you otherwise. So in that way, it has been an adjustment to be here. When I see someone wearing a cross necklace or mentioning anything about Christianity, I get excited about the idea that they might actually be Christian. It has been a big change for me.

I feel as though I’ve grown since I’ve been out here. It hasn’t been in leaps and bounds, but I’ve certainly grown. I’ve experienced things I never thought I would and I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy doing things and eating things I never dreamt of before. I’m glad that I’m here. Despite the fact that I do sometimes think about how I could be making a lot more money back home or that if I hadn’t come to China I would still be able to spend weekends hanging out with friends, I ultimately would not trade this experience for those comforts. I’ve had more good times here than bad and I feel as though this is really where I’m meant to be after all.

I just really hope that somehow along the way this year I’ve been able to do something to help someone- my students, other teachers, anyone that I have interacted with. It would make me feel good if I manage to make a difference to someone, at least a little bit, during my two years here.

People in Michigan complain that the weather is unpredictable. Let me tell you, they’ve got nothing on Yizhou here.

This morning, I left to teach at 7 am and everything looked good. By 11.15, I was finishing my second class when I realized that the sky was turning a frightening shade of dark gray.
I also realized that I had no umbrella and that the windows were open in my apartment and Kate’s apartment (Kate was out of town).
It was nearly library time and there were already four or five students in there.
(Every day between 11.40 and 12.40 we open our office/classroom for students to borrow books and practice their English)
So I ended up leaving the library in the care of a few students that I trust and borrowing an umbrella from someone to run back, shut the windows and grab my own umbrella.
I ran back and up the eight flights of stairs just as the absolute downpour began. I got into my place, shut my windows, then grabbed Kate’s key to shut her windows. I had shut the bedroom window, then I went to the dining room window. As I was trying to slide the windows, I slid.

I happened to be holding my key in my mouth and Kate’s key in my hand. When I slipped, I hit my hand on the edge of the window and the key to her apartment slid from my hand and fell eight stories to the ground. I shut the window and ran down as fast as I could to look for it.
The thing is, Kate’s door generally will open on its own unless you have it completely locked. I certainly couldn’t leave it unlocked! So I searched in the pouring rain without an umbrella, but I couldn’t find it! Soaked to the bone, I ran back up the eight flights, made sure her door was shut tight, changed my clothes, grabbed my umbrella and headed out. There is a computer in the library and I am not really supposed to leave it unlocked unless I’m there.
As I ran out, I took one last look around for the key.
That’s when I saw it- a glint of metal underneath a random parked car. I crawled on my hands and knees and got the key out from under the car. I ran back up to Kate’s apartment and locked the door.
I then ran back to the library, arriving disheveled and dripping. The students were a bit confused and the one whose umbrella I had borrowed was worried that I had broken her umbrella.
Oh goodness, only I could get myself into such trouble.

This evening, we held our second English class with the pastor and other members attending. It was a lot of fun again. We had a slightly smaller group, I’m sure the weather was a factor in that.
If you’re interested in some photos, you can find a few snapshots I got right here.

Sunday, after the service, the pastor pulled Kate and I aside into the office to talk.
We’ve been attending since September and he’s never approached us before. I brought a student (who also attends) into the office with us and he translated. We were asked to teach a weekly English class!
A perfect opportunity for us to feel more involved and more at home. Despite the fact that we’re there most Sundays, I must say that I have felt like very much like an outsider.

So Kate and I put together a bit of a handout with basic introductions (Hello, How are you?, My name is, etc.) and some phrases that might be useful during services as well.
Kyle happened to be visiting because he had Monday-Wednesday off (his school is in the process of being evaluated, so all of the teachers were in meetings, but they’re in Chinese, so he can’t attend) so he went along with us last night for our first class.

The pastor said to except somewhere around ten people, maybe more. I had made 40 copies of the handout, just to be on the safe side, so there was a bit of laughter over that. We were asked to teach for 2 hours- from 7.30 to 9.30, but we figured that with such little material and only 10 students, that would be too much time and the plan was to head out at 9 instead.

We walked into the room to only 4 or 5 students, basically what we had expected. So we smiled and started up our lesson. As the lesson went, more and more people began to show up. My student (who translated for the class) said that the people thought it was at 8 instead of 7.30.
Instead of a class of 10, we ended up with nearly 60 students.
It was phenomenal.
There were elderly women with big smiles and few teeth. There were old men with thick glasses who were determined to eventually get the numbers 1-10 right. Little girls in pigtails were running around repeating all of the phrases. We even had some there who looked like they might be middle school or high school students.

One girl was with an elderly woman, perhaps her grandmother. The girl called me over, pointed to her grandmother, and said “What should she do? She can’t speak any English at all!” I laughed and told her that was the reason to be there and that most of these people are in exactly the same position. I sat down and went through the phrases and numbers with the older woman who was beaming the entire time. When went to get up to help someone else, the girl leaned over, touched my arm, and said “Thank you so much. She’s very happy.”
Just that made the whole evening worthwhile.

We ended up going for the full two hours, and as we headed out , everyone said “Hallelujah!” and “Goodbye!” as we left.
I’m certainly looking forward to next week.

Afterwards, Kyle and I walked around. I don’t often find myself across the bridge walking around at night. It’s not particularly safe to do alone. We went to the supermarket so that I could pick up some apple jam and Kyle could get something to snack on during his bus ride home the next day. Then we wandered over to a park nearby. I’ve been through this particular little park during the day- people are out playing games and sitting around.
At night, it’s something different. It was after 10, so it was rather dark. There were some lamps that lit up just enough to see older couples dancing slowing in the open spaces. Dance music was blaring from old, burnt out speakers and younger children wanders along the edges of the groups of adults.
It’s wonderful to be able to see these things and truly feel just like a spectator. In the dark, the people around us could hardly see us, so they weren’t busy staring at us or yelling out “HELLO!” We could just feel like a part of what was going on around us.

A great way to end a day.

This morning, I was sitting downstairs outside of my apartment eating my breakfast- a funny pastry filled with strawberry filling and a pumpkin cake-type thing. While I was eating, I was reading ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. Underneath the building, there is a garage for motorbikes and bicycles. A couple came downstairs and went to leave on their motorcycles- the woman got hers started and headed off. However, the man was having a bit of trouble; he couldn’t seem to get it started. Eventually even the guard came over and was trying to help him out, but it was no good.
I just found it particularly ironic that I am reading a book that talks quite a bit about maintenance and repair of motorcycles (as well as many other things) and there’s a motorcycle in front of me that’s having trouble and I don’t know a thing about how to help.

In church this morning, I took a closer look at the bulletin for our weekly service. At the bottom, I noticed some addresses and websites. One of my freshmen students also goes to church and he happened to be sitting next to me. I turned to him and asked what those were.
“It’s an email address,” he said.
“Right, but for who?” I asked.
He looked at me and said very confidently: “Jesus Christ.”

I probably should have just taken that in stride, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t. I burst out laughing. He quickly corrected himself and said that he meant to say the Chinese Church.
It was certainly the most amusing point of my entire day.
So apparently the church in Yizhou has a website. I’ve been checking it out; it’s really quite interesting. Granted, I can’t read much. I’ve used Babelfish Translator to get some of it, but the translations are fairly inaccurate and comical. It’s certainly worth a look though.

I’m currently listening to a podcast that Kyle sent me. It’s a discussion between John Mackey (One of the founders of Whole Foods) and Michael Pollan (author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma). (I’ve linked John Mackey’s blog Michael Pollan’s site there, but Pollan’s doesn’t seem to work working- maybe someone outside of China can tell me if they can get it)
It’s an incredibly long podcast- nearly two hours. However, I thought I’d mention it because it’s incredibly interesting.
Personally, I’m a fan of Whole Foods- I really enjoyed shopping there when I lived in Philadelphia. I felt much more informed about what I was eating and where it was coming from when I shopped there compared to the grocery stores back home.
Anyway, I won’t bore you with details. If you’re interested in listening to this (I suggest that you give it a try), you can get it on mp3here.
It actually talks a little bit about organic food from China, which is something I’ve been doing a considerable amount of online research on lately.
Unfortunately, despite my strong feelings on animal rights and organic food production, there’s not a whole lot that I can do about my food choices in China.