These past couple of weeks have been absolutely packed full of lasts….
Last trip within Guangxi (Beihai beaches….lovely!), last dinners at the usual restaurants, last lessons, final exams….

I’m really quite sad about leaving! It’s heartbreaking that I’ll probably never see most of these people again.
Except for Kate, that is- I’m planning on seeing her again at some point, fortunately.

This morning, the school is giving me a ride to Nanning where I’ll spend the day before catching an early flight tomorrow. Many of my students and friends from Yizhou have promised to “see me off” at the car. It seems to be a tradition here- just saying goodbye isn’t enough, you need to actually wish the person good luck as they’re driving away. I think it’s going to be absolutely heartbreaking and wonderful.
Unfortunately, my camera has broken (apparently a common thing for the particular camera that I have…there seems to be a design flaw) so I’ll just have to remember it.

I should be getting ready, so I should go.

zai jian!

Two weeks.

Wow.

Time flies.

Things have been quite busy over here.
Teaching, teaching, teaching….Traveling, traveling, traveling.

I can’t believe the two years are nearly up. Amazing.

This week is my last week of regular lessons. I just saw two of my grade two classes for the last time this morning. I expected them to be a bit sad, but they didn’t seem to be sad at all. Oh well. I guess I see them for their exams next week anyway.

Expect more from me soon.

Check out Flickr for photos that tell more about what I’ve been doing.

www.flickr.com/photos/fluffish

My blog is getting spammed like crazy every day.
I get loads and loads of comments about stuff that I really don’t care to get messages about. Ugh.
Good thing I moderate all the comments before they go up otherwise you’d see 29 comments a day about getting cheap prescription drugs.

In other news, my Nanning photos are now up. Huzzah for that! I’m actually keeping up to date on one small part of my life.

Next week Kyle and I are going to Vietnam for a few days. I’ve managed to rearrange three of my classes so this week I don’t have my usual Friday off and next week I don’t have my usual Monday off. I’ve got classes all morning tomorrow and then afternoon on Monday. However, it’ll be worth it to have an extra day in Hanoi.
I’m really excited. I thought Hanoi was quite lovely last year, but there were a few things we missed…well, many things that we missed. It’ll be great to get to see what we didn’t see before.

As far as things go here, we’ve got what apparently seems to be Yizhou’s spring right now. It’s a strange mix of heavy rain, cloudy skies, and warm sunshine. Sometimes one of those will stick around, but often we get all three in a day which is, to say the least, confusing.
However, it can stick around for as long as it wants! I definitely prefer this to the summer weather that’s just around the corner.

http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/chinese-im-their-love-country

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.

Today, one of Kate’s students told her that they had all been shut down.

There are (apparently) two reasons. The first reason is that they’re unhygienic. That, I will admit, is true. To be honest though, I’d say that many places here fit under that category. (Which reminds me that I found a little dead cockroach in my apartment today!! They’re back!!!)
The second reason is that they were putting drugs in the food.
That’s right. Supposedly they were trying to get people slightly addicted to the food.
Now, I don’t know if that’s entirely true, but I’d have to say that I wouldn’t find it the most surprising thing if it did happen to be true.

I find it a bit surprising that I haven’t heard a word about the Tibet thing from anyone back home…including the ELCA or CWS. I mean, Guangxi isn’t exactly right next door to Tibet, but it sure is close.
Some of the cities I went to last year are closed now because they’re mostly Tibetan and not entirely safe right now.
Is this whole thing not really in the news there? Has no one heard about it?
Kate’s sending agency sent her an email saying that she can go home at any moment if she wants to.

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?

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

Let me just tell you one recent story…

I needed to send 2 pieces of paper to two different people. However, these papers a rather time sensitive, so I wanted to make sure they didn’t take eons to arrive.

One of my wonderful students, Shelly, accompanied me to the post office closest to the school.
We arrived at 4.40 pm. We were told that yes, they can send each of the envelopes for a shockingly low 3 yuan. However…they would take about 2 months to arrive.
So scratch that. The woman at the post office says that there are two more options. The next one cost 20 yuan or so and will take maybe 15 days, but maybe 1 month. OK, so 15 days is good, but 1 month is absolutely not acceptable. The last option she said will cost 100 and will be there in 10 days. That sounds much better. Pricey (for two pieces of paper!) but the timing is much better.

Then, it turns out that this post office actually doesn’t do that. So the woman called the other post office across town and asked them to stay open for us.
We grabbed a ’san ma’ (3-wheeled local transportation) and rushed over.
It took an hour to get the paperwork and get it translated and sorted out. Seriously. It should not have taken that long. Finally, they enter them into the computer system and take them to be sent out.
He turned to me and said “si bai wu shi yuan”

What???!! 450 yuan? You have got to be kidding. (you can google it to see the exchange rate. That is quite a steep price for just some papers, especially to someone whose bank account is not what anyone would consider ‘full’)

We are now past the point of no return. I can’t get my letters back, so I have to pay.
Embarrassingly, I didn’t have enough cash on me (who just carries that around anyway?) and I hadn’t brought my ATM card. Shelly offered to lend me the money and I had to accept her offer since it was my only option. (I did promptly pay her back the next day, for the record)

So, that is just one of my terrible moments with the Chinese Postal Service. I could honestly fill a book with annoying circumstances (like arguing with the employees that I don’t care if the vase breaks, I’m going to send it anyway because I am not going to lug the heavy thing home in a suitcase! or the time that they wouldn’t let me send a CD but the next time I sent chicken feet to the US without a problem)

Anyway, I’m not the only one who has these problems.
My fellow Amity teacher wrote a little poem about it for the 2005 Amity Echo (a newsletter for all of us out here) and she very kindly allowed me to share it with you.

Enjoy:

Ode To The U.S. Postal Service

When listing what I love the most,

I won’t include the China Post!

As Christmas gifts away must go,

The box I need tamen meiyou!

Nor can I pack the box myself;

It must be done by a Chinese elf.

I pay my mao for the manifold;

If I fill it wrong, the clerk will scold!

I took for granted, but now bewail,

The convenience of the U.S. mail!