I used to be so much better at this blogging thing back when I was in Mexico- I suppose adding another 17 teachers and living with them has lessened my free time just a bit.
I honestly don't know where all the time has gone- I've been in China for a month and I can hardly remember what has happened. I know that we squeezed in a vacation to Beijing, a million trainings, evaluations, and class visits, but it's weird that it's already this far into my experience here. I think that I need to take a more active role in making sure that I have fun and get to know my teachers (outside the classroom) as much as possible.
I did go downtown this last Friday for the first time since I've been here, and I'm quite sad that I haven't gone before! It was really fun! First, we went to a noodle shop that I had heard all about from the other volunteers and it definitely didn't disappoint! They made the noodles in front of our eyes (I'll try to remember to take pictures next time), the dish was about $1.50, and it was probably the best food that I've tasted here since I've been in China. It was delightful!
After we had dinner, we walked around the night market, which basically consisted of a lot of booths where vendors sold everything from hair ties, to Engrish clothing (that's clothing that has weird English on it), to squid on a stick. It was so much fun!
After, we all went to KFC and ate 2 ice cream cones each, because we were missing it so much. Totally worth it.
Besides that night, my life has been incredibly tiring. It's hard to be one of the only people that 20+ volunteers come to to solve their problems. It's difficult to squeeze in any time for yourself or to contact family or friends. I've definitely had difficult times where I wanted to give up and other times where I have wondered what I'm doing here. It's hard to come and serve in another country but your job doesn't work with the children directly. Though I know that I'm serving because I'm training the teachers to be better teachers for the kids, it's hard because I don't really get to work with those same kids and be their teacher. However, I'm also planning on putting more time aside to go and play with the kids on my own time.
So, this experience isn't exactly what I had planned. It definitely has its bad days and its good days. I love the people that I work with, and I'm so immensely blessed to watch them grow and help me grow, I love seeing the kids and seeing their beautiful faces every day. I am so blessed to have the gospel in my life because I have the knowledge of someone that I can turn to for strength that I wouldn't have all by myself. I am so grateful for prayer. It has helped me with a lot of situations that I had no idea how to deal with all by myself. I'm grateful for a loving and ever-patient co-head teacher (Susan). She is someone that encourages me and strengthens me and shows me so much love.
So, I'm sorry I haven't had time to contact any of you back at home. I hope that you all are doing well and that you feel the Lord's love for all of you in your life.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
China is Change
Hello all-
I hope that everything is going well back in the states. Whenever I move to a different place, it seems weird that people are still living their lives back at home, that life still goes on without me there.
So, as an update. I am currently in Weihai, Shandong, China trying to keep up with all of the demands that China has put on me. They say that "China is change", and they definitely aren't lying! I thought that Mexico was crazy and unpredictable, but China makes Mexico look tame! Hardly anything stays the same, because they're constantly trying to make things easier, which in turn makes it more complicated because it changes so many times. Maybe a few months of this and I'll become the most adaptable American in existence!
This week has been a continuation of teaching and trying to get everyone on a semi-doable schedule. The kids are crazy, and I'm sure that it's frustrating to a lot of the teachers. However, I hope that someday soon it will become more fun for them and that they can see first-hand how much good they're doing in the world by working with these kids. I see so many positive interactions between the teacher and the students both inside and outside the classroom, that it makes me sad I don't have any students of my own.
Unfortunately, things aren't really going to get much easier until they get harder. We have mid-semester visits coming up this week where a director from Utah comes over and sees how we are doing and how the teachers are coping with all of the new stresses that are put on them. The visit itself is incredibly helpful and fun, but all of the work leading up to it is not so fun. We have lots of cleaning, cataloging, training, and other preparations that have to get done before the director comes. However, I'm confident that we can do it. I have incredibly hard working teachers and an incredibly hard working co-head teacher (whom I love).
This weekend, Susan and I mainly stayed at the apartment. We took a quick trip to the beach (which is only a 30 or so walk away) and took in all of the beautiful waves and ocean breeze. We also have taken the time to watch some movies and purposely relax and not work. We were very much in the need of a break this weekend.
This morning, we had church. For those of you who don't know, we don't actually go to a meeting because our branch includes all of the people that live in smaller cities all over China. Our ward boundaries is the country of China! Crazy huh? So, we call a certain number, put the phone on speakerphone (mute it as well), and listen to the talks that way. They give us 8 minutes in the middle of the meeting when some of the boys who were authorized to bless and pass the sacrament carry out those duties, but besides that, it's very much similar to regular church. The church is really the same everywhere in the world! However, I'll be very grateful when I get to head back to the states and go to church in person.
Tonight, Susan and I are heading to the home of our coordinator's friend (don't know her name). We're not really sure what to expect, but I'm excited for the experience because I know that I'll learn a lot about the Chinese culture and that maybe I'll make some new friends in Weihai.
Finally, some embarrassing moments:
We made friends with a cat which we named Snowpuff. When we were heading back to our apartments, we were pointing out all of the other cats and naming them accordingly (Pongo, Orange-Mc-Fatty-Pants, etc.) We then saw a cat, but because it was being so still, we didn't know of it's mannerisms (so obviously we couldn't name it unless we knew it's personality). So, Susan climbed a hill and got really close to it. Little did we know, but there were some Chinese folk who were staring at us. I shouted to Susan "Susan! We look like crazy people doing this! We look crazy!" After about a minute or so of this, on of the Chinese men turned to me and spoke "Cat?" I nooded. He then said "You....like?". I then replied "Not really. No." He just looked confused and went inside. Now Susan and I are probably going to be known around campus as the crazy-cat-head teachers.
Another story, we live on the 5th floor of our apartment building, so we go up and down stairs ALL DAY. One day, when a group of us were heading down to dinner, Andrea (my sister) got the idea to slide down a portion of the banister. She did so, but only about a foot or two. Still, she slid off the banister with quite a bit of speed. Being the competitive (and dumb) person I am, I decided that I wanted to slide down the entire section of the banister. So, I sat down and started sliding. I realized that I was going much too fast, so I quickly grabbed the bars on the side of me. However, my feet kept sliding until they were stuck in a section of the stairs. I then fell off the stairs onto one of my volunteers. If that wasn't embarrassing enough, there were a pair of older Chinese men that saw the entire thing who felt no shame in laughing at me.
Does that last story even make sense? Maybe I should film a reenactment. Or not...
That's about everything that I have to report. I hope that everyone is happy and well. Much love from China!
I hope that everything is going well back in the states. Whenever I move to a different place, it seems weird that people are still living their lives back at home, that life still goes on without me there.
So, as an update. I am currently in Weihai, Shandong, China trying to keep up with all of the demands that China has put on me. They say that "China is change", and they definitely aren't lying! I thought that Mexico was crazy and unpredictable, but China makes Mexico look tame! Hardly anything stays the same, because they're constantly trying to make things easier, which in turn makes it more complicated because it changes so many times. Maybe a few months of this and I'll become the most adaptable American in existence!
This week has been a continuation of teaching and trying to get everyone on a semi-doable schedule. The kids are crazy, and I'm sure that it's frustrating to a lot of the teachers. However, I hope that someday soon it will become more fun for them and that they can see first-hand how much good they're doing in the world by working with these kids. I see so many positive interactions between the teacher and the students both inside and outside the classroom, that it makes me sad I don't have any students of my own.
Unfortunately, things aren't really going to get much easier until they get harder. We have mid-semester visits coming up this week where a director from Utah comes over and sees how we are doing and how the teachers are coping with all of the new stresses that are put on them. The visit itself is incredibly helpful and fun, but all of the work leading up to it is not so fun. We have lots of cleaning, cataloging, training, and other preparations that have to get done before the director comes. However, I'm confident that we can do it. I have incredibly hard working teachers and an incredibly hard working co-head teacher (whom I love).
This weekend, Susan and I mainly stayed at the apartment. We took a quick trip to the beach (which is only a 30 or so walk away) and took in all of the beautiful waves and ocean breeze. We also have taken the time to watch some movies and purposely relax and not work. We were very much in the need of a break this weekend.
This morning, we had church. For those of you who don't know, we don't actually go to a meeting because our branch includes all of the people that live in smaller cities all over China. Our ward boundaries is the country of China! Crazy huh? So, we call a certain number, put the phone on speakerphone (mute it as well), and listen to the talks that way. They give us 8 minutes in the middle of the meeting when some of the boys who were authorized to bless and pass the sacrament carry out those duties, but besides that, it's very much similar to regular church. The church is really the same everywhere in the world! However, I'll be very grateful when I get to head back to the states and go to church in person.
Tonight, Susan and I are heading to the home of our coordinator's friend (don't know her name). We're not really sure what to expect, but I'm excited for the experience because I know that I'll learn a lot about the Chinese culture and that maybe I'll make some new friends in Weihai.
Finally, some embarrassing moments:
We made friends with a cat which we named Snowpuff. When we were heading back to our apartments, we were pointing out all of the other cats and naming them accordingly (Pongo, Orange-Mc-Fatty-Pants, etc.) We then saw a cat, but because it was being so still, we didn't know of it's mannerisms (so obviously we couldn't name it unless we knew it's personality). So, Susan climbed a hill and got really close to it. Little did we know, but there were some Chinese folk who were staring at us. I shouted to Susan "Susan! We look like crazy people doing this! We look crazy!" After about a minute or so of this, on of the Chinese men turned to me and spoke "Cat?" I nooded. He then said "You....like?". I then replied "Not really. No." He just looked confused and went inside. Now Susan and I are probably going to be known around campus as the crazy-cat-head teachers.
Another story, we live on the 5th floor of our apartment building, so we go up and down stairs ALL DAY. One day, when a group of us were heading down to dinner, Andrea (my sister) got the idea to slide down a portion of the banister. She did so, but only about a foot or two. Still, she slid off the banister with quite a bit of speed. Being the competitive (and dumb) person I am, I decided that I wanted to slide down the entire section of the banister. So, I sat down and started sliding. I realized that I was going much too fast, so I quickly grabbed the bars on the side of me. However, my feet kept sliding until they were stuck in a section of the stairs. I then fell off the stairs onto one of my volunteers. If that wasn't embarrassing enough, there were a pair of older Chinese men that saw the entire thing who felt no shame in laughing at me.
Does that last story even make sense? Maybe I should film a reenactment. Or not...
That's about everything that I have to report. I hope that everyone is happy and well. Much love from China!
I'm Alive and Well + Pictures!
I want to apologize that I haven't updated sooner, but so much has happened, and I've been having a hard time getting my blog updated. So much has been happening! I'll start at the beginning and let you all know about my fantastic time in China.
We had an incredibly long flight to Seoul, South Korea where we stayed overnight at a hotel in the city center. The hotel was gorgeous and we were definitely pampered. We then took an early morning flight the next morning and we arrived in Weihai at 9:10am.
The first thing that Kelly (our wonderful coordinator) told us when we stepped off the plane and met her in the airport was "You're going on vacation tomorrow". What!!?? So after a crazy day running all around campus to the clinic (someone got a firecracker in their eye), register passports, unload school supplies, move into apartments, meet with teachers, and pack again, we left the school at 5:00am the next morning on a tour bus on the way to Beijing, China.
The best word to describe my experience in Beijing was "unreal". I honestly still can't believe that I went there and saw everything that I did. I got to experience the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Pearl, Jade, and Silk Factory, among lots of other places! My legs are still scolding me for hiking that many stairs at the Great Wall, but it was totally worth it.
After one day of travelling to Beijing, two days of sightseeing, and another day of travelling, we were back in Weihai. We spent well over 10 hours (and some much longer) preparing for school which started the next day. Normally, teachers have much longer to prepare for classes, but the school doesn't really know all that goes on in our training meetings. For Susan and I as head teachers, it was quite a task. However, I'm glad to say that after lots of hours of preparation, I believe that our teachers were as prepared as possible for their classes. They all did far better than expected, and we are convinced that we are the luckiest head teachers in ILP.
As for now, here's some photos of Beijing and the beach of Weihai to tide everyone over until I find time to do another post.
Andrea and I in the Forbidden City
A really awesome building in Beijing
In Tienanmen Square
More Forbidden City Pictures
At the Summer Palace in Beijing
Susan (my amazing co-head teacher) and I at the summer palace.
The Great Wall
The beautiful beach of Weihai
Me and a very confused young girl at a kindergarten that we teach at
Andrea and the Great Wall
This is our fantastic, humongous school and it's many stairs
One last beach picture
Alright everyone, until next time!
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