Busy Bee...

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.