A Happy Day

Last Friday was a great day. Not because the weather was nice or my class behaved. Not because I found 100rmb ($15) in my pocket or because my favorite food was on sale. Although all of those things can make my day great, it's not the same as seeing the belief of a friend grow stronger. In this case, it was two friends.

We had a washing on Friday! We rejoiced here and others rejoiced up there. Linda and Adam were washed clean on Friday. They are my brother and sister in Him. After the washing, the both shared with us a little about their history of learning about Him. Here is a summary of one story from Linda. I copied it directly from Darin's blog, he wrote it so well, I thought it would be best to share it with all of you.

 When she was around the age of 1 she was sick. Her parents took her to the hospital to get the right help for her. They left the hospital thinking that everything was alright having just visited to get the proper treatment for her. When she got home Linda was crying, but there was no sound. Her great-grandmother insisted they go back to the hospital, even though they had just come from there. After some more urging they went back. The doctor treated her quickly and gave her the necessary medicine/treatment to save her life. If she had come 10 minutes later, Linda would not have made it. Her great-grandmother was a member of the Good Shepherd's flock. Linda's great-grandmother was the first member of His flock that she knew. The relationship between Linda and her great-grandmother was very special to her. The father knew that Linda would someday become part of His flock too. You may never know how He will use you for eternal purposes. Continue to be a light to those around you. Shine brightly in this world that needs to hear the good news.[if you want to read more of Darin's blog you can visit it at http://traveldarin.blogspot.com/]

Happy Halloween!

We had a costume party Saturday night to share with our friends what many people do on Halloween. It was also a great way to meet new friends because friends invited friends. What's the best way to intertwine Chinese and American culture? Costume party at KTV! KTV is karaoke. We reserved a big room for 20-30 people, dressed up, and went to show off. We had many different costumes; witches, a pumpkin, pirate, sailor, basketball player, goblins (I think that's what they were, they were scary), punk star, doctor, and others. When we first got there we had about 22 people, as the night went on more and more people joined. Altogether, we had over 40 people at the party! There was dancing, singing, and candy eating, as well as exchanging of phone numbers. Here are some pictures!

Creepy guy and a sailor

Doctor, pumpkin, sailor, creepy guy, witch

Nice witch, Hip-hopanda

Doctor and basketball player

Goblins? Not sure what Peter and Darin are, but they were strange.

Han Street and Halloween

The other day I went to a new area of town with some friends. We traveled to Han Street. This is a western style street with western stores and restaurants. It is located along a river and includes a little river walk. At night the lights make it look really cool. This is one place I'm planning to take my parents when they come to visit. :) Getting that itinerary ready! Nothing really too exciting happened while we were there, but enjoy the pictures.

Julian, Brian, and Elsie

Julian, Me, and Brian

This looks like the Tower Bridge in London.

 On Friday I taught my Oral English class about Halloween. I began the class asking them what they already know about Halloween (for all those Education people... I sort of did a KWL chart). I had them talk in their groups and I walked around to talk with them too. Most of them knew about ghosts and trick or treating, but that was about it. My favorite question came from on of my students, "Do Easter eggs have anything to do with Halloween?" Luckily, I was able to keep a straight face and say, "No, that's connected with the a Spring holiday, Easter." Not even close!

I had them design their own Halloween costume. Here is what they did...

Back Left: Alvin, Martin, Peter, Lance Front L-R: Jason & Kevin

Back Left: Ken, Ocean, Larry Front Left: Jim, Elspeth, Jerry

Back: Ellen, Karen, Cookie Front: Vicky, Annie, Linda

Back: Sybil, Olivia, Cindy, Angela Front: Nicole, Claire

Rural Wuhan

A friend asked me the other day if I wanted to visit her at her rural Wuhan home. It's one of her 3 homes in Wuhan. I said, "of course!" I'm always up for a new adventure. Nicole, Peter, Darin, and I went. They picked us up in a van at 10am and we were off!

Wow, this home was nice. The father loves to collect old Chinese pottery. It was like a museum. I made sure I kept my hands to myself. I didn't want to break something and never be asked to come back.

While we were there, the time came to play some Wii. We played we, then we ate lunch. It was full of meat! Of course, we as foreigners love meat. And it was tasty. Here's a little snapshot in eating in China. Let's say there is some food that looks strange. You might try it, but only a very small piece. After that small taste, you decide not to eat it anymore. Well, the host will notice that you haven't taken it in a while. They will assume that that means that you haven't been able to reach it. So... they will put some of it into your bowl. Oh... I've been working hard NOT to eat that. :( It's ok, you can leave in your bowl if you want to.

After lunch, we played a few more Wii games, then went for a walk. On our walk we were trying to find the lake. A small fence was in our way. So, we talked the dad into jumping it. Next, we saw a pamello tree. The dad said we could pick some. So, Peter climbed the tree. After the tree, we found a house. It was an empty house. We went to the back to see if we could get to the lake. Instead, we found a door, tried to open it and... boom! We were inside. It was a 3 story home! completely empty! We did eventually get to the lake. I feel that this was a very successful walk. I believe the dad was very happy with the walk too. :)

Today was a fun day!

I'm practicing on putting these pictures in, not sure how to do it all yet. But here are some!

Same, same, but different

For those of you who have gone to Thailand, or read my posts from Thailand last year, may remember the phrase, "same, same, but different" That is how I can compare my school this year from last year. It's the same, but very different. Here are my lists:

Same:
Chinese students
Teaching English
Limited communication between office people and teachers
Students don't understand when I talk to them.

Different:
Older students
I am in the classroom alone (no co-teacher)
I never teach in the morning (unless I need to make up a class)
I can actually speak in English and somewhat be understood

Overall, I do like my school. It keeps me busy, but also allows me to have free time to do what I came here for. The past few weeks I have been able to have people over here Thursdays nights. We bake and play games. This past week I made pancakes for supper and then we baked cupcakes for dessert! I used one of my boxed cake mixes from America. The best part... frosting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have powdered sugar so I whipped some up.

Good news of the week, I got the tickets for my trip to and back from Vietnam for this winter break!

I'm back online!

Well, for those of you who have been checking my wordpress, you may have noticed the lack of blogs recently. That is not due to my laziness, but rather to the internet. I have not been able to load wordpress anymore. It's sad, because I have enjoyed posting and telling you about my time here. I decided to try a new blogging website. Hopefully this one won't get blocked like the other one. So, continue to check here from now on to see what I have been doing. Do I have things to update you on!

Please be patient with me as I learn the new blog and how to load pictures and make it my own.