The Little Adventures of Daily Life

This week has been a long yet good week. It was mostly the culmination of several small things with cultural blunders interspersed throughout.

First of all, we announced the spring play as The Princess Bride, and we held auditions. I’m so excited for the show, and we have a great cast to fill the roles. As with the fall play, I will be producing it (making posters, advertising, designing t-shirts, etc.). However, this time I know what I am doing, so it won’t be as stressful.

Second, I feel like I had some of the best-prepared lessons that I have ever had. In all my classes, we prepared for the WrAP, which is a standardized writing test that all the students will be taking next week. With the 9^th grade, I introduced a research paper, and the 11^th graders studied “To Build a Fire.” I have a ton of grading to do this weekend, so I doubt that this coming week’s lessons will go as smoothly as last week’s, but I don’t have to plan for Monday or Tuesday because of the WrAP.

It seems like every year (and by every year I mean this year and last year) I begin the year a little unsure and unconfident mixed with maybe a pinch scatterbrained-ness.  However, once I come back from Christmas break, I finally feel like I know what I’m doing. I also finally feel like I’m breaking down the barriers between the students and me. I scolded a student and gave him a present in the same week. (There was no correlation between the scolding and the present; this is just to illustrate that I am building good relationships with students).

In other exciting news, a group from Qingdao came to TIS for a reading competition, so I got to catch up with former students and with one of my friends.

This week was also rather draining. I had to stay at school until 7 PM two nights in a row. I also had a couple of nights that I didn’t sleep so well. This morning I awoke at 8 o’clock to the sound of construction going on above my head. However, I was able to get about 10 hours of sleep last night, so that makes this past week seem a little less exhausting.

During the busy-ness of this week, I realized something about Chinese culture. I had been told this, but I have seen it played out in my life this week. First of all, I ask too many questions. Maybe, I’m too curious. Maybe I just want to make sure that I get everything absolutely right. Maybe, it’s an American thing. I don’t know, but Americans are direct. We ask a direct question; we expect a direct answer. However, when you ask a Chinese person a direct question, they do not give a direct answer; they would rather you draw you own conclusion from the information that they give you. I, in my American-ness, took this to mean that my question was not understood, so I reworded the question. By the third question and answer routine, I realized that I committed a cultural blunder. They had indeed answered my question; I just needed to read between the lines. However, this frustrated me because I had asked a direct question and I wanted a direct answer. Now I am realizing that I need to be satisfied with the ambiguities in conversations because that is what cross-cultural communication is all about.

Playing like a Panda

Here follows my adventures in the Sichuan city of Chengdu.

Day 1

I left my apartment at 5 am. Yuck! However with the help of my roommate, I had arranged for a taxi driver to come to pick me up. I arrived in Chengdu around 10. Rebekah picked me up, and we caught up the whole way home. This was the first time that we have seen each other since we graduated from college. 

After we dropped my stuff off at her apartment, we went out for Muslim Noodles, and Rebekah showed me around their neighborhood. The area where they live is so quant and peaceful and clean. I was thoroughly impressed especially by their apartment. It seemed to be set up in a much more western way than many of the apartments that I have been in here. Also, it felt very homey. The one down side was that it does not have central heat or insolated walls. The individual rooms have heaters, but they do not keep a room warm in the same way. While we in TJ have to open up windows in the middle of winter in order to keep from roasting, they have to wear a thousand layers.

After exploring, we went back and watched a movie/took a nap. Feeling rejuvenated from our nap, we went and got Chinese food for dinner. Even though my Chinese is terrible, it was fun to be the one with the better Chinese for a change, so I ordered our dinner.

After a filling and delicious meal, we watched Psych. This became our show over the trip, and we spent almost every evening watching it.

Day 2

We left Rebekah’s apartment at 7 am to go to the Panda reserve. A bus, the subway, a taxi, and almost 2 hours later, we arrived. Even though this sounds complicated, it was actually very easy.

The Panda reserve itself was a little hard to navigate. We had a map, and we followed the signs that told us what direction to go, but we kept getting sidetracked which caused us to go in circles. Eventually, we did see panda’s of all ages. The adult giant pandas were far away and hard to see, but I got good pictures of the other pandas. My favorite pandas were the “teenage” pandas. I believe that they were 1-4 years old, and they were very active. It was fun to watch them wrestle and play “King of the Hill.” The other pandas were pretty inactive; all they did was sit and eat.

Not only did the Panda reserve have Giant Pandas, they also had Red Pandas, which look like a cross between a raccoon and a fox. They were cool because we were able to get close to them though we were advised not to touch them.

Day 3

A friend from Qingdao also happened to be visiting Chengdu at the same time, so we spent the day catching up over coffee. 

In the evening, we got lost in a Tibetan area while looking for a restaurant. After eating a delicious western meal complete with Cheesecake for dessert, we went to a near by market. The shopping within the market was not particularly exciting (I really don’t really need any more Chinese souvenirs). However, ancient looking and Chinese lanterns lit the streets. We got some great pictures. I did buy a set of miniature Tibetan dolls for only 10 RMB ($1.50)! In my mind, this was the find of the night.

Day 4

It was Sunday, so we went downtown to a fellowship. After fellowship, we went to Peter’s for lunch. For those of you who live in China, I need not say more. For everyone else, I will say that it a large western food chain (specializing in Tex-Mex) in China, but they only have it in Chengdu, Beijing, and Shanghai.

After lunch, we did some shopping at the mall. I bought a new shirt which was one sale for 50 RMB (about $8). This was a good buy because I need something dressy to wear out to dinner for New Years Eve.

Then we went to the busiest IKEA in the world and boy was it overwhelming. I did, however, buy a few items including a new book bag. The one that I have been using, I have had since high school, and it is starting to fall apart and look very ratty.

Day 5

New Year’s Eve. We went to the Shangri-la for dinner where I ate one of the most expensive meals that I have ever eaten, but it was delicious. It was a buffet, so I ate Indian food, Chinese food, Middle Eastern food, and Western food. To top it off, we had our own room, so we played the bowl game after we finished. We left to ring in the New Year by singing songs to the Father.

After we got home, you would think that we would have gone to bed, but no, we watch Psych instead. It was three by the time we went to bed.

Day 6

I spent most of the morning in bed though I was awake at 9. Once we were awake and ready, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was incredibly crowded, so by the time we got a table and ordered it was late. Sleeping in had eaten up the day. After gorging ourselves on pizza, we decided that we needed some exercise, so we decided to walk back.

As we walked, we tried to name as many countries as we could. We started with the As, then the Bs then the Cs and so on. The funny thing is that two of the countries we missed the first time around were China and The United States (The two countries in which all of us had lived). This made the two-hour walk back go by pretty quickly. We thought that we had done a pretty good job with naming the countries, but we sure missed a bunch. Did you know that there is a country named Isle of Man? If you are interested in a list of all the countries in the world, here’s a link.

That evening, we went to a small gathering at another teacher’s apartment. When we got home, it seemed only right to end the time with watching Psych.

Day 7

We left Rebekah’s apartment around 7am, and I got to my apartment around 1 pm. Overall, the trip was really fun. I ate a ton of very delicious western food, so now I need to get Malatong (my favorite Chinese soup with vegetables, sesame sauce, and spices) to make up for it. It was a good balance of relaxing and adventuring. I guess I could say that I played like a Panda. I did some active things, but I also ate a lot of good food.

2012

Two Thousand and Twelve has been quite the year for me.  I have grown and struggled, and been incredibly blessed by this year. Below is list of a few things that have epitomized this year for me.

Places I have been: Qingdao, China; Davao, Philippines; Manila, Philippines; Hong Kong; Ohio, USA; Yang Shua, China; Tianjin, China; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Chengdu, China

Book I’ve Read:

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (5/5)

The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose (5/5)

 The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne (5/5)

 Lord of the Flies by William Golding (4/5)

Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie (2/5)

A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence (3.5/5)

Redeeming Love (2.5/5) and The Atonement Child (2/5) by Francine Rivers

Cat’s Eyes by Margaret Atwood (4/5)

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel (4/5)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (5/5)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (4.5/5)

 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (5/5)

My Song of the Year: “Galaxies” by Owl City

Here are some (not all) of the lyrics:

Dear God I was terribly lost

When the galaxies crossed

And the sun went dark

But dear God you’re the only north-star

I would follow this far.

Oh telescope, keep an eye on my only hope

Least I blink and get swept off the narrow road

Hercules you’ve got nothing to say to me

Because you’re not the blinding light that I need

For He is the Saving Grace of the galaxies

This song has been an encouragement to me during the many times of uncertainty that I faced this year.  When my “sun went dark,” God was my north star.  It also reminds me of how God created the universe. As the song says, “He is the Saving Grace of the galaxies.” So if He created the whole universe, then he is able to take care of me through the difficult times.

Verse of the Year: Ephesians 2:1-10 (Emphasis Added)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins n which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I just love the comparison between what we were (and sometimes still are) and what God has done for us. God has been teaching me about grace. I need to offer grace to others, and I need to allow myself to receive grace from God.

These are just a few brief highlights from my year. If you are interested in more about my past year, read my other blog posts. Last year, I made resolutions that will follow. Now I find it necessary to reflect on them and create new ones for the year to come.

1.    I will write more. I want to write at least one blog post a month. I want to write in my prayer journal at least a couple times a week. I want to go to writer’s corner at least 3 times a month. I want to edit my honors project and take some steps towards getting published (even though I am not entirely sure that it is worthy of being published).

I did well with the blogs. I wrote 24 blogs this past year. However, I did miss the months of January, February, May, and October. With the other writing goals, I did not do so hot. (In other words, I barely did them at all).

2.    I want to improve my Chinese. I want to be able to have an actual conversation with someone in Chinese. Something more than I want to go to the store and something less complicated than religious/philosophical/political conversation. Even if it is just a minute long, I would be happy.

I did very well in this area. This is not to say that I am a fluent Chinese speaker or even a competent Chinese speaker, but I know how very simple conversations go, and I know how to respond to most of the basic questions that a stranger might ask me.

3.    I want to stay more on top of my schoolwork. I am not sure that I have a concrete task to tie with this goal, but I do not want to spend my second semester feeling like I will drown.

I ended last school year and began this school year much more confident in who I am as a teacher. Though there were times when I lagged behind in my schoolwork, I ended this semester much better than I have any other semester so far.

Now for my resolutions for 2013:

1.     I want to continue to improve my Chinese. I would like to finish book two of Chinese Made Easier by the end of the year. I have been told that this book is difficult, so I might be over-reaching. Nevertheless, I will make it my goal.

2.     I will actually work on editing my honors project this year.

3.     I will actually write in my prayer journal and spend more time in the Word.

4.     I want to read more for fun. I would like to read at least one young adult book, one classic (or adult book), and one Christian non-fiction book every quarter. That would mean I would like to read 15 new books this next year. My rule for myself will be that a book for school will only count if it is my first time reading it.

Looking back at the books that I read this past year, I was pretty close to this goal. I read 10 YA books, 3 C-non-fiction, and 3 classics/adult books (these numbers exclude the books that I have read before).

I Won't be Home for Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve, and I am thousands of miles away from “home” and my family. This brings ambiguous and conflicting emotions. I don’t really know what to say, but a part of me feels this strong urge to write.

First of all, I am so blessed to have a family who loves me and supports me. I have been able to talk with them several times the past few days. Secondly, I am surrounded by an extended family that has made it their job to make sure that I am not alone on Christmas. From 6 pm Christmas Eve to sometime Christmas night, I have somewhere to be, people to hang out with, games to play, and amazing food to eat. The question then becomes why is it that I still feel a hint of depression and loneliness. 

Is it perhaps that I even after all these years of following Him that I, deep in my heart, still don’t know the true meaning of Christmas? Of course, my head knows the true meaning of Christmas. In my head, I see and hear Charlie Brown asking, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Then I hear Linus reciting the story according to Luke. I know that Christmas isn’t about gifts or Santa Clause or even spending time with family, but would it still feel like Christmas without those things? I’m not a huge gift person, and I didn’t grow up believing in Santa Clause, so the first two aren’t very hard for me, but what about the third one. What if I spent all of Christmas at home alone? Would it still be Christmas?

It becomes so easy for us at Christmas time to do what we always do: spend time with family, eat yummy food, exchange gifts, read the Christmas story, and sing carols. These are not bad things, but I want Christmas to be more than just a tradition that we always do. I want to let the story of Christmas to penetrate my heart. One carol, "Joy to the World," has done just that. Check out the third verse:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

The words to this verse struck me because it explains that Christmas is about bringing all of creation in to right relationship with the Father.  We minimize it by making it merely about the birth of Jesus. It seems to me that we, as modern day believers, do a good job of saying that Christmas is all about the birth of our Savior, but do we really act like it is. Do our hearts truly acknowledge it? How I can better show that Christmas is about the redemption of mankind and nothing else? The following video does a good job of telling a more complete Christmas story. However, I still believe that it is lacking because it ends at the manger. The manger is not the end. Rather it is still part of the rising action. The cross and the resurrection are the climax, the turning point in the story. We are still waiting for the final resolution. For this reason, we still sing "Come thou long expected Jesus."

Highlights of Thailand (ICEC Teacher’s Conference and other such adventures)

I ought to be grading or lesson planning because I am in no way ready for school this week, but I would much rather write a blog post. Anyways, I’m on the bus on the way home from the airport, so I don’t really feel like I am wasting time because I could be sleeping.

Eating:

I “celebrated” Thanksgiving in Thailand by eating spring rolls, red Thai curry, mango sticky rice, and mint gelato. Not quite what the pilgrims ate, but I think they would have appreciated the coming together of cultures. (Is that not at least part of the original intent of their celebration?)

Adventures:

Since my purpose for being in Thailand was for the conference, I did not have a great deal of time for adventures. However, I would say that I got probably the coolest adventure that I could have gotten out of this trip: Riding an elephant! It gets even better; I got hugs and kisses from the elephant as well. I think that I have seen an elephant in a zoo or two, but I do not have vivid memories of it, and I certainly have never been this close to an elephant before. Their trunks are prickly and rough, almost like a leather cucumber. These trunks have a firm grip; I felt slightly claustrophobic when two elephants had their trunks around me. Though it was more like a hug from two affectionate children.

Elephants might have just moved up to one of my favorite animals because they are just so stinkin’ cute (though they shall never surpass the platypus). To top it all off the elephant ride cost about $30, which in my mind is not a bad deal at all. I would say that it was worth every penny.

The Conference:

Here is the part where I give you full permission to stop reading. If you care about my professional development, then you are more than welcome to continue, but I won’t be offended, if you don’t care. To be honest, I am writing this part more for myself then I am for you. 

I would not say that I learned any earth shattering new information that I did not already know before the conference. It was mostly just a good refresher. There were few take-aways though: 1) During job-a-likes, one woman told us about a reading workshop she does that is more intense than normal peer-editing. It also seems to be more effective because it asks the students to edit their own work as well as their peers. 

2) I have thought for a little while now about starting blog where I post stuff that I have created for my classes. I follow a blog of a teacher who does this, and I think that it would make me a more reflective teacher (even though it is in my nature to do this anyways). I also think that it would be good to get feedback and to share my resources. Anyways, I went to a workshop about using social media to develop professionally, and I think that I would actually like to do this. I just have to find the time to set it up. 

3) I really want/need to create a culture of reading for fun. To be honest, for being an English teacher, I do not read nearly enough. There are far too many books that I should have read that I haven’t. Not only that, I also need to model for my students the idea of reading for enjoyment. How can I expect for my students to enjoy reading when I am always making them read for school. Or they feel like they have to read to improve their SAT score. Their SAT score will probably not stick with them for the rest of their lives (even though they think that it will), but a love of reading can. Plus, “A well-read person is less likely to be evil.” The biggest issue is how/when will I put this into practice. I have a few ideas; I just need to flesh them out/ implement them.

Final Thoughts

1) The conference was good, but exhausting. I don’t feel like my body ever recovered from the 1:50 am pick-up time on Wednesday morning. I think that Monday is going to be a bit rough.

2) It was excellent to see the Qingdao-ren, and I really miss them even though I am very happy with my new family.

3) I would go visit Thailand again since I did not really get to experience a ton of the culture. Though I would probably not ever live somewhere so warm.

4) I’m really blessed by my job and by the people whom I work with.

Thanksfulness 2012

Things that I have been thankful for this year:

1. My family in the US who is so supportive of me
2. My family in China who gives me a sense of belonging
3. A smooth transition from one school to another
4. The fact that I am no longer a first year teacher (even though I definitely have days, like today, when I feel like my brain has fallen out of my head)
5. My roommates
6. My school
7. My students 
8. My job
9. My co-workers
10. Really awesome travel opportunities (Did I mention that I'm going to Thailand tomorrow?)
11. Cool bonding moments with my students
12. China, my host country
13. Chinese people who are so patient with me when I attempt to speak Chinese
14. SKYPE! 
15. Facebook
16. Food
17. Having the opportunity to be friends with people from all over the world
18. Clean water
19. Heat and Air Conditioning
20. My God who is so gracious to me

Love Teeth Mouth Cavity

            When translated literally, this is the name of the dentist’s office where I got a wisdom tooth pulled today. My roommate and I combined our Chinese character (hanzi) reading skills, along with the help of another teacher who just happened to be at the dentist office at the same time as we were, and it only took us about 20 minutes to figure out what it said. In our defense, it was written in script.

            Anyways, today I got a wisdom tooth pulled. It was rather painful, and in the future I will avoid it if it can be helped.

            When one has such a procedure done in a country other than one’s home’s country, it becomes necessary to make a few cultural observations.

            First of all, my appointment was at 9:30, and my roommate, who played mom for me today, and I arrived at the dentist’s office at 9:15, and the first thing that the dentist said to me was, “You’re early.” Here I was thinking that I was running late, and we ended waiting for at least a half an hour.  Before I came to China, I remember learning the rule of three; everything takes three times longer in China. This was a truth that was seen throughout the day. 

            I won’t go into the details of the procedure. I am sure that it was much the same as it would be in any other modern dentist’s office. The only difference was I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They would talk to me in English, but they spent most of the time talking to each other in Chinese. I am not sure if it made things easier or worse that I did not know what was going on.

            After the procedure, the dentist asked if I had any antibiotics. I was thinking that she meant Neosporin, antibiotic ointment. I wasn’t sure if I could ingest Neosporin, but that was the only thing that I thought that she could possibly mean. Then I realized that she meant an actual antibiotic, as in the pills. It did not register in my brain that she could mean the pill because a doctor/dentist the US would never ask if you had an antibiotic at home, s/he would simply prescribe them to you.

Well, as a matter of fact, I did indeed have antibiotics. Here in China, you can get antibiotics over-the-counter, most of the time. You see my roommate has been sick for a while now, and one day, the school nurse suggested that she get an antibiotic. She went to the pharmacy to buy it, but they would not sell it to her. Then she called a Chinese friend, Summer, and Summer said that the pharmacist would sell it to her. So Summer went and bought the antibiotics for my roommate, and while she was at it, she bought two extra boxes just in case.

Once I figured out what she meant by antibiotics, all was well. I paid the bill, set up a follow-up appointment, and was on my way.

My roommate and I went down to get a taxi. We waited. And we waited. And we waited. After several minutes of not having any luck finding a taxi, we saw this adorable little boy eating an ice cream cone. I was feeling pretty good, and ice cream sounded soothing, so I suggested that we go to McDonalds, and put our taxi waiting on hold.

Our conversation with the lady at McDonalds went something like this (Please note that this was in Chinese):

          “I want this (pointing to a picture of an ice cream cone), but I want it in a cup.”

          Blank Stare.

          “I want this (pointing to a picture of a sundae), but I don’t want Strawberry on it.

          Blank Stare.

          “I want ice cream, but I don’t want this (pointing to the picture of the cone).”

I think that at this point, she understood, but then she tried to charge us 7 kuai (about a dollar) for ice cream in a cup while ice cream in a cone is only 3 kuai (about $0.40). So we went through the whole charade again, but she didn’t get it.  We decided to suck it up and pay the extra 4 kuai. They don’t really do special orders in China. It’s just not a part of their culture, so it really confuses people when you try to make a special order.                                                                    

 Once we finally got our ice cream, we endeavored to wait for a taxi. And when we finally got one, I would say that the wait was worth it. We had ice cream, and we had a taxi driver that was very conversation, and he spoke a little English.  I genuinely enjoyed listening and somewhat talking with him on the way home even though my roommate did most of the talking.

Once I got home, I rested by watching A Christmas Carol, and actually, as I was watching it, I thinking about another blog post that will come in the future.

All-in-all, it went well, and aside from a sore mouth, I feel pretty good. Now I am relaxing to one of the Thin Man movies, a 1930s movie series with William Powell and Myrna Loy.