RPM in China

Bike Repair

2008-04-19T22:17:00.008+08:00

Currently listening to: Eyes Open by Snow Patrol

Currently watching: Vitus (a Swiss movie about a piano wunderkind--very good!)

So a few weeks ago, I rode my bike to the local supermarket. I had two locks--one that is attached to my bike and a normal one that can be taken on and off. My bike had sat for a time during the cold winter months, so I'm not sure if that was the cause or if it just decided it was finished, but when I came out of the market, the lock that was attached to my bike wouldn't open. I probably tried for 15 minutes to force the key in but to no avail. Finally, I got so fed up that I just ended up putting my bike in the back of a taxi and taking it home. I had the taxi driver drop me at the back gate where I knew a key maker usually sits. As luck (or providence, I guess) would have it, the key maker was there and I showed him the broken lock. After looking at it, he told me it wasn't good and to wait until he was finished with someone else. So I took a few pictures to show what life on the street corner is like as a businessperson.

The bike/cart of one of the other vendors on the corner. Check out the hand brake on the bar of the bike.

His business all set up for customers--complete with a stool to sit on and wait.

In the bag are a bunch of blank keys ready to be cut.

The tools of the trade.

His solution for my broken lock was to unscrew it from where it was mounted on the bike and then to take a saw to it. Now I have a U lock that isn't mounted--live and learn and then find a skilled key/lock cutter :)

Tomorrow we are headed to the countryside to visit our company's adventure site. Right now we are Thinking about the weather--the current forecast includes a 60% chance of rain. Also, please continue to lift up the preparations for the carnival next weekend.

Seeking the Kingdom,
rpm

Belated Easter pictures

2008-04-16T18:15:00.016+08:00

Currently watching: Popmart--U2 Live from Mexico

Currently reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

So it's been a while since I've posted. The obvious understatement is that I guess life has been a bit crazy. Here's an update through pictures.

Easter was amazing. We had some of our university friends from English corner over to dye eggs. Also, during Easter weekend, many of the new staff participated in a pr@yer walk of the city.

Egg Experimenting:

Zach and Noah giving a demonstration to our local friends about how to properly dye eggs.

The girls' eggs at the varying stages of being dyed.

My friend proudly displaying her egg.

A work in progress!

The girl on the right is Family--please Think of her--that she would have boldness to share with the other members in our group.

I've learned that postcards from America make great gifts (they are small so they travel well and they show pictures of my hometown/state).

Out and About in the City:

On our city tour we stopped by the Taoist temple on Ancient Culture Street. Outside they were doing some sort of time period performance.

Check out the shoes--talk about high-heeled!

Aren't they just beautiful?

Randomly at one of the upscale hotels in town we stumbled upon real, live Easter bunnies.

Being an Olympic host city is giving many areas of town a nice face lift (but it's also causing major traffic in our neighborhood as they dismantled an entire market area and are widening the streets and bike lanes)

In the old British concession area, red telephone booths still exist.

I love the graphic on this sign!

As you might have come to gather, celebrating major holidays looks a bit different living overseas. While a traditional Easter meal in the States (at least in my family) would normally include a honey-glazed ham , scalloped potatoes, and a green bean casserole, a "traditional" meal for us in China has come to include ribs. The most tasty, fall-off-the-bone rib meat is found at a restaurant maybe 30 minutes from our house. This meal in all of its glory (including fried apple and pineapple pieces for dessert!) has come to be our meal for celebrating. This being said, the above picture is of Mia and I outside the rib restaurant on Easter morning. The best part of it is that Mia is wearing my dress I used to wear when I was her age. My aunt bought Laura Ashley dresses for my cousins and I in London many moons ago. It's so fun that she can now wear it! :)

Please Think about our upcoming carnival. It's quite a big event and hopefully will raise enough money to support all of our summer trips.

Speaking of trips, in one month, I will be on our 7th grade spring trip in Shandong province, and in two months, I will be in Inner Mongolia for our middle school summer trip. Oh, and only 20something more contact days with students. If those last two sentences aren't amazing, I don't know what is...

In gratitude of His goodness and faithfulness,
rpm

A Picnic at the Water Park

2008-03-15T22:55:00.013+08:00

Currently listening to: Remedy by Dave Crowder Band

Currently reading: my students' persuasive essays

Here's an update from a few weekends ago that I just haven't gotten around to:

The middle school sleepover party went quite well, although I thankfully didn't spend the night. The kids did a great job with the lip sync--it was really fun to watch. Middle school parties always include a rousing game of I Have Never. I love watching them try to slide into chairs on a marble floor!

Intermission between lip sync acts included toilet paper bowling.

Also from a few weekends ago--we took a picnic to the Water Park. I have a year pass now, so I imagine that I'll be using it quite a bit. It's just a short bike ride to get there and soon it will be full of flowers and greenery.

The sledding hill from February is quickly turning to a lake--a lake with a cabin.

Climbing on the rocks is always a highlight for the kids.

Enjoying a wonderful picnic lunch.

Beautiful Mia smiling wide!

Trying to problem solve how to get the Frisbee out of the tree.

The TV tower reflecting in the water.

We rode the Ferris wheel--it was quite the adventure! It took a whole 12 minutes to complete just one revolution :)

Looking down on the park from the top of the ride.

The third quarter is quickly coming to an end. Please think about:

All of the teachers as we finish up comments and grades this week.
The sharing that will occur next weekend with Easter.
The preparation of the students that will be participating in Model United Nations in April in Beijing--they have a lot of work to accomplish in the next few weeks in order to be ready.
The ongoing planning for our trip this summer to Inner Mongolia.

Hosanna in the Highest--Let the King of Glory enter in!
rpm

Lantern Festival

2008-02-27T21:17:00.022+08:00

Currently listening to: 2.24.08 Sunday teaching from FEFC

Currently reading: Red Letters: Living a Faith That Bleeds by Tom Davis

The elevator at school really doesn't like me. Episode one: In the fall, I managed to get stuck in it (alone!) with the computer cart. Apparently a paper clip chain attached to the wheels on the cart jammed the doors so they opened only a few inches. I was rescued when our science teacher pulled the doors apart after I went up and down the five floors multiple times.

Episode two: Yesterday. I got the DVD/TV cart from the library and wheeled it into the elevator. Another woman was in it and when we got to the fourth floor, the elevator jolted a bit. Then the woman reached down and handed me the DVD player because it fell off the cart. When she handed me the DVD player, the cord was only about 2 inches long. I freaked out but tried to contain myself because I still had to get the cart off the elevator. I tried pushing the cart but to no avail. Why? The elevator missed lining up properly with the floor by about 4 inches. Try as I might, I couldn't pull the cart up over the gap. Then the same science teacher from episode one walked by and again came to my rescue. I took the DVD player to my principal and explain what happened. While I was worried about it, the teacher side of my brain was thinking that I had a classroom full of students waiting for me and the bell was going to ring any minute. As we were getting started for the morning (this all happened before 8 o'clock!), I told them how I severed the cord in the elevator door and how awful I felt. Then the science teacher came in. In his hands he had the severed cord that was stuck in the doors from the third floor. Apparently the ayis saw it and were getting ready to call the building maintenance because they thought it was a broken cord from the elevator itself. He kindly explained that it was ok and that it was only a broken electric cord. I wish I had a picture of the cord. It was a good foot and a half long and the tail end was completely stripped of the plastic coating and showed all the frayed copper wires. The best part of the story--how the maintenance workers at our school are so awesome that with a little electric tape and some patience, they were able to salvage it--only in China!

Last Thursday was the official end of Chinese New Year celebrations (read: the last day for everyone to set off fireworks). Lantern Festival has it own set of cuisine and my Chinese teacher was kind enough to invite me to celebrate with him and his family in his new apartment. After a wonderful dinner, we went to the Amusement Park (the Chinese name for this park is the Happy Garden) where an impressive display was set up. It was quite crowded--very different than the last time I was there in June. We walked around the park for a while and then returned home to multiple amateur firework shows (AKA neighbor pyros just having fun).

Three sided dumplings and fried sticky rice balls, among other happiness.

My language partner, our teacher, his daughters and wife in their new kitchen.

The explosion of fireworks we set off near our compound as we left for the park.

The crowd of people buying admission tickets to the park.

In my imagination, this was what the whole park was going to look like.

In reality, this was what the displays looked like--more like beautifully lighted scenery that tells a story.

A close up of the ancient Chinese woman.

Nicole, Liu Laoshi and I enjoying the lanterns together.

A dragon is a vital part of all things Chinese.

An amazing replica of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.

The ever-present fireworks.

The theme for this year's show was the Olympic venues from around the world (hence the orthodox cathedral symbolizing the 1980 Games).

An artistic attempt at capturing the lighted walk ways.

The trashed ticket stubs at the entrance/exit.

The entrance gates lit up in all their Beijing 2008 Olympic glory.

Trying to stay warm!

That light in the upper corner is a floating lantern. It works like a hot air balloon--there's a candle in the inside and a paper dome surrounding it and when it gets hot enough, they take off into the sky by themselves. The sky was dotted with them that night. They were so magical. My goal is do (make?) one myself next year! As we were walking back, we saw one that caught on fire. It looked like a shooting star because it burned up before it hit the ground.

The debris left over from the fireworks outside my gate.

It wouldn't be a complete post without some funny signs.

I spotted this at a restaurant this weekend.

How does a sandwich have eggs taste?

This weekend is our lip sync contest/sleepover. Please Think about our sanity as we deal with 100+ middle school students in the wee hours of the night.

Trusting in His strength,

rpm

Guo Nian Hao!

2008-02-17T21:15:00.022+08:00

Currently listening to: The Stage Names by Okkervil River

Currently reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (About 5 years too late, I know, I know)

Happy New Year to all! I am safely back in China and enjoying my last few moments of freedom before school starts. I've just been laying low but it feels great not to have a whole lot on my plate. That last statement dissolves tomorrow at 7am. I had two goals for the weekend--I had to finish my grading (mid quarters are due on Tuesday) and I wanted to post about my time in America. It looks like they will both be accomplished. Three cheers for achievable goals!

The Monday before I returned to the States, my language partners and I took our Chinese teacher out for a nice American meal at TGI Fridays. Those are the first two pictures I have to share. The rest are from my trip. I was excited to see real snow and lots of it, so there are a few nature pictures, but most of them are from our family outing to the Denver Art Museum. Being in an environment like that brings out the artsy photographer in me, so hang with me, there's a few of those pictures. And, of course, some family pictures--it was, after all, a family event that brought me back.

Enjoying a nice western meal together.

Our teacher tasting his first jalapeño burger--he still claims it wasn't hot.

Our snow-covered street and big, blue sky.

I SAW IT!

Even the pastry counter at Whole Foods was celebrating the Year of the Rat.

The street lamp on our corner in the middle of a snow storm. It was a good test for me to see if I can still drive in snow. (BTW, I can!)

The beautiful result of scary snowstorms.

A slightly grainy, yet super cool picture of a nice display at the art museum.

The Meyer women back together again.

This artist filled up a wall-length linen canvas with words--it was quite the effect.

Another great sculpture made of metal rods put together to form a human figure.

I guess even hubcaps are art.

Amen!

A view of the snow-covered Rockies and the Front Range from inside the museum.

The cute newlyweds!

I had one--beer is growing on me, slowly.

Colorado's capitol building, complete with a gold leaf roof, exactly 5280 feet above sea level. We aren't called the Mile High City for nothing :)

My favorite picture from the trip.

Our family after the memorial service.

Well, Lantern Festival is on Thursday, so I'm sure that I'll have something exciting to report then.

In this season of Lent, in steadfast faith, embrace and hold fast to the unchangeable Truth.

rpm

The Market

2008-02-06T02:04:00.001+08:00

Currently reading: Rocky Mountain News February 5, 2008

Currently listening to: The Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary Edition by U2

Last week after Fellowship, we went out to lunch at McDonald's. I am not proud of the fact that I've probably eaten more McDonald's in China than I ever did in America. But since KFC is the only other option for western fast food (sad day--no Wendy's, Chipotle, Noodles, Sonic, etc.), McDonald's it is. While we were standing in line, I stuck out to the street market to snap some pictures of all the Spring Festival decorations.

The variety of things that can be purchased on the street continues to amaze me. Here we have boots, slippers, backpacks and purses.

These traditional red knots are used to decorate doors for the upcoming New Year.

Paper cuttings like these go on everything--windows, door posts, and walls are just a few of the places I've seen them.

This woodcutting is just gorgeous.

The market includes a nice selection of dried fruits.

Our local Blockbuster--with varying degrees of quality.

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks:

Eating yummy Korean BBQ with the Kennedys, our head principal and family, Melva and I.

I can never decide what part of Korean BBQ I like the best--is it the meat and peanut sauce or the fried veggies? Always a tough call!

We see 3-wheeled cars all over the place (actually I guess they are usually trucks), but I finally took a picture of one. Check out the nice U-lock on the front tire.

Trader Zhou's, Trader Joe's, what's the difference? Well, Trader Joe's sells happy baking mixes and yummy granola bars that travel well to China (among other things), and the Chinese knock off, Trader Zhou's, sells imported wines. Almost the same, right?

Well, I'm off with my parents to see Juno. Another movie I had resigned myself to seeing on DVD (if I could find it) in China. But I get to see it in the theater--I'm so excited!

Shalom,

rpm

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-04T01:01:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: Paste Magazine #38 February 08

Currently listening to: Boxer by The National

Over Christmas break (after the trip to Guilin) we painted our apartment. Sara helped us pick out the colors when we first moved in and our theme was a bright green. A basket that she gave me for my birthday last year (to help with my orange couch) was the inspiration. As we kept looking, we would see blankets, pillows and much more--all with this color scheme. Around Thanksgiving, we found the wonderful rug that tied it all together at Home Depot (yes, we have a real Home Depot--with American prices--but a real one nonetheless!). Then, over Christmas break, we returned to buy our paint. So here are some pictures to help understand what a vast improvement painting was for our apartment.

Before:

These were taken last June when our housing had finally been assigned--I was just stopping through on my way back to America for the summer.

This is the only other decent picture I have of our living/dining room from before we painted.

During:

Our wonderful friend TJ did all the cutting in and Sara, Melva, Lauren, and I did the rolling.

A nice warm green and a periwinkle blue make a wonderful combination.

After:

The framed pictures are all ones I took this summer in Colorado.

Next up--getting real curtains (similar print to the striped pillow) made that will keep the cold air out from our ping tai (porch/clothes drying area). Aren't our Greek columns something--they really popped out with the paint!

On the bottom you can see just a bit of our wonderful rug that inspired the paint.

Our family starts arriving on Wednesday and the memorial service is going to be held on Friday--what would have been my grandma's 93rd birthday. We look forward to celebrating her life and honoring all that she accomplished.

Wednesday is also New Year's Eve--Welcome the Year of the Rat!

Chun Jie Kuai Le,

rpm

"Snow"

2008-01-31T23:17:00.001+08:00

Currently reading: The Rocky Mountain News Jan. 31, 2008

Currently listening to: Final Straw by Snow Patrol

So, here I am, back in America. Craziness! I am enjoying the little joys of life--cereal with bananas and blueberries, reading the morning paper, eating at Noodles, SNOW, familiar things! Today will hold even more--the dentist, a bath in a normal-sized tub, driving for the first time in a while, probably seeing U2 3D (which I had totally psyched myself out for not being able to see) and eating yummy ice cream. The circumstances for being here aren't great (my grandma had a heart attack and is close to dying). Everything happened so quickly, but I'm excited to be back. The busyness of Tuesday (lessons planning for the rest of the week, packing, and tying up loose ends) has now been replaced with waiting for the inevitable.

It snowed a few inches while we were at dinner last night and in honor of the "snow" in my Chinese city, here are pictures from our sledding adventure last weekend. Setting: the water park. It is really cold, but too dry to snow. Solution: With snow makers, create a sledding hill in the water park. Invite: Chinese kids who have never gone sledding before, camels, goats and have fun!

Yes, you too could be pulled by a goat on a sled.

On the right is the snow maker--notice the line of snow--the cement has none and then magically the grass has some.

It is quite the hill--with enough weight and the right tube, we were quite speedy.

The TV tower and the lake that was icing over. But, oh wait, notice that ladder going into the water--that's for the polar bear club.

Holly and I all bundled up and ready to go sledding.

Dan and the boys enjoying the "snow."

More to come...

rpm

Funny Traveling Pictures

2008-01-19T15:37:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: In Rainbows by Radiohead

Currently reading: My students' journals :) (Good news: I finally finished Passport and Colossians Remixed. My initial goal was to finish them both over break, but that didn't happen. Two weeks later isn't so bad.)

Well, we are in the thick of winter. In my Colorado childhood, winter meant snow and lots of it. In China, winter in our northern city just means bitter cold and gray skies. We are counting down (14 days!) until Spring Festival (AKA Chinese New Year) when we leave for a week to go to green and slightly warmer Hong Kong.

I got two pieces of good news this week and they both have a common theme: travel with middle school students.

1. I was assigned to the 7th grade Spring Trip. At our school, all middle and high school students take a class trip in May. The older the class, the longer and farther away the travel. The 7th grade trip goes to Shandong province (south of here on the coast--Qingdao is the famous city in that region.) I had been hoping to be assigned to this trip because I wanted to spend time with a class before they moved into high school. The other leaders are great which makes me even more excited!

2. 18 middle school students applied for our summer trip Inner Mongolia. Our school also organizes 3 trips in the summer that are Purpose and service-driven. This June we will be sending students to Vietnam, Outer Mongolia (the country of Mongolia), and Inner Mongolia (an autonomous Chinese province--the capital is Hohhot). I am the middle school coordinator on the trip and I will be interviewing/chatting with all the middle school applicants next week.

So that's the short and sweet update of things from this side of the world. Below are the less serious (read: fun and funny) pictures from my winter vacation trip to Guilin.

This was actually found in my city a few days before I left. What a difference a preposition makes!

Molly and Nicole pretending to be the Village People at the hardware store.

The tourism bureau designates locations throughout the country and gives a star-rating, similar to how hotels are 4 or 5-stars. Guilin is so beautiful that it is an example spot!

At the beautiful park that we went to there were random decorations throughout. The teletubbies have invaded China!

While these principles all make sense, I'm curious--how one can improve their consciousness?

This sign was over a rock cliff that led into the Seven Star cave. It would have been quite the feat to stride over this without dying.

What happens when an 'r' and a 'n' get put too close together? 'No Burning' becomes 'No Buming.'

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Two bears that are supposed to resemble Pooh accompanied Piglet, Eeyore, and Tiger.

I ran across this gem in a shop: I know who Oprah and Gwen Stefani are, but who is Edward? Prince Edward maybe? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what a scalp nurse is, but under that English, it has the characters for France. So maybe scalp nurses are French.

This was found at an outdoor vendor.

Trashcans and construction sites are the best for finding Chinglish.

Please Think about:

Our Inner Mongolia team interviews next week. Many great students applied, but also a few applied because their parents made them. We need wisdom to know who we should accept and who we might defer for another year.
All summer trip leaders have a weekend of training next Friday night and all day Saturday. Pr@y for the beginning bonds of trust and friendship to grow in all the trip teams as we prepare for an exciting summer.
For an extra measure of grace while I balance many things. In April, I will lead our middle school delegation to participate in a Model United Nations conference in Beijing. While I'm very excited, there is a lot of hard work ahead in this semester.

May He be our companion in all we do,

rpm

Serious Traveling Pictures

2008-01-05T17:27:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: Passport: An Epic Novel of the Cold War by Bruce Herschensohn

Currently listening to: Pop by U2

The day after Christmas, I boarded a train to southern China. Getting out of our city was interesting because the fog was quite heavy. We got a train to Beijing and made it on the soft-sleeper car for our 22 hour journey to Guangxi province. An overnight delay turned it into a 24 hour journey, but it was uneventful. Once we arrived in Guilin, we freshened up and then headed out to see the city. In the morning rain, we walked over to a beautiful park and took in all the greenness that we could. In the evening, we took a bus to the paradise that is Yangshuo. An all-day bike ride occupied our Saturday. It was eventful--I fell off my bike and did a faceplant into a field (it was muddy!). Sunday was filled with good conversation and food. And Monday we spent traveling back to TJ. It was a great break and really fun to see another part of China. (Lots of) Evidence below--

Guilin Pictures:

The hills that make the Seven Star Park.

Ancient Chinese characters at the entrance to the Seven Star Cave.

Florescent lights colored the cave.

The park had some beautiful waterfalls.

The park had a zoo in the middle and it was at this zoo that I saw my first panda! Yes, that fox-like animal is actually panda--a red panda. Not exactly what you expect when you think panda, but still...

Bai Lan Hua, the flower that gave me my Chinese name.

A pack (herd? group?) of emus--what creepy birds.

Girls dressed in minority clothing.

A lily-covered pond (ah, nature, how I missed you!)

During our rainy walk through the park, we stumbled across a mosque.

Yangshuo Pictures:

The view from our hotel looking to the right.

The view from our hotel looking left.

A village dog protecting some chickens.

The roads were super muddy!

The Li River and the gorgeous mountains in the background.

These little bamboo rafts float down the river.

I love that the mountains are visible in the water in this picture.

An adorable sibling pair walking home from school and an older lady carrying water back to her village.

The bamboo boats docked at the village.

The toddlers all bundled up for the cooler weather.

Dave, Katie, Molly and I on a bridge from the 1200's!

A man herding his ducks to water.

This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip.

Clothes and sausage hanging out to dry.

More sausage!

A grandmother and her grandson cleaning up at the restaurant where we ate lunch.

Mud, mud, and more mud--we were so muddy after our all-day bike ride.

Molly and I under the Yangshuo city sign.

The river is really low right now. Some locals explained to us that the river will be full again in the summer.

Crossing the Li River in a bamboo boat.

Our favorite winter fruit, you zi, growing on a tree. Pomelo (You zi's English name that I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago) is like a sweet grapefruit and has a huge peel.

The city of Yangshuo from the other side of the river.

The lady hacking the sugar cane into edible pieces with a huge knife.

Attacking our sugar cane!

Well, school is back is session. It was nice to get back to a regular schedule. I exited four of my students into the mainstream, and I gained one new student, so I'm sitting pretty with 5 students in both my 7th grade and 8th grade ESL classes. Only 3 more weeks until we have another break for Chun Jie (Chinese New Year).

It's cold now--the high today is a whopping 30 degrees F (-1 C). And at night it's getting down into the teens. Good times! There was a dusting of snow over Christmas but I missed it because we were already in Guilin. I want snow! It can only be this cold if snow is involved!

Signing off from frosty China,

rpm

"And The Soul Felt Its Worth"

2008-01-01T16:41:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Some Mad Hope by Matt Nathanson

Currently reading: Passport: An Epic Novel of the Cold War by Bruce Herschensohn

December was a busy, busy month here, so again I find myself apologizing for the lack of blogging. The holiday season is an incredible opportunity to share our cultural, and more importantly, spiritual traditions and stories.

Our celebrations kicked off right after Thanksgiving. Sunday evenings we participate in an English corner at a local university. In preparation for their huge Christmas celebration, we invited Melva's entire conversation group to our apartment to learn to bake cookies. As a community, our goal was to make 600 cookies to take to this party so we wanted to contribute in whatever way possible. These students are so precious. Most of them are freshmen and are just beginning to adjust to university life. Also, many of them are from other parts of the country and they are having to adjust to university life while being thousands of kilometers away from everything and everyone familiar.

So twenty students arrived at our apartment and were completely spellbound for the 2 hours they visited. They were fascinated by our oven--they didn't realize that it was hot! We were baking cookies and one of the girls tried to put her hand into the oven to get the cookie rack without wearing an oven mitt. It's interesting the cultural differences that are hard to anticipate. We knew they would be surprised to see that cookies are made by following recipes (Chinese cooking is done by feeling, a pinch here, and a dab there), but teaching someone how to decorate a sugar cookie is counter-intuitive. Even though I'm a teacher, it was easier to demonstrate the process rather than having to explain how frosting works. So that was our cooking baking party.

The next weekend was the whole English club's Christmas party. It was quite the experience. The students got the opportunity to make Christmas cards and were finally able to eat the cookies they had decorated. Some students presented dances and songs and we presented a living Christmas story complete with a real baby! One of the biggest joys was hearing the sheer delight as He was "born" (when the blanket was pulled off of Mary to reveal a baby sling with a little baby boy).

In addition to these events, we hosted other celebrations not documented by my camera. The most entertaining was the weekend that I had my classes over. The best memory by far is of one of my tough 8th graders wearing our lime daisy-print apron while measuring out the ingredients for chocolate cookies.

The first weekend of break we had a smaller gathering of our university students. We read the Story from Luke and then watched the movie The Nativity. What an amazing portrait of the first Christmas!

Then, on Christmas Day, we hosted a party for the Kennedy's (their entire household was sick at some point in the last three weeks). It was quite the combination of people--our dear friend and her new husband, our Chinese teacher and his family, a Moroccan German, a German Canadian, a Pole, Kennedy grandparents, and other wonderful Chinese friends. Again, the legend of the candy cane was shared and a candle-lit, bilingual Silent Night was sung. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to share and celebrate Christmas!

Cookie Decorating Party:

Melva as the Chinese-equivalent of Martha Stewart, demonstrating how to make cookies.

The pile of shoes! Thankfully, we had enough pairs of slippers of everyone.

Our friend Phyllis came to help us.

The students made all different kinds of decorations for the sugar cookies.

What color should we pick?

The girls also made Christmas countdown chains.

The cookies were so pretty--we had to refrain from eating them until the party the following Sunday.

We were able to share the Story--Melva is reading The Dream of the Three Trees here.

We had so much fun together!

University Christmas Party:

One of my conversation students and me before the party.

The 600 cookies were all eaten by the time the party of finished!

Acting out the Christmas story (complete with a real baby!)--The angel is telling Joseph not to be afraid.

Santa passing out candy canes with the Legend of the Candy Cane attached in Chinese.

A beautiful Tibetan dancer.

A candle-lit version of Silent Night.

This is my student who is Family--she is from another province and had not yet found a local fellowship. The girl who was the angel in the picture from the reenactment was able connect my friend with a group!

I am enjoying my break. Sometime in the relative future I will write about my trip to southern China. Until then, Happy New Year!

rpm

My (not) Thanksgiving

2007-12-07T21:07:00.000+08:00

(12.23.07 Edit--I started writing this post a while ago, but I finally was able to finish it today!)

Currently watching: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

For Thanksgiving this year, I went to visit Wuxi--the city that I lived in last year. It was a wonderful time of reconnecting with old friends. I stayed at the apartment of a friend from my Fellowship. The evening that I arrived, she hosted the music practice for our Sunday meeting. The group is so diverse--Chinese, Australians, Germans, Rwandans, Filipinos, and one lone American (me!) While I had told many people that I was going to be visiting, word apparently didn't get around to everyone. It was heart-warming to see the look of shock and joy on their faces when they saw that I was back. Bittersweet is a good way to describe it--I was so glad to continue these wonderful friendships, but it was hard knowing that I was going to have to get on an airplane and leave again in just a few days. But it's comforting to know how easy it is to travel in China, so perhaps I'll visit again this summer! Anyway, I didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving meal or anything because I wasn't with any other Americans. It was a bit strange but being with local friends was a great way to spend the holiday.

On Friday, I was able to get reacquainted with the city. I enjoyed knowing what buses to take and the names of streets came back easily. Last year I wrote a few entries about how quickly things were changing in my old neighborhood but it was hard to fathom the amount of changes that just four months can bring. I went to my old school and finally saw first hand all the changes I knew they were making over the summer. A highlight was meeting up with some of my old students for dinner. It was fun to see how they are all doing.

Saturday brought a new adventure--going to the local sports stadium and playing badminton with friends from Fellowship. Badminton is a very popular sport here. It's easy to play and the only equipment required is space, two rackets and a shuttlecock. I can't say I've ever actually played before and, my goodness, my friends were competitive. Saturday's highlight was making rice pizza with my friend. She has a new apartment and even a small oven. Ovens are a complete luxury here. I didn't have one last year but now I do since our apartment is more Western-style. Anyway, her oven isn't a gas one like mine here in TJ, but it plugs into the wall. I was worried about finding mozzarella cheese, but good ol' Walmart came through. When we got back, my friend realized that she didn't have a can opener for the spaghetti (read: pizza) sauce. We solved the problem by attacking the can with a 3-inch cleaver knife. It worked! It was also quite scary! The pizza turned out great and they seemed to enjoy it. She has been Family for a year and her husband just made The Decision a month ago. We had great conversation about specific parts of the Book. My friend has a son in high school, so she is closer in age to being my mother than being my peer. It was so humbling to have her ask me for my opinion about those sorts of things. Although I grew up in the church, I find it hard being considered an expert at 24 years old.

Sunday was just like any Sunday last year. Fellowship and lunch out. And then a plane ride from my home last year to my home this year.

Pictures:

My classroom looked out over the foundation of these apartment last year. Over the summer the buildings sprouted up nice and tall.

Wuxi Oriental International School no longer exists but now the International School of Wuxi does.

This area used to have a bulletin board and my shining face listed on the faculty wall. Over the summer the space was converted into the new admissions office.

The beautiful but not kid-friendly garden was replaced with a nice, green astroturf field.

Last year this was used as a chess activity room, but sinks were added, doors were painted and supplies were bought to make it a kindergarten class.

My former students and I enjoying some pizza and good conversation.

My friend and her husband. Please Think of them as they continue to grow in their faith.

My friend and I waiting to play badminton together.

The hilarious Chinglish on the badminton racket cover.

Let the games begin!

My feeble attempt at playing badminton.

The girl in this picture became a friend over Thanksgiving weekend. Her story is amazing. She comes from a believing family (parents and grandparents!), which is quite rare. Many students come to faith when they are at university. She believed as a child, but in middle and high school became too busy and pushed it aside. She told me, "I was taught in school there is no Gd, but the whole time I believed that, I felt empty. Then I came to the university and got involved in this fellowship and I now feel whole again."

The other half of the gym was for ping pong. The Chinese are so serious about the sport--these athletes were amazing!

The amazing view from my friend's apartment.

Christmas break has officially begun! Now I'll have some time for posting. Look for more after I return from Guilin after the New Year.

Until then--Merry Christmas from China!

rpm

Be Love, Know Hope, and Breathe Peace

2007-11-18T20:25:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Memory Man by Aqualung

Currently watching: Bend It Like Beckham

So this has been a great China weekend. I have such a mental block when it comes to getting things accomplished here because usually it just takes longer or something goes wrong. The word mafan (problem or trouble) explains it best. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to deal with the mafan of getting stuff done. But all things considered, I am quite proud of everything that I did this weekend.

Friday night:

Went to Home Depot (yes, it's a proper Home Depot, in China :)
Bought a new rug for our living room (pictures to come)
Got paint swatches (we WILL paint before Christmas--a nice green, orange and blue theme)
Moved our curtains to the outside of the porch
Watched Garden State

Saturday:

Slept in (a nice accomplishment after continuing to be sick)
Bought a DVD player that plays all DVDs (our old one had issues)
Got gifts to take to my Chinese friends in Wuxi (I'm going to visit for Thanksgiving!)
Put together a photo album to take with me to show my Wuxi friends
Had dinner at the Kennedy's with our Chinese teacher and his family
Played Catan

Sunday:

Went to Fellowship in a neighboring city
Had lunch at a nice Irish pub
Went to English corner at the local university and got to share our Family Traditions about being thankful

I have a few thoughts today on language and culture:

'To jot' means something sexual in Korean. How do I know this? It was in my 8th textbook the other day. My 8th grade class is all boys. 6 of them. They couldn't stop giggling like little girls. It was real fun.

There is only a special word to designate that one is left handed (zuo piezi) in Chinese, but not really anything for being right handed, because everyone here is right handed.

The TA on our floor was helping me with my Chinese the other day and as I was talking to her, I noticed that she had been reading the 6th grade history textbook. For fun! Because she's never read, in depth, at least, about world history. Chinese history is so long that it is the primary focus of social studies classes here. Her comment to me was (she was reading about Ancient Mesopotamia) how much of a difference learning about that ancient history is making in her faith--it gives her belief historical context.

No pictures today, sad day, I know. But we're very thankful for the heat that's finally on. While things aren't exactly toasty, we're no longer freezing at home.

A benediction I found quite fitting: As a friend wrote me the other day: "Be love, know hope and breathe peace"

rpm

A Rooftop View

2007-11-11T18:11:00.001+08:00

Currently listening to: OK Computer by Radiohead

Currently reading: November 5th Asia edition of Newsweek

Last weekend, we went to the high school production of The Miracle Worker, which tells the story of Helen Keller. It was very well done and an-all around great production. One highlight of the play was the performances by the servants. With our school being 60 to 70 percent ethnically Korean, where do you find black people for the role of a household servant of a play set in the American South in the 1880s? Answer: Spend 3 hours in makeup to change their beautiful Asian skin into beautiful African skin. It was quite impressive! Even up close, they looked like they were African American. After the play, we took a field trip to the top floor of the school where some art classrooms used to be. Some men were working on the roof (we're still trying to figure out what's going on up there) and the door to the roof was open, so I took it upon myself to go 'investigate'. I witnessed the closest thing to a sunset that I've seen since coming back to China. It was fun to see the world around school from the equivalent of the 6th story.

Looking down on the soccer fields and basketball courts.

It's impossible to look around and NOT find a construction site more than a few blocks away (notice the cranes around the left of the two tall buildings).

This is the same view I have from my office (just a few floors below). Toyota has a car dealership next door and they maintain this racetrack behind the school. It's a rare sight to actually see someone test driving a car on it--more often it's someone jogging, or recently, someone with a push mower trying to mow the entire center of the track.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my 8th graders were working on a huge project. It went quite well and I made them show their parents their projects last week during conferences. Before I sent the projects away for good, I wanted to get some good pictures of their projects. (I have video of their presentations but sadly I never got out my camera as we were going along.) I'm pretty sure my students would die of mortification if I posted a picture of them with their project, so I just want to show you two really good close up shots.

A memorial remembering the separation of North and South Korea.

A turtle ship representing the wars fought between Korea and Japan during the late 1500's.

Happy weekend to all!

rpm

Historical Tour

2007-11-07T19:42:00.001+08:00

Currently listening to: The Trumpet Child by Over the Rhine

Currently reading: Colossians Remixed by Walsh and Keesmaat

First: The excitement for the day (besides a massage and a Seder meal that went quite smoothly!) was picking up my pictures. Earlier I mentioned how I wanted to get a bunch of pictures printed and framed to put up in our apartment. Well, part of that has now been accomplished. We now have 3 beautiful, big prints of sunsets from Petoskey, Grand Haven, and Thailand. Also, we enlarged 3 flower prints from my sister's wedding and a friend's garden. I also got 10 of my personal favorites printed in 5x7 so I can maybe make some multi-picture frames as like a "best of" all my happy photos. Next step: going to the frame shop and actually having everything matted and framed. Slowly but surely things are coming together.

It seems that no matter what I do, I'm behind in my posts--I apologize. Although this was a while ago, I think it's still important and interesting.

Two weekends ago, the new staff (and some not-so-new-staff) took a tour to see the city we now call home through the eyes of history. As a history buff, I was clearly in my element. I had been to a few of these sights before, but it was different having a distinctively Western approach in the tour. Many of the historical places are directly tied to Western influence pre-communism. I wrestle with weight of the past and for good reason.

First stop: A Catholic church under renovation

This fellowship has completed gutted their sanctuary and built a temporary trailer in the courtyard while construction occurs. The lady let us see the inside even though it was 'locked.' They have relics dating to the 1800's and parts of their main building have been around for at least a century. During the Boxer Rebellion, this place dealt with some ugly rumors about what was going on at the on-site orphanage. Again and again on this tour I was struck how His hand sustains and guides our every movement forever and forever.

The view of the nearby canal. As you can see, it was quite foggy and even threatened to rain.

A slightly dark picture of the altar in the sanctuary under construction.

Members of the local Polar Bear Club, AKA brave souls. Mind you, at this point, I was already wearing long underwear, a sweatshirt, scarf, and jacket and they were prancing around in Speedos.

The fog made for a cool picture of the lions on the bridge.

Second stop: The Taoist Temple on Ancient Culture Street

Due to its relative closeness to the canal, this temple is dedicated to the gods of the ocean and water. Traditional belief states that if one pr@ys to the ancestral representations at this temple, then the sailors will have smooth sailing. I mentioned visiting this place last Christmas, but it was quite striking when compared to the other places of worship.

I was particularly taken by some tile art in the back of the temple. We didn't have any local friends accompany us, but our wonderful tour guide was the high school principal who has taught Chinese history here. I didn't ask for an explanation of the artwork, mostly because I didn't want to ruin this beautiful public mural for myself.

The broad scope of the mural.

The detail was quite breath taking.

Naturally ancestral worship was included in the artwork.

People waiting in line to burn incense.

Inside the temple, you can see the representation of one of the gods.

Many families came together to the temple.

Third stop: The Protestant church

The next place we visited was a local Protestant fellowship. It made me miss my old fellowship in Wuxi very quickly. There is something to be said for worshiping in a building whose sole purpose is specifically that. Some famous people have ties to this fellowship and the pastor was kind enough to show us the desk of someone from 1933--sorry I can't remember the specifics.

The historic relic was protected by just a sheet of plastic--it was made from beautiful wood though.

Fourth stop: The Drum Tower

The Drum Tower was part of the old city wall, which no longer exists. It is part of what used to be the Old City. Inside the Tower, there was an interesting museum which very pointedly marked the progress of the people in the last few decades.

The huge Drum Tower.

What a hutong (traditional house) would have looked like in our city a few decades ago.

The view from the top was merely ok (silly fog), but you can see how the road stretches away from the Tower--it leads towards the rest of the Old City.

Fifth stop: The Astor Hotel

This hotel wins my prize for the highlight of the tour. Many famous people have visited this hotel and many more famous things were accomplished there. It holds the first elevator in China and the first light bulbs that were used in the country. Herbert Hoover stayed there. So did Sun Yat-sen while he was creating the Republic. The Last Emperor danced there with his concubine. Crazy amounts of history in one building.

A painting honoring all the famous people that have stayed there.

Sixth stop: A burned out Anglican church

What a way to end the tour! The last stop was an Anglican church that was one of the first places in the city where foreigners worshiped. Its turbulent background includes being shut down and occupied during the Cultural Revolution. The estimate we were given was that over one million Books were buried on site during that era. It no longer has a worshiping congregation and lays in complete disrepair. Apparently, it used to have a large fence surrounding it, but on the day we visited, the grounds were meticulously groomed, yet the windows were completed boarded up. Oh, I can't imagine what tales this building could tell if given the opportunity.

A flower from the lovely garden.

The contrast of the well-cared for flowers and the vine-growing burnt out building.

I recognize that the Spirit works in spite of our physical buildings, but I mourn the Darkness that this church currently represents.

The adventurous spirit in me found a pile of bricks that led up to a dark stairwell. Sadly, I gave my camera to a friend, but I paved the trail for others and found a gem at the top. The stairs went up to a bell tower and overlooked the old sanctuary. It was completely trashed--people had probably been squatting in it as there was stuff (including a few bathtubs?!?) strewn about.

Random pictures

To lighten the mood, I leave you with some fun pictures.

A beautiful bouquet of flowers I received from one of my advising students during conferences.

"Any one who violate regvulation to remote the fire-fighting equipments is prohibited" Hmm, let's try that again...

I'm totally convinced that construction site ads are the best place to find funny pictures. "The well-to-do family resides in the innermost recesses of urban civilization" You couldn't make this up if you tried!

The random award goes to this picture--it was found on the back of a car during this tour. I don't know what the Chinese says, but I can't get over the graphic. What is it trying to say/represent? Any guesses?

One week until warmth...

rpm

Wedded Bliss

2007-11-03T12:37:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World (Thanks Karri!)

Currently reading: Colossians Remixed by Walsh and Keesmaat

So a few weeks ago, a dear Chinese friend was married. Sara, Melva and I were invited to attend as part of the bride's inner circle. The wedding was in the afternoon, but we were picked up after breakfast in order to support Wei Wei while she was getting ready.

When we arrived, she was getting her make-up done in a neighbor's apartment.

Her nails were quite fancy.

So beautiful!

At the gate of her parent's apartment, the red decorations symbolize her marriage with the character for double happiness.

We learned so much about the preparations the family must make on the day of the wedding. For lunch, the extended family dined at a nearby restaurant. All of her mom's family sat at two tables and her dad's family sat at the other ones. We celebrated their wedding by eating long life noodles.

Here is her mother's sister serving us the yummy noodles.

Once we got back from the restaurant, we went to her parent's apartment. Most of her extended family was there--it was quite the collection of people. After a little hobnobbing (difficult with our limited Chinese), Wei Wei had to get into her gown. As you may recall from the weddings I attended last year, the bride wears multiple dresses during the wedding day.

Wei Wei in her Western-style white gown.

The embroidery was so intricate.

Once she was dressed, she couldn't get off the bed. Tradition says that females from her new husband's family must bring her her shoes. The shoes were red and were hand delivered by her new relatives.

Waiting patiently for her shoes.

Wei Wei and her mom tearfully celebrating their happy day.

Us with Wei Wei--Melva, Sara and I were so thankful to be included in this special occasion.

No one knew how to tie the Father of the Bride's tie. Sara thankfully stepped in and saved the day!

Once the bride got her shoes, the procession was made downstairs to the rented cars that were hired to take all her family to the hotel where the ceremony was. The ceremony was a learning experience for us. An MC hosted the event and at multiple points in the ceremony, he stopped and looked at us. We're still not quite sure, but it was possible he was trying to explain things for us or something. From what I did understand, there were some very touching moments. The bride and groom bowed to each set of parents 3 times and then announced what names they would use for them from now on. The groom walked around the bride 3 times and then he knelt and she sprinkled rose petals in his hair. Although I was standing on a chair while the ceremony was going on, sadly I don't have any great pictures worth sharing.

The couple and our family.

The couple and her parents.

The couple and their attendants.

What kind of a celebration would it be without a feast of interesting food? (Be warned!)

Whole chicken (including bone marrow!) and sauce.

The variety of food serving at banquets is amazing to me.

Chicken noodle soup takes on a whole new meaning.

High five!

The bride in her second gorgeous outfit!

The third outfit was inspired by cherries.

The red things in our hair are a special tradition just for our city. All females involved with the wedding wear them on the right side of their head the day of the ceremony.

And wouldn't you know, Chinglish follows me wherever I go...I can't help it. I'm a detail-oriented person and I see it in so many places.

A wall hanging.

The dishes at a restaurant. I'm so curious who is designing all this stuff.

The hand soap in a restroom. Super hair fertilizer?!?

Coming (relatively) soon: Our historical tour of the city.

Until then, be thinking about us as we continue to countdown the days until the heat comes on (11!). Until then, we're huddled under blankets with multiple layers of clothes.

A point of praise--I survived conferences! Funny story, how I got sick on the second day with the flu. It was a wash of a week, in terms of learning, at school. I was out on Wednesday, it was a half day on Tuesday, with no school on Monday. Hopefully this coming week is more successful. The excitement for the week is doing a Seder meal with our 7th grade students. The book we're reading is set in Ancient Israel, so we're learning loads about Hebrew culture. It's fun! Wish us luck!

Warmed by His Love,
rpm

Unexpected Beauty

2007-10-24T20:46:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: October 15th Newsweek

Currently listening to: Eyes Open by Snow Patrol

In this city full of industry, beautiful things are stumbled upon; they are hidden treasures one appreciates when they are discovered.

Case study #1: Beauty in nature

A few Sundays ago, Sara and I were walking along the canal after lunch. It was a gorgeous day--a perfect fall afternoon. The sun was actually out (it hasn't been seen in the last two days, too much fog/smog) and it was relatively warm, given that fall came and went without me even being aware of it (other random side note: the countdown begins--3 weeks until the heat gets turned on!). Instead of getting a taxi and coming back home right away, we started walking down the canal.

Here's what we found:

Flowering yucca-like plants live right along the canal.

The flowers smelled amazing!

Case study #2: Beauty in language

That evening was the kickoff event for the local university English club. The students who participate in our English conversation group every Sunday evening must attend 3 drill sessions during the week. The spoiler is that these group meet before dawn--6AM anyone? I know the last thing I want to be doing at 6 is practicing my Mandarin. They get up that early just so they have the opportunity later in the week to speak English with a foreigner. How's that for humble pie? If only I had such dedication for the things I hold most important!

From the kickoff party:

The students demonstrating their drills (yes, complete with a bullhorn!)

The cake-cutting ceremony to signify the start of the club for this year (no, not like that AA)

Case study #3: Beauty in Diversity

Last Friday was a significant mark--the end of the first quarter! How crazy is that?!? I feel like I'm finally in the swing of things and it only took a quarter. Granted I'm living day by day in my lesson plans, but I am surviving my (second) first year of teaching. Woohoo--that deserves some celebration!

Anyway, Friday was also International Day--a celebration of our diversity as a school. The students are asked to wear the traditional clothes from their home country. To continue the fun, we celebrated Spirit Week in all of its middle school glory.

All of the middle school students are split into 4 different houses, kinda like Harry Potter. The kids stay in the same house all 3 years. The house names and colors may vary throughout the years. This year my house is called Hot Stuff and our colors are black and red. Normally, every Monday, when we have our house meetings, we have to wear our house colors. Well, for the Monday of Spirit Week, we had to wear at least 80% house colors--it was pretty cool.

Tuesday was crazy hair day and would like to say that I took that to an extreme--dreadlocks! It didn't take super long to create (90 minutes maybe?). A friend teased my hair and with lots of hair wax, gel, and mousse, it was able to stay overnight in somewhat decent dreads. Getting it out was another story. I stood in the shower with shampoo and a comb and a while later, it was back to normal. Did you know...if you put shampoo on your hair for an extended amount of time (perhaps you're working on getting a few tangles out :), it makes your hair super soft. Very strange. So crazy hair was Tuesday.

Wednesday was teacher/student switch day. The students had to dress up professional, like we teachers have to each day, and I was allowed to wear jeans, like the kids usually do. Happy day! It worked out perfect because my 8th students had their big presentations that day and they were required to dress up anyway, so at least they didn't stand out. Overall, they did an excellent job.

Wear lots of...was Thursday. You had to wear at least 7 pieces of clothes or accessories for the day. One girl came with every belt from her family on her waist. Another kid pinned socks to his whole body. Quite the sight! And a half day on Friday with tasty food from everywhere made it the end of a great week. Of course the end of Spirit Week could only be properly celebrated with a party. A party it was! Complete with ball throwing, chair games and street food (oh yeah, and me chaperoning...)

Evidence:

The dreadlock creation process.

The end result--I would do it again, but not for much longer than a day. It was fun, that's for sure!

The adorable kindergartners performing a song during the International Day presentations.

A bunch of the Korean students take Tae Kwan Do after school. They were strong and quite intense.

Some students in their beautiful hanboks (traditional Korean dress).

A great action picture of their demonstration. Notice how he's jumping over 5 of his fellow students!

The social studies teacher and I in our traditional clothes from India.

Things to Think about:

Monday and Tuesday are Parent/Teacher Conferences. The conferences are student led but since this is my first year, I'm a bit apprehensive about the whole process. It's going to be a long week!
Somehow I managed to start new units on the same day with both of my classes. I've been struggling at keeping all of the balls juggled and I'm afraid about how much long I can keep up with this before a.) a ball drops or b.) I get sick. I'm okay so far, but please Lift up my life at school. I want to do the best that I can, but I recognize that I can't do it on my own. Only with His Power, Wisdom, and Grace am I even able to function every day in the classroom.
Praise: 8th grade presentations were a huge success! Like I said before, I was so proud of them and the hard work that they turned in. It was fun, but frustrating at times, to go through this process. I'm happy to be returning to the normal classroom routine.
Praise: 2 students in our middle school became Family in the last month. Give thanks with me for their decision and please Lift them up as they begin to grow in His Truth.

Peace, hope, and love,

rpm

Moving Letters

2007-10-12T22:08:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Currently listening to: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky

What have I accomplished in the last 6 hours? (Gotta love productive Friday nights)

I baked a cake
Rearranged the furniture in my bedroom
Hung up things around the apt.
Got things together for our upcoming community garage sale
Organized my pictures
Picked which pictures to print and get framed
Decorated a bit
Cleaned out the frig
Did a few dishes
Mounted a reading light next to my bed and a bulletin board on my desk

So my 8th graders are working on a huge project now and it will finally be over on Wednesday when they give their oral presentations to their peers. Next Friday is the end of the 1st quarter--how is it possible that we're 1/4 of the way finished with the school year already? Life at school has its growing stress. Coming up is Spirit Week ending with International Day, along with Student-Led Conferences, a middle school party and grades that are due soon!

The conference in Beijing was nice. It was fun to see people from the NY training again and here about everyone's adjustment to China. Highlights of the weekend included shopping at a huge import grocery store, eating Mexican food TWICE (once was even complimented with sangria!), and bringing home half of Ikea on the bus. My excuse was that I hadn't been there yet since I moved to TJ (that's where I got the lamp and bulletin board that I just put up).

This year's birthday celebrations included: Starbucks at the BJ airport, the traditional game of Catan in the hotel lobby, the entire conference singing to me at the banquet, and later, a small birthday party with friends, which was made complete by a mint chocolate cake! I couldn't have asked for more--it was a great celebration all around.

Pics:

My birthday crown/napkin.

Some of the wonderful middle school staff before the banquet.

The cake from Sunday's celebration.

Probably a month ago, I went shopping at the local fabric market. The place is completely overwhelming--picture a North American mall, but instead of stores like the Gap or Abercrombie, each store is an individual vendor with yards and yards of every kind of fabric imaginable. The experience is such a sensory overload, but that was compounded this trip because I didn't know what exactly I was looking for. After many long hours of searching, I found materials for a shower curtain, curtains for my room and a duvet for my bed. I gave the tailor all the fabric right before the holiday. I got all the curtains back this week (partially what prompted the cleaning/decorating spree).

How cute is that?

Funny story: Imagine my surprise, when, at Ikea, I spotted the same shower curtain. Granted, it wasn't in the same raw form that I found mine at the fabric market, but they pretty much look identical. Check it out here. I would never have guessed that I had such good taste!

Another funny story: We have tile wall in our bathroom. I write my words from our Chinese class on the wall with dry erase marker to give me more exposure to the vocab. I had Chinese early in the week and so erased random vocab that had accumulated since August before I showered the other night. It was late (like 11.30 at night) when I was taking my shower and I started to notice that some of the letters were slipping down. I thought I was going crazy and was just seeing things.

Here's what the wall above the sink looks like=normal.

Here's the crazy words from the wall that's actually in the shower. The q at the bottom should be next to the i and the u across from basketball--it migrated quite a distance.

Here's a shot of the wall in front of the toilet, right next to the shower. The o from corn dropped completely into pineapple!

Praise: A miracle has occurred in our community. A family had been fostered a little girl since Christmas and were hoping to adopt her when her file was sent to the US and she was matched with another family. It was looking almost certain that that family would be traveling here to get her by the end of the month. Somehow (only by His grace and mercy) the family has reconsidered and has since agreed to send the file back to China, which allows my friends the opportunity to continue pursuing her adoption. This little girl has experienced lots of trauma in her young life, so please give Thanks with our community and continue to Think about their situation.

Because of Him,

rpm

Qinhuangdao

2007-10-02T20:51:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Currently listening to: We Walked In Song by The Innocence Mission

The first of October is China's National Day and, as a result, we, as well as the majority of Chinese, have the entire first week of this month off as vacation. Company tradition for the foreign staff in our city is to have a retreat (yes, all 200 of us--men, women, and children!) to the beach. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city and school.

The trip to the coast was interesting. We had three charter buses and about an hour into the trip, one had smoke pouring out of the engine into the inside of the bus. Then a few hours later our bus blew out a tire (right under my feet!) We had to go extra slow until we got to the next rest station where they could get it properly fixed. Knowing how traveling in China can be crazy, there was even a mechanic that was hired just to ride with us in case anything bad happened. He certainly earned his pay this week. On the way back today, we stopped at a rest stop and then the driver and mechanic started examining the engine. The entire backside of the bus was black with oil. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, but they "fixed" it by pouring 2 huge bottles (like gallon sized!) of oil into the engine and calling it good. The best part was when they were smoking right as they were working, never minding that they were working with oil and other possibly flammable things. Other than that, the ride was uneventful and we made it back in one piece.

Highlights from the weekend included:

Swimming in the salt water ocean
Playing Catan on the hotel hall floor
Watching the first season and a half of Scrubs in 3 days
Yummy western breakfasts
Swimming in a swimming pool and hot tub
Walking on the beach
Going shopping at a nice pearl market
Cable television (CNN and Deutsche Welle=happiness)

The hotel next to us had crazy spotlights at night.

The area has a lot of Russian tourists so lots of the signs are in three languages. The restaurant we went to after shopping had a great Chinglish menu. Anyone want some "hot spily all to fear rope pizza?"

The desserts were interesting--the choices included puppy love, troical love and burning icecream. The explanation from the waitress sounded like somehow the ice cream was actually on fire. Someone please explain--in words I understand!

The pizza Sara, Kimberly and I finally decided on had potato wedges, ham, onions, and green peppers. The ice cream we got was a banana float, complete with watermelon, instead of the traditional pineapple and strawberries.

The view on the beach looking right.

The view on the beach looking left--notice the proximity of the smokestacks to the beautiful surroundings.

On a walk we found a bride getting her picture taken.

Hannah and I enjoying a stroll.

Not exactly sure what this was--something traditional. A temple? Something honoring Confucius?

The lighthouse lit up at dusk.

Interesting seafood-on-a-stick.

Another great lighthouse picture--I love the lighting in this picture!

Tomorrow I leave again to Beijing for our annual teacher's conference. It will be nice to see more familiar faces and hear about how people from our New York training are adjusting to China.

24=Friday.

rpm

Deutschland hat gewonnen!

2007-09-26T22:51:00.000+08:00

I just got back from the semi-final game of Germany vs. Norway in the Women's World Cup. It was much more exciting today--some excellent soccer was played! The best part was that Germany won 3-0. It could be an interesting final game if the US also win their semi-final match tomorrow.

One of our students got us tickets. We had great seats again on the bottom level, but this time it was front row of the second section up. Aren't our German flag stickers cute?

They announced the attendance was around 54,000. Much better than the 20,000 from Saturday's game. I've read that the stadium holds 60,000.

Riding back in the rain was interesting, but I survived. Only two more days to go until one week of vacation :)

Hooray for great soccer,
rpm

Fall Camp and The World Cup

2007-09-23T19:51:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: September 10th Newsweek (US edition)--thanks Mom and Dad!

Currently listening to: Funnel Cloud, Hem

Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was our Middle School Fall Camp. We loaded all 100+ middle schoolers into charter buses early Wednesday morning and headed off to a resort near Beijing. I haven't done too much chaperoning since becoming an "adult", but after this week, I'm happy to go back to just merely being a teacher. I had a great cabin of 7th and 8th grade girls. It was a Japanese style resort, so we slept on mats on the floor. The facilities were amazing--it was quite easy to forget that we were 20 minutes from the Beijing airport. The middle school students are all split up into 4 different houses (Harry Potter-like). Each house has house colors, a house cheer and a house name. At Fall Camp all of that is revealed for the current school year. My house is called Hot Stuff, our mascot is a fire-breathing dragon, and our color is red. Every Monday, all the middle school students in our house MUST wear red so that we can continue winning the house competition. Fall Camp is the most intensive part of house competition--we had paddle boat races, go kart races, an Oreo challenge, and even a sand castle contest. The excitement for the week was that our house won Fall Camp!

Fall Camp:

I have seen some interesting things while traveling in this great country--I can now add a truck full of pigs to that list.

The students getting ready for our first house competition: A paddle boat relay.

The beautiful lake that the race was held on.

The resort was so gorgeous that couples were getting their wedding pictures taken there.

The trees at this resort were planted in rows equidistant apart from each other that made for the perfect spider web home. These spiders were huge and all over the place.

Our house's winning sand castle. In case you can't tell, it's a dragon protecting a village and a castle.

House 1 wins the most creative name in my book: The Bubonic Rats. This was their awesome rodent of a sand castle.

A point of clarification because a few people have asked me about this: Our school is about 60% Korean, 40% American, Taiwanese, Malay, Singaporean, Dutch, etc. I teach all Korean students because it is an ESL class, but there are Western students in the school. The Koreans tend to be a bit more nervous about having their pictures taken.
I went swimming with some of the middle school girls at camp. The Chinese always wear swimming caps so we had to buy some before we went in the pool. The girls really wanted to go in spite of not having their bathing suits, so we found whatever would work (PJs aren't the best thing to swim in, just FYI)

Another sweet spider picture.

A tree lined street at the camp.

The Women's World Cup is being held in different cities across China, using Olympic venues to practice for the real deal next summer. The quarter final match of England vs. the USA was held right here in my fair city and so I got a ticket for last night's game. I was a little skeptical when I read my ticket and it said Row 1 because I only paid $12 for it. But it was true, I had a front row ticket on the goal line. The US won 3-0 and I saw all 3 goals scored at that very goal. It was amazing! The whole thing was quite surreal--I rode my bike with a friend, met up with some other co-workers at the grocery store where we parked, walked 10 minutes, and was in my seat 15 minutes later.

The brand new stadium was quite nice.

The stadium is huge and will host some of the soccer events next summer.

The opening introductions--the US was white and England was red.

A great view of crowd and the match.

The zoom on my camera isn't the greatest, but the detail is still pretty amazing.

What a nice action shot!

The US celebrating the second goal that was scored.

The moon was just rising as the game was finishing.

The final score board.

The parents section was up and over one section from me, so all the women came over to wave to their parents after it was finished.

September has been a very busy month. I have one week of teaching to go and then next week is China's National holiday when we have our staff retreat and then our annual teacher conference in Beijing. Please be Thinking of the travel that I will be doing and that the upcoming week off of school would be refreshing and renewing.

For His glory,
rpm

Friendly Faces

2007-09-16T21:47:00.000+08:00

2 weeks ago, our friend Keith, from our home fellowship in MI came to visit China! It was fun to see a familiar face for a week. Lots of Catan was played and wonderful goodies were delivered--I now have the new Over the Rhine CD The Trumpet Child--I highly recommend it!
Here's some pictures from his visit:

Keith and the adorable Kennedy girls.

During his visit was Scipmylo--our school's version of field/sports day. FYI-Scipmylo is Olympics spelled backwards. Most of the events were held outside, but there was one indoor event. Here you can see the students making a giant Olympic ring banner with their hand prints.

The teams were made up of kids from every grade. Each team represented a country--my team was Finland. We didn't do so red hot, but it was fun anyway.

Here's a picture from the Closing Ceremony. Each team was either white or blue. The blue team won so now the Elementary School principal has to dress with clothes provided by the Middle School principal.

We took Keith to our local coffee shop for English Corner. At this English Corner, we taught our Chinese friends how to play the card game Spoons.

It was one of the bigger games of Spoons that have ever been played (at least that I've seen!)

On the Saturday of his visit, my roommate Melva, Keith, our local friend Amanda and I went to the Great Wall.

We stopped at a store when I found this flashback from a different era.

Amanda trying on a cute hat.

The four of us at the entrance gate of the wall.

3. Please walk carefully on abrupt slope and dangerous way; Don't run and pushes to pash violently and the laugh and frolic.

If you look carefully in the foothills, you can see part of the wall that is not restored.

The guard house windows frame this picture very nicely.

Another nice view of the rolling mountains.

The beautiful mountains and blue sky! and that famous wall :)

A nice roommate picture of Melva and me.

Keith, Amanda and Melva enjoying the scenery.

Last weekend was an exciting trip to another city in China for a company-wide middle and high school volleyball tournament. I volunteered to help for our school and it was quite the experience. We took an overnight train with about 50 kids to get there on time. The shock of the weekend was seeing that my old school in Wuxi brought a team for the competition. The team consisted of all students that I knew from last year. It was great to see a group of familiar faces. Even some of the coaches of the other teams were people that I had training with this summer in NY. The funny thing of the weekend was that I stepped in to coach the girls' varsity team (just for the tournament!) I played volleyball in high school, but I can't say that I'm an experienced coach. It was an exciting weekend and my team even won the entire thing.

Some great Chinglish at the French grocery store, Carrefour.

So many signs make sense but still are just a bit off.

I don't know about myself, but "have you tried the new life style?"

Saying Plum Candies make me want to say "Hey, So delicious, Let us try it fast."

The most interesting name of candy that I've ever seen.

Next post: I went to the World Cup Quarter final (The US won!) and I survived my first Fall Camp.

Until then,
rpm

Where did August go?

2007-09-02T20:58:00.000+08:00

So I'm not entirely sure where the month of August went. Somehow I've been back in China almost a month already. And school is entering its third week. In the midst of all this, I'm alive and loving it. The transition back has been smooth and the start of school hasn't been too overwhelming or paralyzing. The past week was quite full with Open House and other meetings. Open House went great and it was really nice to meet over half of my students' parents. Below is another picture-filled post about my first month. As I was putting together this post, I realized that it doesn't describe life in my new city very well. That will be another post for a later date--familiar places around town. Also, coming up too quickly is Fall Camp and a volleyball chaperoning/coaching trip to another province :)

But for now, this will have to do. A friendly reminder--you can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Part I: Random pictures from the last month--

The day after I arrived the children of our company had a huge water fight in the park outside our housing. It was a great way to cool off!

The beautiful bouquet of flowers that greeted me in my bedroom when I arrived.

One of my priorities was buying a new bike because I had to leave my old bike at my school in Wuxi. This is the bike market where I got my new set of wheels. Sadly, the one picture of my bike was blurry, so just picture an awesome dark green Japanese bike with a cool black basket.

We did get Sara's green Alice (seriously, that's the name--like the brand-- on the bike) fitted with a kid seat for Hannah.

The middle school hall is on the 4th floor and blue is the theme.

One day, I was coming out of school and saw this beautiful flowering bush on the side of the street. I took this picture because naturally beautiful things are hard to come by usually.

Same thing can be said for sunsets--the way the clouds lit up reminded me of sunsets over the mountains. Sunsets over buildings, sunsets over mountains, eh--one in the same, right? ;)

The sweet Kennedy girls out shopping after fellowship a few weeks ago.

To celebrate our first full week of school being finished, a bunch of us went out to an Inner Mongolian restaurant. They had musicians who were playing a 2-stringed instrument--one even came over and serenaded our table later in the evening.

The middle school girls opened their soccer season by playing our in-town rivals on Thursday. Here are some of players during halftime.

We tied 1-1.

After fellowship today, a bunch of us went out to Pizza Hill, a very good restaurant that even delivers to our neighborhood. Delivery takes on a whole new meaning here in China. This is their fleet of electric bikes that deliver pizza throughout the city.

Part II: A month's worth of awesome Chinglish--

From a sack of rice: "It always is a symbol of the best dessert for your own satisfaction."

The packaging from a pillow: "Anti-extruding" and "non-poisonous"
I sure hope pillows are non-poisonous!

The same pillow also apparently is able to "ventilate,moisture-absorbency" and "take in fresh air"
I want some fresh air also ;)

This is the top of my jewelry box, the middle is complete with a nice little angel picture too, just FYI: "Although wegot off to a rocky strart it/sure is nice to haveyou around" Hmm, not sure what that has to do with angels.

This is the packaging from a set of hangers I bought: "Routable hook and haning bar/Widely used in family/Durable plastic/Transform, damage, collect, and keep the function not easily good:" I couldn't have said it better myself ;)

"The quality of the Lilybell Cotton is very meek." Apparently cotton now has the human characteristic of being meek...What else can be meek? Towels? Shirts?

Paper products (journals, etc.) are one of the best sources for Chinglish. I didn't actually buy this notepad, although it claims that you will "enjoy your/writing with ChangJiang products/fair as a star when only/one is shining in the sky." BTW, Chang Jiang is the name for the Yangtze River--which was also the name of my street in my old city.

Somehow all of my 7th graders have great journals--I'm not sure how this happened, but I was humored: "Because it's where the wind stays"

"Commit to memory that an important matter"

Did you know? "People die when they are given the wrong blood type..."

For some reason, I feel that Disney didn't sign off on this notebook. "Feel the weather very cool last night, oneself return without heat/preservation, deliver message for him to tell him, the side of the/weather will is cool tomorrow, noticing the body to wear some" I'm curious what that was trying to say.

From Pizza Hill this afternoon: "Please take care of gout belongings/This premise is kept from the consumtion or pizza hill produsts"
So close to English, but yet, so far...

Pizza Hill's menu--Do you want to try some "ice sweet red-beans"? I know "your first choose of summer, is cool"
The others are just as funny!

Sara came back with this special, special present this afternoon. "Floral water snake bile" is apparently a body spray that repels insects, among other things. I'm not sure how snake bile helps with insects, but who doesn't want some flower water--too funny!

Another full week is ahead. Inservice tomorrow. Staff meeting Tuesday. A friend from MI arrives on Wednesday. Scipmylo (Olympics backwards=Field Day) Thursday. Great Wall on Saturday.

I'm still trying to figure out how to teach on 40 minute periods and what the language levels of my students are. I continue to Ask for patience and strength in the classroom and in my planning.

In the name of Love,
rpm

My summer (or my favorite things in the US)

2007-08-27T19:33:00.000+08:00

So this post has been a lot time coming. I've finally found an hour to sit down in front of the computer and blog about my life and I'm not even sure where to even start.
Well, I'm back in China and school's started. I'm settled for the most part and things are going great.
Before I talk about my present life, I should at least try to do some justice to my summer. In a nutshell, it was crazy. I got to see so many people and places--it was wonderful. A big thanks to everyone who hosted me this summer. It was so nice to see so many familiar things.

State #1: New York (for training)
My first two weeks were spent in the middle of nowhere New York for training. I wasn't super excited about it at first, but it was really helpful. I was able to take time to process what happened last year and to get excited for my new school this year. There were some amazing people at this training who are going all over the world.

It's been a while since I've been Amish country, so I have to fess up to my excitement about the buggy signs.

This cute baby now lives in China and we celebrated his first birthday during our training.

The beautiful state park not too far from the campus we were on. There is a visible rainbow if you look closely.

The same state park does hot air balloon launches.

Some very red berries on campus (I love the lighting on the berries--I want to frame this picture to hang up in my room in my new apartment)

Somewhere in the world there actually does exist an honest to goodness 'hole in the wall' restaurant.

We all now live in 6 different cities in China!

The kids had 'school' while we had class and these were some of their art projects.

This is my mentor who also lives in Asia.

State #2: Michigan via Canada (visiting friends)

I always went to the Farmer's Market on Saturdays when I was in college. It was so fun to go back!

The same vendors are still there.

The Fish Ladder Park was always a fun place to walk to in the city of Grand Rapids.

My dad visited for a long weekend and we made a day trip out to Holland. Tunnel Park is one of my favorite places in the world!

An old roommate lives in Petoskey and this was a picture I took in their city cemetery.

On a whim, I decided to drive to the Upper Peninsula--just because I could. It was fun to see the Mackinac Bridge; I hadn't been there since I was 10 or something.

Another dear friend from school lives near Sleeping Bear, so I got to visit the dunes.

Lake Michigan was sending a storm over to land.

State #3: Illinois (visiting friends and getting my new visa)

Another fav pic from under the L in Chicago.

The crazy water play place in Millennium Park.

The Bean sculpture which makes...

...this from the inside--seriously, how cool is that?!?

The end of the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River.

Watching the sun set over the city and the lake.

I just had to visit Chicago's Chinatown to see how different it is from this Chinatown that I currently reside in.

I think I was at the beach every day I was in Chicago--it was so nice to soak in the water, sand and wonderful friends.

State #4: Colorado (visiting family and being a maid of honor)

My brother and I in the mountains after eating yummy pizza.

Flowers in a friend's garden (another one I want framed)

My high school social studies teacher who's more of a friend now--check out her rose garden behind us!

My adorable grandmother who is 92 and calls me every Saturday :)

I forgot how much I love the mountains. I took this picture when I was at the airport getting my brother.

So the event of the summer in our family was my sister's wedding. She got married outside in the mountains. The next however many pictures are from that...just giving fair warning!

The chapel was aptly named Columbine Point. Columbine is our state flower and is pictured here with the empty chapel and mountains in the background.

The morning of the wedding we had a brunch for just the women. My mom got us matching sweaters and here we are sporting them :)

Getting ready was quite the ordeal. Here's all our dresses lined up while we were still working on hair and makeup.

My sister with her flower girls. They were only 6 months old when she started babysitting for them!

Her bridal pictures were taken outside by this old farm at the camp. Here's another one of my artsy pictures by the rusted farm equipment.

Her bridal party smiling pretty for all the pictures.

She looked so beautiful! The flowers matched the setting so well.

My parents and I all dressed up.

Waiting for her to walk down the aisle.

The entire wedding party.

The reception was such a blast. The whole thing went by so quickly.

The bride and her maid of honor, me!

So that was the not-so-brief version of my summer, but I hope it makes up for the lack of posting since mid-June.

A few things to Think about:

The middle school and high school have Open House tomorrow night. I will need an extra dose of His stamina to make it through the long night. I'm excited to meet my students' parents. I really hope that everything goes well.
Please remember the team that is working in my old city. They still don't have the curriculum they ordered. I empathize with their situation and I can't wait to see them at our conference in October.
The next few weeks are packed with meetings, a visitor from the States, our school's version of Field Day (more on that later), and more, so I need to make sure that I am balancing my time wisely. I am enjoying being in the school and I hope to continue building our classroom community in the weeks to come.

In His service,
rpm

The Best Signs and Pictures from Around Asia

2007-05-18T22:01:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: China: Regional Studies Series

Currently listening to: Why Should The Fire Die?, Nickel Creek

Today I present you the funniest pictures my friends and I have taken in the last few months. These are all real photographs, I couldn't make these up if I tried. As always, click on the picture to enlarge. Normally this blog is rated G, but this post earns a PG-13 warning --just a heads up!

Found Abroad in Asia:

Malaysia: On our bus trip to Singapore, we stopped at a rest stop. In the stall was this picture, giving us proper direction on how to use the toilet. Since many Asians are used to squatting, they sometimes try squatting on Western-style toilets. So this picture is trying in encourage normal use of the toilet (left image), rather than squatting over the toilet (right image).

Singapore: "Protected Place: No Admittance to Unauthorized Persons" or else you'll be held at gunpoint, like the graphic.

Entering Singapore: We were amused by the customs forms upon entering lovely Singapore--"Warning Death for Drug Traffickers Under Singapore Law." Apparently, Singapore's not a good place to smuggle drugs to, just FYI :)

Sentosa Island, Singapore: "Do Not Lean Over" I'm not sure what's more funny--the posted escalator hours or the graphic for not leaning over. Wouldn't you know if the escalator wasn't operating if it wasn't running?!? Just in case you need to plan when to use the escalator...

At a food court in Singapore: Don't you want to eat "pig's organ" too?

Malaysia: "Caution There May Occasionally Be Jellyfish in the Sea" What? Only occasionally?!? Aren't there always jellyfish in the sea? Where else would they live?

In Malaysia, outside of a travel agency: "We provide Outbound Tour Services to: Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Exotic Countries, China and etc." The working assumption: China is not an exotic country. Ahem, I beg to differ...

In and Around Eastern China:

At one of the temples in downtown Wuxi: (note the fire extinguishers)

Of course, it's the "key location of fire safety"

In Shanghai: "Sex Health Protecion Monopoly" Not quite what you'd think it is...it was just a lingerie store. I'm not sure how those two equate though.

At an outdoor venue in Shanghai: "Set Up a Central Stage for the Special Olympics Movement, and Build a Warm Family for Intellectually Challenged People //Special Olympics--A Stage to Show the Loving Heart" They have a loving heart but are very politically incorrect!

In the Ancient Town in Shanghai: This wins the prize for best graphic. Watch out, the rocks are coming straight for your head!

Back in Wuxi: "Engage in building up an everlasting classic new port" --I maintain that the signs around construction sites have the best English signs.

Same place: "The Spacious Panorama Constitutes Freedom." This begs the question--Does the cluttered panorama constitute restriction?

Again: "The best house presents you the more elegant lifestyle." I wish!

Still same construction site: "Wealth rerlizes Dream" What else does wealth rerlize?

The Great Wall (Thanks to Lindsey for the pictures):

"Appreciate lovely view of the Great Wall, do not forget the fire is heartless" Hmm, I didn't know fires had hearts--Unlike most of the other signs, I truly don't understand what they are trying to communicate.

"Be civilized visitor, set up the ecosystem scenery together" or AKA "Protect the environment"

You know you want to visit a four-star toilet! Again, it begs the question--Are there four-star roads? Four-star trees? Four-star trashcans?

Don't forget to "wash your hands to fight bird flu"!

Recently found on an undisclosed person: "Orgasm, orgasm, orgasm, orgasm"

Tiger Hill in Suzhou (Thanks to Megan for the pictures):

"Protection of Virescene Relies on Each of Us as We Coexist under the Same Blue Sky" Hmm, can you offer a better translation?

"Only in The Sun of Civilization Can Trees Maintain Evergreen" How does the sun of civilization help maintain evergreen trees?

"Give the Grass a Little Love, the Grass will Reward You an Extension of Green" Is an extension of green really a reward?

Yikes--Did you know "Your Health Rests with Your Civilized Behavior"? Maybe I've been sick because my behavior hasn't been civilized...there's the missing link!

The pièce de résistance, or the whole reason why I wrote this post: This gem was found at our hair salon. I think you could make the case that it would be easier to randomly pick words out of a dictionary and they would make more sense then this supposed English.

"Extrude the fit to measure the avoid to wash the be partial to hair the vegetable even smear over on the wet hair or f*** the hair,then Point the stomach to lightly massage the dry part of caustic of suffering of hair, and not need to wash the water."

What can you say to that?!?

Peace,

rpm

Katherine's Wedding

2007-05-15T18:11:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: Paste Magazine, March 2007

Currently listening to: Hail to the Thief, Radiohead

On Saturday, I went to the wedding for our 8th grade Chinese teacher. She already had the civil ceremony and huge wedding celebration in her hometown, so it was actually more like a wedding reception. It was a smaller gathering than the wedding I went to in the fall--it was strange knowing at least a quarter of all the people there (all school people). Of course, it was quite the event, complete with new and exciting food.

On a similar note (food), we made tacos last night. I still hadn't used my taco seasoning I brought with me from Michigan--it even had the Meijer label on it. Beth brought back corn tortillas from the States at Christmas. It's very strange to me that it's possible to forget the food you love. I used to eat cheese quesadillas all the time in college and they had to be on corn tortillas, not flour. It was a taste of heaven (as far as that comparison goes in the food category)! To make this pathetic story even better, Lindsey made salsa and we finished the chips that my sister brought at Easter. Fresh salsa, tacos, quesadillas--oh my goodness, it was amazing!

Pictures from the wedding:

This was a new food: Pig's stomach!

The foreign teachers with the happy couple.

The feast that was our lunch.

My Chinese TA and I.

Daniel and the 12th grade Chinese TA.

The American teachers.

Modeling my new dress I bought last week in Beijing.

Coming soon...The best English signs we've found in China. You can bet it will be good!

rpm

May Holiday

2007-05-13T19:28:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: Newsweek, April 16/April 23

Currently listening to: Hello, Dear Wind, Page France

The first week of May was one of the three "Golden Weeks" in China. Designed to promote to tourism, May holiday, along with Spring Festival and October holiday, are the time of year when most Chinese travel around the country. We had the entire week off from school so I went north to visit my friends. Most of the foreign teachers from our school were picking up family in Beijing, so we all took an overnight train to Beijing together. It was quite the luxury--a nice contrast from our train in Thailand. Apparently, I just don't have the ability to sleep on trains though. It was quick trip; we left at 8 at night and got in to Beijing around 7 in the morning. I met my friend from Switzerland (she studies Chinese here in Wuxi) at her hostel (her parents had been visiting her and they were traveling around the country). We went shopping and just hung around the city. After the day together, I went over to see the Kennedys in their city. If everything works out, I'll be moving there in August. It was nice to see the school again and to imagine myself there in the fall. It was a relaxing, low-key week. They blogged about the holiday week here. Now, I'm back in Wuxi and with another week down, we only have a month and two days left of school. It is really possible that I've almost survived my first year of teaching? Teaching overseas nonetheless...craziness. Here's the week in review:

The luxury that was our overnight train--complete with a fake rose and the Chinese countryside in the background.

Karri, Megan and Lindsey (closest) in the hall outside of our compartment on the train.

At the market in Beijing--"Handicraft Embroidery Depend The Mat Bed Cover An Ensign Set Cloth." They're advertising that they sell traditional Chinese pillowcases, etc.--in case you didn't understand :)

Betcha can't buy cotton candy from a guy on his bike in the States. (Again, see the Kennedys blog for more pics and info on our May Day outing adventure)

Beautiful balloons for sell--Note the balloon with the Olympic mascots on it, only one more year :)

The boys goofing off.

The girls goofing off.

The view to the outside from a little cave--beautiful, huh?

I was so excited to see tulips in China! They reminded me of my mom's tulips in our front yard and also of the amazing planters at the Calvin chapel--sigh. It wasn't quite the same, but I was thankful to see them still.

Another reminder of Dutch West Michigan--not sure what these clogs are doing there, but I've learned to stop asking silly questions like that.

Because of the holiday, the park had a bunch of public displays. These kids couldn't have been older than high school and they all played the drums amazingly.

The water was teaming with fish.

Another picture to make you wonder--Would you buy a car from the "Faw Camel Company"?

The Grand Finale to the Ultraman/Batman tightrope show over the water--complete with water fountains.

A man selling animals made from grass on Ancient Culture Street. Do you see the grasshopper on the left and the butterfly in the middle? Completely made from grass!

Hannah playing dress-up with my winter clothes.

A little background before I explain: The two main Western fast food restaurants in China are McDonalds and KFC. Both are very concerned for their customers safety and will provide a chain connected to the bottom of the table with a hook to secure your bags to.

Now for this amazing sign--"A tender remind from the police: please use the crook under the table to ensure the safety of your belongs." Wait a minute--I'm supposed to give the crook under my table my belongings ? I thought the idea was to prevent thievery :)

Well, Happy Mother's Day!

Peace,
rpm

Spring Trip

2007-05-13T17:19:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: The Quest, by Eugene Peterson.

Currently listening to: Films For Radio, by Over the Rhine.

Last month we had a spring trip for the entire school. We went to the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology. All the parents were invited so we took three charter buses. Since I teach science, I was very excited to see what they had in terms of interactive science exhibits. I was not disappointed. The museum was right on par with what I would expect in the States. Highlights included a rain forest, a human body exhibit, a spider room, and a space floor.

A 7th grader and a 6th grader on the bridge in the rain forest.

A ceiling full of giant butterflies.

Two of my ESL students and me.

"Please don't surmount" and climb into the exhibit!

A cool 3-D molecule.

My Chinese TA and the 8th Chinese teacher and me.

A sweet picture of a huge fish tank.

Apparently I'm growing up...At the museum, in a glass case, was an Apple green screen computer. I remember playing Oregon Trail and Number Munchers on those computers in elementary school. And now it's in a museum. My, how times have changed!

A robot playing the piano.

Don't forget to "caution the step."

Making up for lost time (as always!) so more posts are coming...

rpm

Hong Kong

2007-04-14T22:34:00.000+08:00

Currently Reading: Living Abroad in China by Stuart and Barbara Strother (Thanks Joy!)

Currently Listening to: Neon Bible by Arcade Fire (Thank you wonderful Hong Kong!)

So, I have been lost in cyberspace for the last few months. My apologies. Of course, I have a handful of valid excuses:

Blogger has been inaccessible recently.
The weather is wonderful now, which calls for long bike rides exploring the city (including my first minor bike accident!)
Too much to get caught up on. I've made peace with myself that the last few months will go unblogged, but I resolve for remaining two months to be better!

Quick updates: Midterms are next week to be followed by a school trip to Shanghai. Then we have a week-long holiday for May Day. School finishes June 15. What a quick year!

Things to Think about: My family! My great-uncle died in February and then my grandfather just died last week. Those stresses added to both my parents beginning new jobs has made for an eventful spring.

Hong Kong: The entire season of Lent was spent anticipating my sister's visit. She flew into Shanghai two weekends ago for her spring break from college. We did Shanghai in a day, including going up the JinMao Tower, then shopping in the Old Town, and ending with a nice stroll on the Bund. Minus the rain, it was a wonderful weekend. We came back to Wuxi for the week since I still had to work. She went with me to school, helped me decorate my room and even cleaned my apartment for me (after I accidentally locked her IN the apartment...oops, don't ask!) Joy was such a trooper--she braved the streets on a bike and even made it through her first Chinese banquet successfully. On Good Friday, we ventured to south China by airplane in order to cross the border to Hong Kong by foot. We visited my friend from Calvin, who very skillfully played the role of tour guide all weekend.

We arrived late Friday and made the best of Saturday that we could. We started off by visiting a Buddhist monastery on a hill that had some amazing ornamentation. From there, we took a quick visit to Ikea, a book store and a music shop--my soul food in so many flavors. Throw in a little Italian food and I was all set to come back to China. From there, we visited some markets and then we took a ferry across the famous Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island. The skyscrapers were so tall and there were so many of them! We took the trolley up the mountain to look down on the city--it was a great view from the top. My day was made complete by eating Mexican food for dinner. It was a packed day, but I can say that I've been and, more importantly, actually seen Hong Kong. Easter Sunday was filled with a nice English fellowship, traditional Cantonese dim sum, and a flight back to the Mainland. It was certainly a memorable Easter weekend!

As seen on the tray table in front of us: "Derby the world in my finger"--do I even want to know what they were trying to say?

My sister, Joy, in the airport of "City of Joy": Shenzhen.

"No striding" the banisters, please.

The view from my friend's apartment.

"Stop Feeding Wild Monkeys!" What an awesome poster :)

The Monastery with the Hall of 10,000 Buddhas.

One of the outdoor statues at the monastery.

Could his eyebrows BE any longer?

A statue with 1,000 hands.

I finally made it to Ikea! Joy and I bought matching cheese graters that are both really fun and funky.

Did you know that "spitting spreads germs"?

The quintessential photo of the streets of Hong Kong.

Riding a double decker bus--the view from the top deck.

Victoria Harbor by day.

Tim and me on the ferry crossing the harbor.

Tim and me sporting our Calvin gear at the top (we're hoping to get in our alumni magazine!)

The amazing skyline that is Hong Kong.

The Meyer girls together again after one year.

The skyline at night--so cool!

"Escalator [it was more of a people mover] users wearing sandals/Please beware of the edges of the steps and mind your toes." I don't think I want to know what kind of accident prompted that sign.

Looking back at Hong Kong Island from the ferry at night.

The airlines provided some of the best English on this trip: "Hygiene wet turban needless wash"are more commonly known as wet wipes.

Well, that's all I have for now...
'Night

rpm

Koh Phi Phi Viewpoint

2007-03-03T21:43:00.000+08:00

*Edit-This was a draft for the last many months that I never got around to, so I finally decided to post these pictures from my vacation to Thailand even though no one will likely read this. Sept. 2007*

Here are some cool pictures from the viewpoint at Koh Phi Phi.

Looking down on the town.

The beautiful clear water.

Soaking in the sun :)

Enjoying the His wonderful Creation.

My mom calls this a National Geographic picture.

There were so many boats out investigating the harbor.

The damage from the tsunami is still quite visible--there are no palm trees in the village.

Thailand is almost all Buddhist--this is a spirit house.

New tsunami signs warning people to get to higher ground.

Construction to rebuild the village to its originally state continues years later.

Some of the bigger resorts were completely destroyed and will take longer to rebuild.

Koh Phi Phi Arrival

2007-03-03T20:57:00.000+08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned that our arrival on Koh Phi Phi was eventful, now let me elaborate.
We arrived to the island by ferry. As we came into port, we saw an alarming event unfolding on land--the island was on fire! We learned later that the largest bar on the island had caught fire and it quickly spread to the neighboring bungalows. Thankfully, we were staying on the opposite side of the island, but it was quite the first impression!
Koh Phi Phi has no roads; the island can only be covered on foot, or by bike in town. To get from one point to another, we hired longtail boats. The boats are able to travel in shallow water and have engines mounted high enough so as to not damage the coral reef.
Our resort was beachfront and it was truly a tropical paradise. The bungalow was probably only 50 feet from the water--it was incredible to fall asleep at night listening to the waves. Playing beach volleyball, eating amazing Thai food, and simply relaxing consumed my four days there.

Relaxing (AKA getting burned) and awaiting our arrival to the island.

A slightly tattered Thai flag proudly flying over a jasmine garland.

Fire in the hole!

The dock with all the tourists gawking at the fire.

All of the longtail boats lined up in town (notice the pole and attached rudder at the end of the boat--hence the name longtail).

Getting ready for our first longtail trip.

Our driver fearlessly piloting us to our resort.

Our bungalow was named The Lion King, or, as Daniel nicknamed it, Simba's Pride. To get the grand tour of the bungalow, click here to see a video.

My bed, complete with protective mosquito netting!

The minimalist bathroom (absent is a sink, mirror, and toilet paper).

One view from the bungalow porch.

Looking another direction from the porch.

The crystal clear water and beautiful, open horizon of the ocean.

I know I'm getting a bit behind, but I just can't resist writing thorough, if late, posts on these events. Maybe someday I'll get us back to China and then I can give a full report on what's new here! :)

rpm

The 3rd Overnight Train of My Life...

2007-03-03T19:10:00.000+08:00

..and the 3rd overnight train too many. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of overnight trains. The whole argument that it saves money on lodging (since the train has a bed) is bogus in my mind. Train beds should not be qualified as real beds ever. If I cannot turn over in bed without falling off, it's not a true bed.

Perhaps I should back up. Rewind to September of 1997. I'm 12, going on 13 (picture middle school awkwardness, with permed bangs and everything! Oh yeah, it was bad). I was on my way to northern Russia (like above the Arctic Circle, near Finland) as an exchange student. I was traveling with a group from my school and had a 26 hour train ride from St. Petersburg to the town where we would be staying for three weeks. I'm not sure what we did for that long on the train, as this is before iPods and DVD players--I think I remember having to do some science homework, but that couldn't have taken the whole time. Anyway, the climax of that trip was receiving lice from the bedding, which I didn't discover until about a month later, due to said perm. It was a great trip overall, but the train part was definitely not a highlight.

Fast forward to January of 2004. I had just spent the month in Germany with my college and we had a few free days at the end of the trip. I went to visit my friends from camp who were from Prague. The trip would have been a lot quicker if I left from Berlin, but we ended our group travel down south in Bavaria. So I had to travel across most of central Europe in order to meet up with them in Prague. That overnight trip was characterized by a very loud snorer and some shouting border patrol demanding passports at like 4 AM. Again, a wonderful, but cold trip, where the overnight train was underwhelming.

Now the present--February 9--but on another continent--Asia. We managed to score front-row seats on the flight and we landed in Bangkok with an hour and a half to get to the train station. The flight attendant told us to expect it to possibly take that long with traffic, so again we found ourselves holding our breath, hoping that everything would go okay. It actually only took maybe 40 minutes, so we had time to grab some dinner at the train station. Dessert was probably the most exciting thing, as there was both Dunkin' Donuts AND Dairy Queen. I had my first blizzard in months and I bought a donut for breakfast. When we got on the train, we discovered that our tickets were second class, which meant no AC. Now, Thailand is pretty close to the Equator and no AC=one stuffy night. Thankfully, the windows were wide open and the ceiling fans were blowing, but it was still a bit warm. It was really fun to ride through the suburbs of Bangkok, the city just seemed to go on and on. Around 9, they came around and made up our beds. We all had top bunks, which was fine, but we either could close the curtain and block the fan and keep the light out OR we could have the curtain open and feel the fan but let the light in. I chose to feel the fan and suffer looking at the light; I can't say that I actually feel asleep, but such is life. It was an interesting experience, especially with an elevated squatty for a toilet (if you thought a squatty potty was fun, try one on a train!) Anyway, we got off at around 6 AM, only to hire a van to drive us to the coast, where we later caught our ferry.

The ferry ride was wonderful; it was warm and sunny and we decided to sit out on the deck. Remember how I said that Thailand is close to the Equator, well, we forgot what that meant in terms of how powerful the sun is. There's nothing like arriving to your tropical designation already sunburned--definitely not the smartest thing I've done in my life!

Here's some pictures:

Lindsey, me, and Megan right next to the emergency exit on our way to Bangkok.

Pulling out of the station in Bangkok.

Karri, me in the background, and Jamie getting settled for our 11 hour trip. (Notice the free space above our heads, that's where our beds were hours later.)

The man who came around to make our beds, the metal near his back is the steps/luggage storage for the top bunk (also notice the huge fan to circulate air at the top).

My bed!

The peaceful Thai landscape.

The foggy Thai landscape.

The blurry (think: artsy photo) Thai landscape.

Each person in our group took their picture outside of the train.

It was quite the (dangerous) process.

We got off at Surat Thani and hired a van to take us to the coast.

Loading the ferry.

Soaking up the rays on the ferry to Koh Phi Phi (me, Megan and Jamie).

The next installment: Our eventful arrival on Koh Phi Phi.

Peace,
rpm

Brought to You by the Number 50

2007-03-03T19:06:00.000+08:00

This is my 50th post and to celebrate this milestone, I'm going to interrupt this normal programming about the trip with some relevant data.

In the two weeks we were gone, we had:

A Grand Total 54 Different Rides on 16 Different Types of Transportation!

15 were by taxi
7 were on longtail boats
6 were in mini-vans
4 were by plane
3 were by truck taxi, ferry and bus
2 were by cable car, city bus, MRT (subway), motorbike and car ferry
and we had one trip each by car, train, van taxi, and elephant!

And now, the promised train pictures--

rpm

Macao

2007-02-24T15:18:00.000+08:00

The next morning, we took taxis to the dock where our ferry was. When we went to check in, there was a sign saying that our ferry had been cancelled. We were quite worried, since this was the leg of the journey where there was little room left for error. Oddly enough, we were able to still print off the tickets electronically from the machine, so we didn't know what was right. Then a man came over and told us that they had known for a month that our ferry wasn't going to run that day, but somehow the online system still allowed us to buy the tickets like two weeks prior to the trip. This was time number one of many when it paid off to be travelling in a group. He refunded our money in Hong Kong dollars and arranged for us to go with another ferry service on the other side of Shenzhen. The one catch was that our original ferry got us to Macao with about 3 hours before check-in; the new one gave us less than an hour of leeway. But with no other opinion, they piled us and all of our stuff into a minivan and we drove across town. The man that handled our situation even came with us, which he totally didn't even need to do. We got a nice scenic tour of Shenzhen and arrived at the new ferry a half hour later. The same man helped us get our new tickets and exchange the leftover money (the new ferry was cheaper) and then he disappeared. It was nice to be taken care of--good customer service can be hard to come by sometimes in China. The ferry ride was uneventful, other than that it got us to Macao significantly later than we expected. By the time we got on land and through customs, we had less than 15 minutes to catch a taxi and get to the airport. For the first time ever in China, I actually told a taxi driver to go fast (Macao used to be a Portuguese territory, like how Hong Kong used to be a British territory, but now both are Special Administrative Regions of China). Somehow, we made it and were able to get checked in ok. We flew one of the Asian equivalents of Southwest Airlines, (Thai) Air Asia and we actually got to the gate with enough time to stand in the long line, since everyone crowded the gate, wanting to be on first, because there were no assigned seats. From there, our journey took us to Thailand.

Jamie and I standing in front of our ferry.

The ferry wasn't so exciting, it almost felt like an airplane, but just on the water. Certainly the seating was like an airplane--no leg room whatsoever!

Waiting to get the next stamp on my passport, with the port of Macao in the background.

Somehow in midst of the craziness of hailing a taxi, I had time to take a few pictures in Macao--yes, those are fish hanging out in front of the restaurant.

Thailand, here we come!

Looking back at the airport from the airplane.

Next up, our interesting train ride...

rpm

Shenzhen

2007-02-24T14:13:00.000+08:00

The next few posts will be about my recent trip to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore for the Spring Festival (AKA Chinese New Year) holiday. There were six of us who went on the trip (Jamie, Daniel, Karri, Lindsey, Megan and I) and we all teach together. We left after school two Fridays ago, on the 9th. The general feeling was one of disbelief that we were leaving for a warm tropical paradise. I don't think I was able to comprehend that it was vacation until about day 4. Even as I was packing, I wasn't necessarily excited, mostly because I couldn't really understand what was ahead. When I left at Christmas and Thanksgiving, I was excited because I was going to see my friends, but this time I had so many loose ends to tie up (report cards, general end of the semester craziness, classroom cleaning, etc.) that I scarcely gave it much thought until we were waiting in the airport. It was still really cold when we left, but I didn't want to take my winter coat with me, so I just sucked it up for a few hours and froze for a bit.

I was rewarded when I stepped off the plane in Shenzhen (southern China) and even though it was 9 in the evening, it was warm and humid. After waiting for an imaginary hotel shuttle, we got in the taxi queue and arrived at our cheap hotel. (It had an hourly rate, which I must say in the first hotel that I've ever stayed in like that, but it wasn't as shady as it sounds, I promise!) Upon checking in, we realized that we all left our Chinese phrasebooks at home. The line of thinking was that we would only be in China for a night layover coming and going, so why bother taking it. Well, we should have bothered because they didn't speak any English and it would have been slightly helpful, but we managed without, so it was ok. After we got settled and checked out the comfy beds and put the AC on (not the heat, like Wuxi!), we took off to explore the surrounding neighborhood. Here's what we found:

A nice night market with yummy mandarin oranges.

A vendor selling decorations for the New Year.

Decorations for the front door of an apartment.

Every type of nut imaginable.

I feel like all these pictures are quintessential China--this was from the window of the hotel looking across to the neighbor's laundry.

Hmm, I'm not exactly sure how the land can slip...(These were in the bathroom of our hotel, I think they were trying to say be careful on the floor when it gets wet from the shower.)

"When the fire occurs run away to,Must use the wet towel clothes/the cloth class and so on to cover up the mouth nose, bends the waist/lowers the head the advance by creeping./Leaves the scene of a fire through the security staircase,."

And with that, we left mainland China for Macao.

rpm

Wo Jiao Bai Lan

2007-02-23T20:12:00.000+08:00

Currently listening: Sufjan Stevens, Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State

Currently reading: The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality, and Foreign Language Learning by David I. Smith and Barbara Carvill

Ni Hao! Wo jiao Bai Lan. Wo zhu zai Wuxi.
(Hello! My name is Bai Lan. I live in Wuxi.)

Those are a few of the small sentences that I can say now in Chinese. Nothing too exciting, other than the fact that I have a Chinese name. I've always had a Chinese name though, so let me explain.

I've always had a Chinese name in the sense that my English name is transliterated into Chinese characters. Someone at the school did that last summer and that's what they use for official paperwork and everything. I've been apprehensive to use it, mostly because it's not really a Chinese Chinese name.

That all changed a few weeks ago when I was out with some local friends. We were sitting around the table and one of the guys asked me to give him an English name. [Background: Most English-speaking Chinese have an English name. Some use it like a business name with other Chinese; some use it just for the ease of us foreigners.] I told my friend that I'd love to give him an English name, but the catch was that he had to give me a Chinese name. He is a friend that has recently been starting to come to our fellowship, so I thought about all the nice historical Book names that I could. Giving someone a name is hard! I started with my brother's name (Drew, which I made longer to Andrew), and when he didn't like that, I think I said David (which is my dad's name). Same response. Finally, I offered up Daniel, since I have two friends in China with that name and that was successful. So half of our deal was complete. He is now Daniel. What would he name me?

We rode across town in a taxi and he and my other friend were talking the whole time (in Chinese, naturally), discussing the matter. By the time we got out at our other friend's house, they had decided on Bai Lan. Literally, it means blue and white. It is an expensive flower that apparently smells really nice. All our friends were impressed by the name; they said that Chinese women love names from flowers, so it was a good choice. The exciting thing is that I know how to write it and I even know that it's only one stroke off from the character for sheep. So, now, 6 months into this adventure, I have a Chinese Chinese name and a great story to go with it!

This is the Bai Lan flower--maybe one day I'll get to see it in person.

So the day before our last day for the semester, we had another infamous celebration dinner. We had one the first day we arrived and also one for Teacher's Day/National Holiday and now this one. It was with the whole staff this time, instead of just the teachers, so it was nice to have everyone together. There was even a little raffle!

The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese tradition. While it was sad that we weren't here for it, getting to travel to other parts of Asia was definitely worth it. This year is the zodiac of the pig, which is my year, so it's extra special for me to be here this year! I would write more about the Chinese New Year, but the Kennedys wrote an awesome blog a few weeks ago with more information than I could give. Click here to read.

This sign greets our students in the school lobby.

The bridge near school that was torn down only to be rebuilt again. I'll be curious to see if they made any progress on it over the holiday.

One of the tables of teachers smiling at dinner.

This is one of the Chinese teachers at our school, who also happens to be my student. When we created the ESL class a few months ago, she started coming every day to my class on her free hour. She's one of my best students and brings my class to an even 6 when she's there (it makes partner work so much easier!) She's also quite patient with my slow Chinese learning and we often have conversations in very broken speech--the whole situation has been a wonderful surprise. Gd always knows just what I need!

The rest of the Chinese staff (the smiley security guard on the left and the music teacher on the right).

Bill, Tena, the IT guy, our principal and the school accountant all toasting to good fortune, wealth and happiness in the New Year.

Wishing you the best in this Year of the Pig!

More to come on Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore tomorrow. Until then,

Goodnight from my home sweet home--

rpm

Thailand!

2007-02-16T11:58:00.000+08:00

We have arrived safely in Thailand. We've had every form of imaginable transportation so far (airplane, ferry, longtail boat, train, taxi, truck, and tomorrow--elephant!). It is unbelievably beautiful here, truly a tropical island paradise. The islands we are on were struck by the tsunami two years and are in the midst of rebuilding.

A few points for thought:

For our continued travel safety--we go to Malaysia on Monday and Singapore on Wednesday
For our health--we were all sick with a bug yesterday and are still trying to recover
For my family--my great uncle died last week, so there are many things for my parents to sort out as a result

Guo nian hao--Happy Year of the Pig

rpm

Super Bowl Monday

2007-02-07T23:35:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: U2, Pop

Currently reading: Eugene Peterson's The Message

Because of the time difference, we didn't have Super Bowl Sunday; rather it was Super Bowl Monday here in China.

Before I discuss my opinion about the most watched football game ever, I want to give a rather sad piece of news. Chicken number two is dead. Yes, tragically my neighbor's second rooster was not able to find out why he crossed the road. But I found him. Not where you would think, though. Not in a soup or with a sauce. Take a look...(click to enlarge)

I found him hanging on the line. To dry.

(Random tangent--A few days ago, before Rooster 2 died, I was out taking a video of him. The owner came up and was very kind. He tried to help me in my endeavor of getting the animal to cock-a-doodle-do for me. So yesterday, I was out waiting for the girls and the same neighbor came up and told me that he killed the rooster. At least I think that's what he was telling me; my Chinese is still pretty nonexistent. But needless to say, he was pretty proud of himself--I would be too if I were him.)

But fast forward to Monday. I've mentioned before that we have rolling blackouts every few months. This week was exam week. We were supposed to have exams on Monday and Tuesday with no school on Wednesday and Thursday so the teachers could grade and do report cards. Key words: Supposed to. The blackout for this month was Monday. So the school decided to cancel the exams and give everyone another day to study. I couldn't complain--it just pushed everything back a day, but we got a three-day weekend out of it. Hooray! And what better timing than Super Bowl Sunday/Monday.

So 5 of my teammates and I got up at 7 on Monday (when we could have been sleeping in--dedication huh? :) and headed to an Australian bar. Kickoff was at 7.30; I can't really say that I've ever been to a bar much earlier than like 10 at night. Thankfully no one was drinking that early! The disappointment for the day was that it wasn't CBS, but rather ESPN Asia, which meant no awesome commercials. Which we all know is why most people watch, but oh well, at least we were watching football. I couldn't really complain.

It was wonderful, even though the Bears lost. Megan and I went to go get some breakfast at halftime and I had the weirdest experience--we walked out of the bar and it seemed strange, surreal almost, that we were watching NFL action in China. Talk about the collision of two worlds; it left my head spinning. But thankfully, it rarely happens to that degree.

Here's the evidence:

Can you name these Aussie Muscle Cars?

Our wonderful hosts, Ronnie's Australian Bar.

The "wallpaper" at the bar.

Proof that we really saw the game.

Crazy Americans!?! Don't you have something better to be doing on a Monday morning?

Nope we really don't!

rpm

"It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"

2007-01-30T17:13:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Garrison Starr, The Sound of You and Me

Currently reading: Lonely Planet, Southeast Asia on a Shoestring (Countdown to Thailand...11 days!)

I've recently struggled to remember to take pictures of what's going on here. I think I mentioned it before, but life here is just becoming more and more normal, which is a good thing, but it makes it more difficult to document. So I forced myself to take a bunch of pictures yesterday in an effort to make this post. The theme for today will take the form of a question: What changed in Wuxi when I was gone for Christmas? Answer: EVERYTHING!!

I think everyone is familiar with the breakneck pace of things here in China, but sometimes the reality is truly overwhelming. Let me give a tour of my neighborhood while pointing out some of the recent changes.

Updates:
It is only fitting to update my loyal readers of things from previous posts.

My neighbors bought another chicken and it's huge (this picture doesn't really do it justice). It's been around for a few weeks now so it's only a matter of time before it becomes dinner.

They are making huge progress on the apartments around the corner.

It's hard to believe that people were living in houses that are no longer standing on this land when we first arrived.

This is a picture from my porch looking down on the construction site (it's huge!). The white and red, and white and blue buildings in the middle are the temporary housing for the construction workers. I think the red housing is new within the past few weeks.

Our precious Orange Restaurant...there is notable progress and it has the potential to look quite cute. I think it will be upgraded from "hole-in-the-wall" to "award winning" because of the remodel (that may be a bit generous...who knows). We're holding out for after (maybe before...again, who knows) Chinese New Year for the Grand Opening.

The Bank of China next door that it to blame for this whole remodel craziness. It does look very nice inside now.

Tour of the Neighborhood (AKA What HASN'T Changed?)
My picture safari led me to try to capture everything that has been installed, constructed, lit, and deconstructed within walking distance of my apartment.

The new trashcans in front of the school..."Protect CircumStance Begin With me"

The apartments around the corner from the school--they used to have green protective netting up all over the outside.

The construction project just across the street from the school. I'm not quite sure what exactly it will be, but there is a serious foundation in place.

These kinds of vehicles are so funny. I'm not sure what their purpose is and where they are going, but they sure look dangerous (Note: The engine is completely exposed and very loud).

This bridge did not EXIST when we came 6 months ago. We have watched it through the various stages of construction.

Same bridge, just a different view...It's not in use yet, but I'm sure it won't take long for that to change. A similarly placed bridge on a parallel road closer to school got completely torn down in the time I was gone for Christmas. Speculation has it that it was torn down to get built again because it's quicker to do that here!

Brief Interlude: My Apartment
I have received many kind notes and wonderful letters over the past few months and I have taken to decorating the backs of my doors with them. Leave me a comment or email me if you don't have my address and you would like to send me a letter.

The back of my front door (with most of my Christmas letters).

The back of my bedroom door.

The back of my door to the living room (the orange couch room)--with many birthday greetings.

Final Round: The Last Batch
Here are last few pictures of note.

The middle school right next to our complex. They got decked out with the blue edge lights sometime after the October holiday.

Yet another construction project on my street? It certainly looks like it, but there are still homes behind it and the heavy-duty equipment is nowhere to be found, at least for the time being, all though it will be one spot for me to keep my eye on.

This bridge also did not exist when I came and the crazy thing is that it opened up during the time I was gone. It's really cool, it's a viaduct, but it has a nice little exit for our road. Note all the bike and motorbike traffic--that's rush hour in Wuxi.

I'm not sure where it leads, but I'm sure it's someplace cool.

These pansies got planted a while ago (apparently the pansy is a nice 'winter' flower, I wouldn't know because I've always lived where it frosts in the winter [no quotes=real winter]).

Looking back the opposite direction--the yellow lit bridge is just barely visible in the middle, that's the way we go to downtown.

The place where we get massages also recently got lights on the trim.

I didn't even mean to have this be another artsy picture, but I really like faint outline of the sunset in the background...that's my street--Chang Jiang Bei Lu or Chang Jiang North Road.

The only thing I have left to say is how it was for life to just keep going while we had limited internet over Christmas. What would have been big news for me stateside, the death of President Ford, was just a passing piece of news. Had I still been in GR or even CO, I'm sure I would have followed it all with interest.

The death of Saddam Hussein was unexpected for everyone I think. It's funny how I define my connectedness to the real world on whether or not I have access to the important news agencies online. I don't think I read one single article about the whole situation and now it seems so minute. I'm not passing judgment on that whole situation, but merely reflecting on how important it was at the time and now how inconsequential it seems a month later to me here.

My last social/cultural commentary was how it was so refreshing to NOT to watch Dick Clark countdown to the New Year. I've never understood how he is still doing that show, but I never particularly enjoyed it in the States. Despite my negativity towards that iconic American tradition, I must admit that it felt surreal to watch the bilingual program that welcomed the New Year on CCTV 9. Sometimes I forget for a split second, or maybe a few hours or days, that I live in China and things like that program, or more recently, dinner with some local friends, are nice friendly reminders of how far I have to go in my understanding of what I experience daily.

Random thought: It's been sunny the last few days here and it's glorious. I love the sun. Even if it's still cold (which it has been), I'd so much rather have that than a bit warmer weather and rain or something. I guess that's what growing up in Colorado, where it's sunny some 300 plus days a year which is more than Florida, did to me.

Wow, talk about procrastination...I have some serious finals to write.

Peace be with you,

rpm

Belated Christmas Pics

2007-01-27T14:12:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Sean Watkins, Blinders On

Currently reading: U2 by U2, Sliding Down the Surface of Things 1990-1993

So I finally made some time to write an update about my Christmas vacation to northern China. My journey began by taking a taxi to the bus station, then I took a shuttle van to the Shanghai airport, then I took an Air China flight, and once I arrived, I got in another taxi. I am astonished that a.) I didn't have to drive AT ALL and b.) I did this all by myself c.) using my very limited Chinese.

It was wonderful to see Dan and Sara and the kids, and Sara and I got down to business the next day by painting Mia's room purple for her 4th birthday. We had a wonderful Mia's bday/Christmas Eve celebration by going to a Korean restaurant and then doing the traditional opening of one present early. Two teachers from the school joined us for Christmas morning. It was really fun to be with kids for Christmas--it totally kicks the celebration into high gear. After opening presents, we went out to hot pot (yummy, yummy) for the "traditional" (maybe our new tradition in China?!?) Christmas lunch with some local friends. Then Sara, Wendy-a local friend, and I went to Beijing by train. Funny train moments included literally running through the station to catch the train and then having it be standing room only for the trip.

Once we arrived, got oriented and settled into our hotel, we ventured out for some Mexican food. The happiness of any sort of Mexican food in China is truly immeasurable, and needless to say, Sara and I were quite happy to introduce Wendy to 'real' (well, as real as it can get) Tex-Mex. Talk about a wonderful Christmas present!

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven (a better translation, as I'm learning from a new book, is the Altar of Heaven). It is a beautiful structure and it was built for the Emperor to offer a border sacrifice to Gd on the winter solstice. The history around this complex is amazing! Later that afternoon, we picked up our friends from Grand Rapids, Jen and Melva, at the airport. As jet lagged as they were, we were able to convince them to venture out for their first Chinese meal. I met up with one of my fellow Wuxi teachers, Megan, and her mom and brother, who were visiting from Washington State. It was fun to get to meet them and hang out for a bit.

The 27th was a very full day as we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I had seen both sites back in August in just a skirt and tank top--to be contrasted with this visit's two pairs of socks, long underwear, shirt, hoodie, scarf, hat and pea coat. But as always, the Chinese architecture was compelling--it was worth freezing my extremities to see again. This time we hit up the unadvertised Starbucks in the City complex. Ah, the paradoxes of modern China--a relatively new Seattle coffee megacompany in the thousands year old palace dedicated for the Chinese Emperor.

Once we got back to Tianjin, we hung out a lot, played multiple games of the Cities and Knights of Catan, and got caught up on life back in MI. On New Year's Day, some local friends took us to the Ancient Culture Street and gave us a tour of the temple. That Friday, we got a tour of the local Catholic building, followed by a wonderful dessert at the local DQ--more happiness in the form of food (perhaps a common theme for the vacation...) While I'm on the topic of good food, some dinners at the Kennedy household included Make-Your-Own-Soft-Taco night, baked cheese noodles, wonderful Chinese food, another Christmas dinner (with the same amazing ribs from our Thanksgiving meal) and a night of Sharing with local friends.

But my personal favorite was our night of teaching some friends how to play the Settlers of Catan. I had told some of them about the rice pizza we make because of the gluten allergy in my family, so I made 4 pizzas and then 2 batches of coconut macaroons (I even brought some back to Wuxi!). Then we proceeded to have a fully translated game of Catan--it was amazing.

It was a wonderful, relaxing time of building new friendships, continuing old ones, and being loved on by my family in China!

As always, pictures below: (Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge it)

Part I: The Altar of Heaven

There are different admission prices to the Altar complex, people like this just pay to get into the park, where they come to exercise...

...or just hang out.

Me all bundled up in front of the Hall for Good Harvest.

Wendy and I braving the cold together!

An up-close picture of the Hall.

Looking over at the Hall from another area.

An attempt at an artsy picture--this kind of ornate artwork is all over the ancient structures in Beijing.

Looking over towards the Dan Bi Bridge that connects the north and south parts together.

The Altar Mound--if you stand on the top stone of the mound, your voice sounds usually clear.

The park on the very south part of the complex.

Melva, Jen and Sara at the beginning of our visitors' Chinese adventure.

Part II: Tiananmen and the Forbidden City

Makes me wonder what is permissible...

The Chinese flag flying in the uncommonly blue Beijing sky.

Looking across the city to Chairman Mao and the beginning of the Forbidden City.

They are currently refurbishing everything before the Summer Olympics next year and even the ceilings are beautifully finished.

The old tiles laying around near the scaffolding.

"Mind Your Step/Made Possible By the Pride Group" Hmm, this brings to mind a few questions...Who is the Pride Group? Do they want me to have enough pride to mind my steps? Why do they care? ;)

Another artsy-fartsy pic, this one inside the City complex.

Part III-SNOW!!
I somehow forgot to mention that my Christmas wish for snow did get fulfilled, just a few days after Christmas. Even though it was just a dusting--what mattered to me was that I got to see snow this winter. I didn't realize how much I missed it; it was so much fun to play in!

Some of the ex-pat kids enjoying the snow.

The bikes with their dusting of snow in front of the Kennedy's gate.

Mia getting ready to whack me with a snowball.

Part IV: Ancient Culture Street and temple

Dan and a local friend enjoying their first cup of Starbucks in the New Year.

A fashion show for everyone to enjoy--All I can say is that I think those girls must have been freezing, because again, I was cold and I had multiple layers on.

Dan's friend gave us a tour of the local Buddhist/Taoist temple that sits right off the Culture Street. This is the entrance where people go to first burn incense.

The lion still had some snow from the previous day.

Traditional dolls for sale.

A food artist who made these beautiful designs--this one is a rooster--from a honey-like substance.

A nice view of the Ancient Culture Street.

A sign in German?!? Happy Day! German is on the top, English is on the bottom--my favorite part of the whole thing is that someone took a permanent marker and corrected the English version.

Could the Kennedy kiddos be any cuter?!?

Part V: Various Tours

The MBA building of a local university. Some of the students were kind enough to give us a tour of their campus.

One of Wendy's friends goes to this church and offered to show us around.

The outside altar still decorated from the Feast of Epiphany.

Me, Wendy, the local priest, our friend Abbe and Wendy's friend in front of the altar.

Looking down the shopping street to the Building.

Abbe and I at coffee.

Wendy's friend, Melva, Wendy, me and Abbe together for our last day.

Part VI: Misc. Pics from Wuxi

How to move a mattress: Chinese style--Tie it on a rope, then hoist it up the gate...

...then carry it up another 5 flights of stairs.

My new "Blue's Clues" slippers that Sara got me for Christmas to match my awful orange couch. Note: There is nothing on them that even resemble the Blue's Clues characters we know in the States--remember that copyrights are often forgotten about here.

My new tissue box tells me that "The air is full of breath of the autumn wind/take a deep breath of this sense/softly and gently we dance."

That's all for now

rpm

Book List

2007-01-22T19:16:00.000+08:00

Currently listening to: Jars of Clay, Good Monsters

Currently reading: Time magazine, 18.12.2006 edition
(Both compliments of Jen and Melva :)

One thing that Blogger lacks is the feature of listing current music and books, so I'll just make my own for the beginning of each new post.

Since I'm kind of at a loss regarding where to even begin blogging (yep it's been officially a month since my last real post when I left to go to Tianjin on Christmas vacation), I want to start with my list of the books I've read since I came to China.

My airplane book for the journey over the Pacific Ocean was Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. I initially picked it up just because of the hype surrounding it; I felt like I should have at least read it once. I was pleasantly surprised and I must say that I quite enjoyed it. It was a quick read filled with lots of nuggets of Truth.

Another quick book that I had to pace myself through was Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas. I really appreciated the sections on Bono's childhood and memories of his late mother. He also spoke very eloquently about his worldview and role of religion in his life today. The only thing that could have been better would have been actually being present at the interviews that pieced together this book.

Leap of Faith: Memoirs of An Unexpected Life, by Queen Noor (of Jordan) had been on my mental "to-read list" since the Petra exhibit came to Calvin two years ago. (Wow, that was almost two years ago?!? It totally doesn't feel like that long ago...) I distinctly remember picking it up in the gift shop and looking through all the inserted pictures. Her story is so fascinating, totally the real life version of Prince Charming picking a commoner for a bride. Most of her account focused on the various conflicts in the Middle East and her husband's efforts to make peace. I was thankful for my classes in Middle Eastern history because her stories made sense to me--it was a good feeling to have significant background information on the topic.

I think my crowning accomplishment was completing the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. I had read the abridged version in 8th grade and probably at least once every subsequent summer in high school, but the unabridged version added so much depth to the plot. The only frustrating thing was that the ending wasn't quite the climax that I remembered (probably because I had a fairly good idea of what was coming), but it was still totally worth the read.

A complete change of pace was Anne Lamott's Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. I read one of her novels this summer and I think I appreciated her more personal thoughts in these short essays. She is a great storyteller and I hope to read more of her books in the future.

I was a bit shocked to find two of Elie Wiesel's novels in Shanghai and figured that I should read them, seeing how I'd only read his well-known book, Night, to date. I taught that book for student teaching; I've also visited Buchenwald, the camp that he was liberated from, which makes his journey that much more real to me. Dawn and the Accident both contain Zionist/Pro-Israel ideas, but also deal with post-Holocaust issues and the paralysis that came for prisoners upon receiving their freedom. While I'm not his biggest fan, it was good to read some of fiction from Wiesel.

Madeleine L'Engle's A Ring of Endless Light is on the opposite end of the religion spectrum from Wiesel. I didn't realize it was actually part of a series about the same family (I guess I should have done my homework, but this was another surprising find in-country), which makes me want to find the other stories at some point. The combination of dolphins, death and teenagers would be strange except for L'Engle's ability to tie them all together in a challenging, yet uplifting story about relationships and redemption.

And finally, I just finished The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai, by John Tayman over Christmas break. I found it hard to read that the lepers on the Hawaiian islands were forced to go to Molokai even into the 20th century. It's stories like these that we like to overlook in American history, but therefore give us all the more reason to educate ourselves about our collective past, bad and good, as a nation.

My bedside table contains the following books that I am currently reading :
U2 by U2; Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh; Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond; A Gdward Life: Savoring the Supremacy of Gd in All of Life, by John Piper; also a smattering of Relevant, Paste, Time and Newsweek magazines. Happiness! I am so thankful that I have free time in which to read now. Not having enough time to read in college (I was barely staying on top of my course readings) was one of my biggest laments about the last four years, so I am glad to not have any excuse now.

A few more thoughts: The Kennedys have a nice post up that explains why communicating via Internet from China has been complicated since Christmas. Also see some pics of my visit and the joy of rice pizza, Catan and macaroons all in one evening. Visit their site here. Karri's posts from Saturday and Sunday give a good glimpse into what we were up to this weekend. And Lindsey has, as always, a funny report about the state of things at our school.

On a more serious note: On New Year's Day, I found out by email that my great uncle has lung cancer. He has been most generous to my family over the years, giving me my beloved Saturn, Sabine, and also the first car that I ever drove. He is in his mid-eighties and until now, has been living by himself in Trenton, New Jersey. A veteran, he flew in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He just completed a round of radiation treatment, but because the cancer has already travelled to his brain, he is not expected to live more than a year. My parents were able to jump in and help--my mom flew out at the beginning of the month to help him complete his treatment and to start tying up loose ends and my dad went out last week. Together they packed up his apartment and filled a storage unit (to be sorted out later), terminated his lease, and are currently driving across the US. They hope to get him into the same assisted living/nursing home as my grandparents when they arrive in Colorado. Please be thinking about the following things:

For patience for everyone--they will travel 1800+ miles over the next few days.
For safety on the road--the winter weather has been particularly nasty in the Midwest recently.
For reduced stress levels for my parents--this was something that came about quite quickly and they had little preparation for the trauma of wrapping my uncle's life in NJ.
For comfort for my uncle--this is a time of massive change for him.
For the transition to the nursing home--that all the necessary paperwork would be processed quickly and that he would get adequate care.
For my sense of helplessness--that I would find a meaningful way to be supportive of my family from the other side of the world.

On a more cheerful note, Chinese New Year, better know as Spring Festival here, is fast approaching, which means another two week break from school. I must say our breaks are quite evenly spread out.

Here's what's on the docket: Feb. 10th--fly Shanghai to Shenzhen (south mainland China), then a boat ride from Shenzhen to Macau, then another flight from Macau to Bangkok. Over the next week and half, we will travel from Bangkok to southern Thailand, then on to Malaysia and Singapore. Feb. 22--fly Singapore to Shenzhen, then Shenzhen back to Shanghai. Highlights WILL include sleeping on the beach, probably getting too much sun, being warm, riding an elephant, snorkeling, and bamboo rafting, plus visiting two countries I've never been to.

It's just too good...

Call this number if you need to "cry for help"

Peace and Love,
rpm

Crazy Fog

2006-12-21T22:22:00.000+08:00

[Disclaimer--this post is like a month old, but I was just now able to put it up, for reasons to be explained in an upcoming, very long post. 1/17/07]

The other day we had a lot of fog--I've never seen fog like this before in my life!

This is the main street by my apartment.

Another view of the same street.

Looking the other way--the cars are all stopped at the light. Too bad the fog was so heavy the light isn't visible in this picture.

Megan, Karri and Lindsey walking into school.

Looking down from the third floor onto the courtyard at school.

Click here for a short video of the ride to school that day. Please ignore our running commentary of the local bakery and their goods.

And I can't resist a good English sign..."Section card vertebrate nursing series product of--Improve effectively yours/The waist is sour Backache Neckplastic"

Coming soon--Thoughts on falling off the face of the earth (at least as far as my ability to communicate goes), AKA a recap of my last month without the internet.

rpm

Our Christmas Play

2006-12-19T19:52:00.000+08:00

So our Christmas play is over....we survived! The last week was probably spent doing more practices than actual academic work, but it paid off. Monday night went very well and surprisingly it went quite quickly.

Here's what we went through to prepare:
Thursday--all afternoon dress rehearsal in the auditorium at the other school
Friday--we had to finish our display boards (more on that later)
Monday--The DAY--We had classes in the morning, and then practice in the afternoon. We had a bit of down time before all the parents came to see the school and eat dinner. After dinner, we went to the auditorium and had the performance (it was about 90 minutes long).

The performance was not just our school; the local elementary school orchestra opened up and then our sister primary school danced and sang throughout the night. There was a raffle in the middle of it all, only to be finished off by a visit from Santa at the end. Here's some pictures to help explain:

One of the 7th graders and me (notice their stockings and Christmas decorations hanging in the window!)

One of our new students in 7th grade.

Our new 5th grader--all the new students are the ones that I'm teaching English to for three hours every morning.

Our 3rd grade and 2nd grade angels during rehearsal last week.

Mary in the yellow robe, Joseph in the blue robe and the shepherds in the light blue robes. Notice their shepherd staffs--the tops are still white because I hadn't finished covering them yet with brown contact paper (also taken during rehearsal last week).

One of the creepy Santa posters in our cafeteria--I'm not sure what he's winking at :)

The opening ceremony--One of the German girls in 12th grade, Karri in her new dress, the other German girl, and Anna (the one who just got married). They were the MCs for the night and had to dress up all pretty. Behind them is the orchestra, complete with Santa hats. Let the games begin!

The Happy Clappy Song (AKA "If you're happy and you know it...")--The second grade class sang it in four languages (Korean, Chinese, English and Japanese). The Korean students are in the middle--they were the only ones dressed in traditional clothes. Check out the awesome flower power on the overhead!

One of our 8th grade students and a 5th grade student doing a piano and violin duet--it was pretty cool. I braided the girl's hair!

The Chinese school performing Rudolph--check out the end of this post for the video link of the most amazing dancing I have ever seen.

Two of our Korean middle schoolers doing a 4-hand piano performance. I also braided their hair :)

Our shepherds backstage nervously flashing the peace sign.

The second grade angel--cute as a button!

The real live performance--the shepherds waiting to "go and see this wonderful thing that has happened..." (one of their lines).

The whole cast--most of the school, two angels, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds (and an empty manger, hand made by Daniel) all singing "Silent Night."

The Grand Finale of "Auld Lang Syne" (The New Year's song), played beautifully by the Chinese orchestra. Yes, that's confetti falling from the air, they had confetti gun-like things to make the entire stage covered with confetti by the night's end.

The only reason I'm posting this picture is to show the Santa Claus monster-man. They made the father of one of the German girls dress up as Santa and throw candy into the crowd at the end of the whole thing, but he had to wear a mask (I don't know why) and it made him look like a scary Santa, not a jolly Santa.

Daniel and our Safeguard (what they call a security guard, I guess) after it was all over.

Lindsey, Beth, Karri, Jamie, Megan, me and Daniel in the lobby of our school.

My display board for science and English.

Daniel, me and Beth in front of our display boards for the middle school.

Some of the art that our students have done in art class--very traditional and pretty.

I have uploaded 5 videos on Google to show bits and pieces of the Christmas play--it's rough (I coach my students through some lines and also do some crowd control at other points), but if that is overlooked, the heart of the whole show shines through. View the videos here, here, here, here and here.

This past weekend Lindsey, Karri, and I went to Suzhou (the next town over) to go shopping. I didn't take any pictures, but the last three postings on Karri's blog give a taste as to what the past few days have been like for all of us.

I am starting to feel the everyday-ness of life settling in. There's less excitement to blog about, but maybe I'll post some pictures later of the incredible fog that was this morning.

Christmas is almost here! Craziness--we've been giving our students a taste of American Christmas culture by showing "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Grinch that Stole Christmas" (cartoon version) during English. I'm looking forward to the upcoming break; I anticipate a good time of relaxation, baking, hanging out, and fun. I'll be up visiting friends in Tianjin again, so this blog may be a bit quiet until after New Year's.

Until then, may the Spirit of Advent follow you in these next few days as we wait together in expectation.

Grace and Peace,
rpm

"Oh No, They Have Bathrobes For Costumes?"

2006-12-09T23:45:00.000+08:00

I haven't done much blogging about my normal life recently, so this is a catch-up post covering the past two weeks.

Two Tuesdays ago our school had its bi-monthly rolling blackout. The last time this happened, we were given notice at 9 o'clock the night before. We were all out of luck because we couldn't make copies or anything ahead of time, but at least we were mentally prepared for it. This time we were given absolutely no notice. We showed up for school and we had no electricity at all. I didn't realize how much I depend on electricity until it abruptly was taken away--my computer, the copier, the printer, the heater, the bell, the gas stove. It was a miserable day. Thankfully, I had worn my long underwear and my warm coat, but some of our students didn't have enough clothing. It was so bad that we took our students out into the courtyard and made them run around even though it was English class. We played tag and had them do jumping jacks, which was hard to do with so many layers. For science, I scrapped my original lesson plan and had them do the same thing, but I made it "scientific" by having them take their pulse and measure the difference between their resting and active heartbeats. Needless to say, we appreciated the heater and all things electric much more the following day.

I recently downloaded a program that allows me to watch American TV over the internet. Talk about happiness in a software package. I've been able to watch Conan and The Daily Show from the night before when I get home from school due to the time difference. It's the little things in life... :)

At lunch the other day we had fluff (whipped cream) sandwiches. Strange but true. I put banana on mine and it was yummy, even though the bread was so sweet it might have just been dipped in sugar (Chinese bread is really sweet). So good!

One of the biggest surprises recently was the smell of freshly cut grass. Since most Chinese live in high rise apartment complexes, there is little (green) vegetation to be found anywhere, just a lot of cement. Outside of our school there is a small strip of grass and the other day it was cut. Imagine the smell of cut grass in December--it was oddly relaxing and for a second I forgot I was in China.

It's been raining on and off here for the past month--I can't say that I'm a huge fan of rain, especially since rain brings humidity and I think I dislike humidity even more than I dislike rain. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that it's December/Advent/winter and there is no snow in sight. I think it I will forever associate Christmas and snow and to have one without the other is somewhat surreal for me. It's funny how things can loose their meaning so quickly. I haven't driven a car in 4 months and I really enjoy that. I probably won't touch snow for another year--how crazy/cool/weird/strange is that?!?

While I'm on the topic of Christmas, I'll ask for some Thoughts about our upcoming Christmas play. In one week, the chaos that is our school performance will be finished. In the mean time, there is some serious preparation that needs to happen in the next few days. The whole thing is a huge ordeal, with ballet, singing, piano, and traditional Chinese flute pieces. The capstone to it is our school-wide Christmas play. Since we had complete freedom in the creation of the piece, the play speaks the Truth to all. We have a Mary, a Joseph, some angels and even a few shepherds. Our students have done a great job memorizing some speaking parts and the texts of the first and third verses of Silent Night. We are excited for the opportunity to share with our school community and we hope that the Message is clearly communicated. Please also remember our group in this upcoming week. Tensions are running high as the expectations for this production are significant and we are all dealing with the pressure in different ways. Clear leadership of the various parts of the program has been lacking which caused problems for the dress rehearsal this afternoon.

One funny story from last week's play practice--Our entire school of 80 students can fit on the stage of our school to rehearse (the actual performance will be at the neighboring school), it's a bit crowded, but it works. One of the little first graders got sick on stage last week and threw up on the child in front of her. The whole class just moved out of the way and continued with the practice since there wasn't much else they could do. Our Dean of Students proceeded to the take the child's fleece jacket and dry it off by standing in front of the air conditioner/heater. Then the ayi, the janitor lady, came up and sweep up the vomit with a broom. Not a mop, but a broom. All of us foreign teachers were sitting in the back watching the drying of the jacket and the sweeping of the vomit--what could we do? Although it should have been a serious moment given the nature of the situation, we were just collapsing in laughter given the comic (perhaps absurd?) nature of it all.

The best part of this whole Christmas performance may be the costumes for my students. The middle school students are shepherds and they have glorified bathrobes for their costumes. Flexibility is one of the HUGE life lessons that I'm learning here in China :) Check out the evidence below: (the costumes are being modified between now and Monday, so they won't look so much like bathrobes by then we hope!)

Three of the middle school girls during their first costume fitting as Mary and the shepherds.

One of our 8th graders who will also be a shepherd.

A 7th grader and me being hams for the camera.

Karri trying to fit one of the shepherds costumes properly.

Our Joseph goofing off with his best friend.

An exciting piece of news: We have three new students. While we are happy to have our enrollment increase, new additions at the middle of the semester proved to be a bit hairy. These students are all from Korea and speak little English and even less Chinese, the two languages of instruction at our school. In order to accommodate their needs, an ESL class needed to be created. I had the most flexibility with my schedule and since most of the students are in the middle school, I essentially became the ESL teacher overnight. We did some shuffling of students and schedules, and for the most part it worked out ok. My work load has done a 180 and I am starting from the basics. They have had a little instruction in English, so I didn't have to start with the alphabet or anything, but phonics and basic shapes, numbers, and time have been our topics this week. I am having to use my education as a teacher in a new way now--I am enjoying the challenge, but it is zapping what little energy I have these days. I have three hours of ESL a day so it's been great to see a little bit of progress already. I can't imagine what it will be like in a few months.

A highlight this weekend was singing on our worship team at fellowship. Our situation is very unique and I have had the opportunity to meet a few local friends through these gatherings. On Wednesday I will be meeting with one new friend for the first time. I am very excited for this chance to get to know my new friend better.

Christmas in China is a very strange version of Christmas. Many young people are celebrating the holiday, but the idea of Christmas is very new to China. The Santa Claus version of Christmas has been imported here and everywhere we look there are signs wishing a Merry Christmas, but the Reason for the Season is oddly absent. Similar to the wedding pictures from a few posts ago, cheesy/tacky is a good description for the decorations.

Example A:

"Have yourself a Xmas Merry" ;)

Example B:

This is the entrance to the import store (remember the escaping fish from a few months ago? Same store.) Note the "Merry Christmas" banner hanging from the ceiling--it reminds me of the kind of thing found at a birthday party or something. I feel like it should say "Happy Birthday", not "Merry Christmas."

Here's one funny story and two good English pictures to finish the night:

So a common topic of my blog is the variety of non-traditional English found here. One of my students got a new fake leather down jacket this weekend. What does it say on both the front and the back? "Kick some a**" He had no idea that it is a bad word in English, but we also don't allow profanity at school. Poor kid, I don't know what we're going to do.

"Bathe milk" and "wash hair milk", more commonly know as lotion and soap.

This was the package from my "Basket for airing clothing" which is "special in keeping the shape when cloths be dried" (that part isn't in this picture). I quote verbatim "It used for drying wool fabric, cushion and other small clothes, keep them in original shape/the design were basic on mechanics theory which stand firm, It's make by polystey fibre net cloth,/for letting in air , so clothes are more easy to be dried, It also can be use in and out door./the materials can be last long . It only take a small place to store after fold it up."

What can I say to that?

rpm