Now for that update

Hey guys.. I know. It's been a long while. For that I am sorry. I have been so busy lately.. not even enough time to catch some quality zz's. I am home now and staying that way for a bit. When I returned from the Mill's, I taught for a very busy week, and then I went to Hangzhou to visit some friends. Jeremy Painter came in from Wuhan and we had a great weekend seeing The beautiful and famous West Lake, Hefang Jia, and some people. It was a wonderful weekend to just chill with old and new friends.

That friday night we went to meet Steve at his school.. and he was judging an English Singing Competition. He got to get on stage and perform and Jeremy sang a song. I just videoed and laughed. It was very entertaining. It truly doesn't take much to be a star in China.. at least if you're a foreigner. It was awesome.

Then I came back and we took a little girls trip this week. It was incredible and amazing and I'm exhausted. This weekend is a little busy, but mostly just trying to catch up on some sleep and cleaning. I haven't been home much at all.. so it's somewhat a disaster zone at the moment.

Cultural News: I saw a group of well dressed people running through the park one day. When there is a shift change at a store the employees have a "pump you up" kind of meeting.. this one company decided to run their employees around the park. It was interesting. All in nice suits.. jogging through the park. about 50 of them.

My friend Ice is married, but she will have her wedding on December 12th. I am so excited to have my first real Chinese wedding experience. They also can not afford a photographer.. so I am going to do that as their wedding gift. I am going to take some Engagement pics and then some wedding pictures as well. I am so excited. She is one of my Chinese sisters in Hangzhou, and one of my closest friends here. Amazing experiences to come.

Travel in China is always an experience. Being no lines or consideration.. getting on and off a plane can get very frustrating.. I'm starting to see more and more of these differences come out. It's hard to understand when you dont' completely understand a culture, but I'm learning to just accept it. The things that i love about China far out way the things that drive me insane. I am finding more and more humor in the situations I am put in as well.

I have so much more to type, but am having a hard time getting it organized in my head.. so for now. Zai Jian. Oh yeah.. chinese class is going well too.

Quick Updates

Well.. the weather for the last month has just made my days all mesh together. I lost complete track of all things living other than my students. It has been a constant rainfall and that is finally gone. The sun came out this week.. so I have returned to life.

Recently, not a whole lot has gone on. Just school... which is nice and underway now. My students seem to be enjoying class a lot and the lessons. They are finally not speaking Chinese in class... my number 1 rule. It seems to be going really well. I love it.

I went to visit David and Sharon Mills this weekend in Jin Hua. It is about 2 1/2 hour bus ride from here. It was wonderful to see them and spend time with them and the family there. They are always such an encouragement to me. It was just like old times. Eating Sharon's amazing dinners, and playing Farkle. The walks and talks. I always learn so much from them, and their guidance. It was wonderful. I also got to see Rain.. who is in the family there. I met her in Hangzhou 2 years ago.

Then I met my soul mate.. in a 52 year old Chinese woman who speaks absolutely no English. It was instantanious friendship. She was hilarious and not afraid to talk to you even if you didn't understand. With hand motions and her slow speech and my broken Chinese.. we talked for a long time. She was so sweet and funny. By the end of the night she was on the phone looking for me a Chinese boyfriend.. and also asking if I would be her adopted daughter. She is in the family in Jin Hua and I can't wait to go visit her again.

I have broken down and am paying for Chinese lessons. I figure it is the only way I am truly going to learn Chinese. I have 2 tutors. One is great at giving me lots of vocabulary and the other is great at helping me with my tones and grammar. I am learning a lot so far... I find myself speaking more and more Chinese. It is comforting to speak the language a little better when I'm living in a place. I feel more in touch with the locals, which is something that I love. It is so important to learn the language, and here it's so difficult. You can get by with just English because so many people speak it, but there are so many people out of reach because of the language barrier. I am excited to be conquering this.

All in all.. spring is here and it's amazing. This is the most beautiful time of the year in China. The best weather and everything is blooming.. it's amazing to see DAD everywhere. I am also working on seeing his image in EVERYONE. During the frustrating times it's hard to remember that those people were made in HIS image as well. I am working on it. I am reminding myself everyday that these are HIS people even if they are denying him right now. Genesis 1:26-27.

Busy Days

Lunch group on Women's Day

Wall at the DIY Garden

Tricia, Shane, and Geoffrey cashing in our 373 tickets!!

Jade and Geoffrey and Tricia playing at the Arcade.. good fellowship.

Jade and Tricia cheating at the kids game.

It seems that Spring is always busier. I take on a little more and try to keep myself moving. The weather motivates me... once Spring weather kicks in. So far it hasn't. We had a day of sunshine today and a little on Friday. It was wonderful.

Saturday was a long day... The school took the women on an outing to celebrate Internation Women's Day. They took us to the newly opened Ningbo Museum. It was interesting. The architecture of the building was the coolest part. It is very modern contemporary. Lots of angles and things. There were 3 Greyhound busses worth of us women from all over Ningbo doing the tour, making it really easy to sneak away from the group. After the museum we went to the planning office for the New Ningbo Eastern City Center... because one center to a city is not enough.. they need to build another one. Then on to a fabulous lunch at a famous fishery restaurant. It was special Ningbo seafood.... quite delicious. We sat at a table of women from Tiawan. They were cute and funny and didn't speak much English. I actually understood a lot of what they were saying. It's always fun to realize you speak more and understand more of a language than you thought. It was a great lunch. Then we went on to a small village outside the city to a Confucious Temple, and then to the DIY Garden.

The DIY Garden was so interesting. It is a center where Chinese and foreign volunteers are working to build up the Arts and Creativity in China. They make all kinds of art and different things that are traditional Chinese.. and also are doing some western Art. There are a couple foreign companies that are selling art supplies... real supplies. Real paints and canvases and things. It was wonderful to see real supplies. Then there is Prim that does sewing and quilting. Real fabric scissors, thread, yarn, needles... etc. It was great to see. It was very nice to see someone bringing original thought and creativity back into this culture.

After this long day... I met Jade and the downtown family for some great fellowship. We had a nice dinner of Mickey D's double cheeseburger... and then on to an arcade. Much like fast tracks or celebration station. Minus the go carts and batting cages. We played and laughed and cheated at children games.. and won tickets and ended up with one pencil each, and the girls got a hair tie. That's what we could get for all of our tickets. It was great fellowship and just learning more about each other time. They really appreciated us making the trip downtown just to spend some time with them.

I enjoyed it so much more. With the busy life I lead here sometimes, and my focus on the seekers and the family out at campus.. it's hard to do more than spend all day Sunday with the downtown family. I am going to make more and more of an effort to be downtown during the week. That can be difficult because of classes and the long trip to town, but so worth it. I am making that more of my focus for the time being. The new boundaries in our team, and the work we are doing is going very well. We all know exactly what to do and how to do it. We all have the support we need and the meetings and time we spend together is going well. This is all because of you and your emotional, financial, and spirit*** support. Thank you.

Middle School

I do not miss school...

Teaching is going really well. I have been completely ble**ed to have the same students this term. This means that I can get even deeper into their English training.. instead of starting anew with all new students again. This is awesome. We just finished watching Freedom Writers and I have now given them their Final Exam Projects to work on all semester. It should be very interesting and a great learning experience for me and for them.

Along with teaching my other students.. I am teaching middle school now. I have 4 classes of 14 year olds. This is quite the challenge. They are very talkative, active, and excited. That is wonderful, but quite the challenge to keep them in control. I enjoy the teaching of young kids, but mostly I just want to hug them. They are so precious.

I love teaching and learning here in China. I mostly love the other work I am doing. The second semester is always the hardest. Not only is it time to prepare my sophomore students for no more Foreign teacher.. but it's also a life decision making time. What to do when my contract is up.. all of that. I get tired of working on a year to year basis. I am wanting to work more long term somewhere... so I'm currently looking at options. I love China and want to stay in Hangzhou. I just feel like lately so many of my China doors are closing.. and other doors are opening. Oh the CALL inside...

Just Talk to DAD please. Thank you. Love you all.