Blog, Interrupted...

So, the craziness of my life/this semester, coupled with my tendency to procrastinate (still alive and well after WLC, sadly), has made me QUITE behind on this blog, especially as far as adventures I've had in Wuhan the past 2 1/2 months! So, please enjoy these snippets and updates from the middle of February until the end of April, in Wuhan:

With...another teacher? I actually don't think this lady teaches at my school, but I know she drives the little shuttle bus for some students, and mostly hangs out in our office and reads/watches movies all day :p

*Three new friends have started coming pretty consistently to our studies: Gen, Christina, and especially Stephanie. Gen & Stephanie are cousins, Christina is Gen's workmate, and they all speak English very very well! Christina's a "sister" with us already, and Stephanie is diving into everything with so much interest and enthusiasm, even though she and Gen had never studied before. Those two treated Kelsey and I to sushi and KTV back in February, and we got to know each other more...Stephanie LOVES going to KTV, so we've done a lot of that with her this semester, and just lots of hanging out in general. On a recent walk, she told me that she used to feel much more concerned about the future, but since becoming friends with our group, she feels more at peace with her life. HE has given me (and others) the chance to share that Chr*st is what gets me through hardships, and that belonging to HIS family is a great thing!

Out for crawfish (do-it-yourself dining) with Angela, Kelsey, Becca (an FoC friend visiting from Beijing), Hilary (also from Beijing), Andrea, Stephanie, and myself.

*One day in March, Brian suggested a game night at Kelsey and my place-- we had about six friends over, most of whom don't come to our studies. It was a nice ice-breaker that will hopefully lead to getting closer to these new friends in the future. My friend Nancy, who I met on the bus and chat with regularly on QQ, joined Brian, Jolie, and I for dinner beforehand, and thoroughly enjoyed "Apples to Apples Junior," but was more excited about learning new vocabulary words than winning the game or laughing at the goofy combinations :)

Enjoy the first truly gorgeous day in Wuhan this year, with the old roomie Andrea, some yummy milk tea, and a stroll through Zhong Shan Park.

*As usual, there doesn't seem to be a quick way to communicate with my school, or my recruiter...after much texting and calling back and forth with Kevin, he finally texted me with some valuable information. Knowing he's pretty excellent at English, and has plenty of foreign contacts, I texted him back: "Thanks Kevin, you rock!" He wrote back..."Rock?" So, I got to teach some new English slang that day. Maybe you had to be there, but it sure made Kelsey and I laugh a lot.

One of Wuhan's biggest claims to fame: Springtime's briefly blooming cherry trees.

*Andrea and I got together with our good friend Laetitia back in February, and were introduced to Eliza, an old schoolmate of hers who recently moved back to Wuhan. We spent a fun night walking around together, getting coffee, and talking about life. Eliza has been coming to studies, and is now reading the B*ble for her first time :)

Posing with "mei hua," (beautiful flowers) at Wuhan's agricultural university. In English, these are called "rape," so I obviously prefer calling them by their Chinese name.

*To demonstrate how busy life can get here sometimes, here is a pretty typical week for me, one that I had in the beginning of April:

E@ster Sunday: two ch*rch services, breakfast and lunch at ch*rch, out for beer with American friends, grilling out with most of our Hankou group and playing video games for dinner.

Monday: Teaching at school from 8-5, B*ble Study from 7-9.

Tuesday: Teaching until 5, having tea with my friend Yulia, going to see Titanic 3d with Stephanie and Kelsey. Wednesday: Women's B*ble Study and dyeing E@ster eggs.

Thursday:  Teach in the morning, travel to Hanyang for thai food with Becky, long bus ride and walk through the rain to Wuchang for dinner together with visiting p@stors from all over China. Return home for the tail-end of Aaron and Andrea's Study.

Friday:  Teach in the morning, out for lunch with Stephanie and her boyfriend (in town visiting), over to our friend Ivy's house for dinner...she cooked a gigantic Chinese feast!

Saturday: Played pool with a group of friends, walked around Zhong Shan park twice with two different groups, met up with Andrea and an old student of hers.

Sunday: Went to ch*rch, along with my friend Sophia, good one-on-one with Sophia, injection and hair-washing

Enjoying the cherry blossoms with Chinese-boy Jess, his friend, and American-girl Jess :)

Andrea had the idea of starting up a women's B*ble study second semester, and it's been going very well! Attendance varies somewhat week-to-week, but we have our core group of about 6 regular attendees, mostly close friends of ours. We meet every Wednesday night, have lots of girl talk, and also do topical studies...we've discussed the basic message of the B*ble, E@ster, and marriage & family (this most recent topic is 2 weeks in progress and will probably take longer, haha). Sometimes we just have "bonding nights" of KTV or movie-watching, making sure our friends know that we genuinely love and enjoy spending time with them, not just as "prospects," but as wonderful people! It's a really great environment for the girls, some of whom don't feel comfortable opening up or asking questions during a more typical Study.

A lovely yoga workout session with Kelsey and Andrea--we may or may not have stopped halfway through, in favor of watching Hannah Montana instead ;)

*On Good Friday, we headed to our central w*rship location for a service...I have to confess, my heart wasn't really in it. The tenebrae service back in the U.S. is always one of my favorites, and while I knew it was great that ch*rch would be all in Chinese for our friends, I knew I wouldn't walk away with as much as an English service. But, HE blessed it...first of all, by helping me to understand at least enough of the B*ble readings to know what section of Scr*pture was being discussed. And, to my surprise and delight, two of my friends came to ch*rch, for the first time! One was Jess, a Chinese guy who's come regularly to our Monday night studies...Jessica (an FoC friend) and I met him on the train last year, and while it's amazing that he comes and asks questions eagerly during study, we think he's mostly attending for the English practice. So, to see him come to a Chinese ch*rch service was very encouraging! The second friend who came was Gavin, a really cool guy Andrea and I met way back in August 2010, our first week in Wuhan. We've kept in touch and hung out occasionally, but I hadn't seen him since Halloween. But, he made friends with Ivy, a faithful member of our Group, and she invited him! Getting to see those two friends there, and knowing that our Chinese friends are making connections and inviting others to attend makes me feel better about my decision NOT to come back here, at least not next year...knowing that this is becoming a self-sufficient group of b*lievers, and that HE is the one doing the work--we are just the tools he uses!

Andrea and I celebrating with Sophia post-b@ptism.

I think that years from now, when I look back on Wuhan, and the WORK done here, I will always think of Sophia first. She went from a workmate, to a friend, eventually to someone we were able to study the B*ble with, at first as a curiosity, and then as someone that she says brings her great peace. For awhile, I thought it was just a shallow sort of "peace" she was referring to, but her actions lately have reminded me that G*d is working in her heart. In February, Sophia and I had one more private B*ble study, and then we met with Adam (our "Shepherd" here in Wuhan), and Sophia agreed to be b@ptized that coming Sunday. Sitting there with her in the front row, as she nervously waited to confess her f@ith and have our Chinese friend Jonathan Li pour water on her head, and speak G*d's name and promises to her...one of the best things that's ever happened to me :) I ask for your pr@yers for my dear friend--I truly believe that she b*lieves, but she has an incredibly busy work schedule, and lives at least an hour away from ch*rch. She has come since then, however, and lately has confided that she really wants Jasper, her husband, to start attending too...knowing that she's taking HIM seriously, and wants her husband to have the same joy she does, is a great blessing!

Dumpling-making lessons!

One night awhile back, Sylvia and Angela came over to teach Kelsey, Andrea, and I how to make dumplings. The process was pretty simple, since Angela's mom had already rolled out little circles of dough, and the girls brought all the pork and veggies to use as filling. Basically you just fill up the dough like pigs in the blanket, try to fold it together beautifully, and drop the cute little guys into some boiling water--it was delicious, and we ate a lot! Brian came over to "help" by eating some, and there are three things from the evening that will stick with me: 1) Angela & Sylvia tasting the raw pork to make sure it had the right flavor before cooking it 2) Sylvia starting a small fire in our apartment, with the dangerous combination of our fast-acting hot plate and lots of oil (we all stared at it for a couple seconds, before realizing we should turn off the hot plate and cover the fire)! 3) Led mostly by Brian & Andrea, we proceeded to have a burping contest. Our nights here are not always the classiest ;)

And, speaking of classy: a Hankou group late-night snack at McDonald's :)

*In the beginning of April, China celebrate Qing Ming Jie, or "Tomb-Sweeping Day," a day that sadly is traditionally used to visit the graves of departed family members, and honor them by burning pictures of money and possessions, believed to be tributes that their ancestors receive in the beyond. Thankfully, some of our Chr*stian friends do not celebrate the holiday, and we did some off-school celebrating of our own! One day after ch*rch, Jessica and I rode bikes to meet Jess and a friend for a LONG (but fun!) day of bike-riding, checking out blooming cherry trees and flowers, lunch, and talking. Jessica and I went out to get haircuts and tour her school afterwards, and then biked to her house (I think we biked about 5 hours that day)! A couple friends were visiting from Beijing, as well as Indonesia, so we went out dancing one night, and also had a group dinner of crawfish followed by KTV. The last day of holiday was spent going to East Lake, the most scenic part of Wuhan, and walking around a huge garden of cherry trees. It was very gorgeous, but rainy, so Andrea, Stephanie, and I left early, came back home for a marathon dinner of hot pot (we ordered plates and plates of food, eating and talking for 3 hours), and finally, watched a couple movies!

With the cherry blossoms at East Lake--luckily it was only drizzling lightly at this point!

*On April 1st, I was a bit bummed that my students are too small to get the concept of April Fool's Day. Thankfully, a little prank I pulled on QQ seemed to work pretty well too-- you can post "status updates" on it, just like on Facebook...so I wrote "I can't believe I just spent the night in a Chinese jail!" Two Chinese friends wrote me later, asking what happened and if I was okay...thankfully, they were good sports when I explained the joke :) But the best part of the trick happened when I wasn't even present--Jessica told Peter, Darin, and Andy (three FoC buddies) about it, and they ALL fell for it...texting me, asking for details, and pretending to be upset when I told them it was a fake...tee hee hee.

Our big group at East Lake, along with three or four people we'd never met before, who just wanted to be in the picture with some foreigners...

*Our regular Monday night B*ble study at my and Kelsey's apartment continues to go well, and be blessed in attendance...we have a changing group of faces, but many friends have been coming back week after week, thanks to HIM. This semester, we've tried splitting up the study, with Kelsey and I taking turns leading along with Brian--it makes us pretty nervous each week, but it's really good to keep me from getting lazy or apathetic, and it tests me, encouraging me to study His Word more often. And the feeling of getting to explain a new idea, or reinforce everyone's understanding of His Grace--priceless!

Pool-playing with Snowy, Kelsey, and Kristine.

*Sometimes the most entertaining part of Monday night study is what happens afterward--a couple weeks back, Kelsey and a few friends were conspiring, saying I'd be more likely to stay in China if I had a boyfriend here...they asked what qualities I'd like in a Chinese guy, and I said 1) speaks English well 2) a good singer 3) nice arms. We giggled and decided they could patrol the streets for me, looking for guys with these characteristics. And then...Bonnie, Stephanie, and Shelly did a test-run of the screening process--with Brian. It was hilarious to watch Brian's confused reaction to Shelly walking up to him and testing his English skills by making an awkward conversation, Stephanie squeezing his arms, and Bonnie asking him to sing us a song before laughing adorably and running away :)

At Zhong Shan Park with Kristine--she's a sweet girl, but very clingy...and after an hour of walking around and taking dozens of pictures, my smile was starting to get a bit fake ;)

*One of the new friends I've been blessed to make this year is Julia (or Yulia), a Russian lady who's the mom of one of my students. She's lived in China for about twenty years now, is fluent in Chinese, English (and of course, Russian), and married a Chinese man. They have two adorable children, one who attends my kindergarten, and she's really reached out to me and been a fabulous friend. Sometimes at my school I feel pretty lonely as the only foreigner, and taken advantage of...but Julia invites me over for lunch or tea (her apartment's really close to my school) and she can really relate to all of my feelings. She listens to me complain, and then says how she understands...she's been a kindergarten teacher in China before too, and of course is familiar with the stares and such that come with being a foreigner here! But apart from that, she's so sweet and funny, we always laugh a lot when we're together, and she cooks delicious Russian AND Chinese food--I feel so grateful for having the chance to meet this incredible lady!

Two darlings from my "Strawberry Class."

*After Sophia's b@ptism, Andrea and I went with her to Aloha, our favorite American-style restaurant in Wuhan, where one of Sophia's connections treated us to a delicious lunch. It was awkward, being paraded as foreigners, having to make conversation with her daughter and take lots of pictures, but it was worth it...especially when Sophia pointed out Paul and Jackie, the two new foreign teachers at her school, who took Andrea and my old positions. We introduced ourselves, and when I said that I'm Julie/Miss Cox, Paul exclaimed, "They LOVE you!" I guess my former students bring up my name or lessons a lot in his classes with them, and he'll occasionally hear murmurs of "Miss Cox" among themselves when they're talking...this made me so happy, because I miss teaching them SO MUCH :) About a week later, Andrea and I went out to dinner with the married couple, and had great fun comparing stories about our experiences with the school, and laughing at the antics of the lovable, naughty kids!

Long Run, Luan, and I after making E@ster eggs!

*Last Friday night, tardy as I was, I wanted to invite friends over to dye E@ster eggs, with the kit my dear family had sent me. Envisioning a smaller get-together, it became a kind of big group...six Chinese friends, and four foreigners gathered around the table for an egg-dyeing demonstration, and we all joined in to turn out some impressive creations. Well, not me--I've never been very gifted in the artistic department, but friends made faces, different countries' flags, square-shaped fruit, and elaborate designs, all of which were quite impressive! Before we got to work, we had a short ten-minute explanation of why we celebrate E@ster...we read four main points about the B*ble, along with a few p@ssages...none of our visitors are yet Chr*stian, so it was a great opportunity to share our Joy with them!

Showing off our creations!

Well, I am currently running late for a short vacation, but I had to send off this blog first :) May HE bless and keep all of you, until next time!