Donald Trump...Eat Your Heart Out!

Originally I had entitled this blog, "My Grace is Sufficient for You," but settled on this more lighthearted one in the end :) That being said, this week (October 10th-16th) was pretty rough at times. I found myself questioning, more than once, my decision to return to Wuhan. Yet through it all, He continued to strengthen me and give me comfort and encouragement. When the earthly platforms we're used to standing on are shaky or topple, it reminds us how He is our true joy...He is all we need. I ask for your pr*yers that He will give me many opportunities to share this happiness with others!

View of Wuhan outside my bedroom window...not bad :)

Monday—I woke up and met Kevin today, to journey to the hospital for a health check. On our drive there, he told me that the school yesterday didn't like my lesson. They said I spent too much time talking about the same things, and that I didn't have enough control over the children. Understandably upset, especially given that the school had given me no guidelines or ideas as to what I should expect for teaching, I felt pretty low throughout the rest of the day. While the teaching is something I ended up enjoying last year, that's certainly not why I came back. I came back because making friends and sharing the G*spel with people brought me such great joy, and because I felt I wanted to spend another year serving HIM. School here is secondary for me, at best, and I felt insanely frustrated to have to deal with a difficult school and complicated situation. These feelings were probably also compounded by the fact that last year's school complimented me and my teaching, and several teachers commented on students' positive evaluations of my class. A huge blessing, but one that made this year a tough transition. After delivering that deafening blow, Kevin left me at the hospital by myself to navigate around for my health check...thanks buddy ;) Actually it's easy to do all that stuff (the forms we had to follow have English on them), and there are helpful staff, like the lady taking my chest X-ray who yelled at people peeking around the curtain (American hospitals are sooooo nice and private)! 

Banner commemorating 100th Anniversary of the 1911 Revolution. Lots of the events happened right here in Wuhan, so it was a proud historical moment for our fair city :)

After my health check (and, as is common, meeting some people from America and France, exchanging stories and "What are you doing here?" moments), I had to find a bus that would take me back to my apartment, on the other end of town. I had to transfer a couple times, but it still is a nice feeling to be able to navigate from a less-familiar part of town, being able to read a bit of Chinese on street signs and bus routes, and not being as confused as I was last year :p I was distracted from my crabbiness by looking out the window at all the guards and commotion surrounding the special festival in the city, and calling Sherry (our p*stor Adam's wife) to see if she could recommend any other good schools to me. I grabbed some lunch, came home and made a couple calls to potential schools, and then (after a bit of a pity party) started to plan my lessons for the next day of teaching. Not too long afterwards, Kevin called me and said my school would not hire me, and wanted to look for another teacher. So I guess it wasn't really getting fired, and that the first day was more of a test run, but I didn't know that going in, and to me it felt like...being FIRED! Oy. I had been pr*ying just about all day that HE would grant me relief to the confusion of teaching at that school...and I guess HE did...just not in the way I expected :p Anyway, Kevin comforted me and said the school wasn't prepared for a foreign teacher and that it wasn't my fault, which made me feel better, as did a text from Sherry reminding me that "HE will work everything out." I was also cheered up a bit later by having dinner with my good friend Connie, an amazing Chr*stian girl with great English, who attended study regularly last year and was always good to joke around with and listen to my mini-dramas. Hehe. It sure is a blessing to already have some wonderful friends here this year! After our girl talk and fried noodles, we headed to my apartment, where 23 people came to attend study!!! What an amazing night! We had a guest speaker, Jim Witt, who leads a group called China Partners, and he did a nice job presenting the topic "The Will of G*d." In addition to study, I was so thrilled to be reunited with awesome study friends from last year: Don, Britney, Sylvia, Shelly, Johnny, Rock, and more! Lots of hugs and excitement, and encouragement from Him after a rough day! HE is great :)

Dr. Witt presenting at our study, with Johnny and Jonathan Li helping to translate :)

Tuesday—I woke up bright and early today to visit a new school Kevin had found for me. Even though Kevin's English is good, there's still so many gaps in the info he gives me...I knew I needed to take bus 71 somewhere, but he didn't know the name of the stop I should get off at. I called him to ask for his help, and he still didn't know where I needed to go, so I ended up taking a taxi and asking Kevin to tell the driver where to go. After 20ish minutes of confusing driving, and the cab driver continually pulling over to ask directions, I got dropped off a few blocks from my school. Informed about my whereabouts, my contact person came to pick me up. Calling her "Selena" for a few days, I eventually asked her to spell it for me...turns out her name is "Sinnina." Okay. She greeted me warmly, but has a pretty basic English level, so our communication was a bit awkward. I met several other teachers (most with minimal English, but most friendly, and one with good English), stood outside greeting students, and sat in on classes for the day. It was good for me to observe how the school operates, how English classes are run, and just the feel of the school in general. Honestly though, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by swarms of kiddies, and watching teachers discipline kids by hitting them in the face or dragging them out of the room by their shirts, lifting them in the air and nearly choking them :( Sometimes the kids get hit here just for not knowing the right answer...and these are 4-year-olds. Oh man. Throughout the day I got to practice my Chinese my introducing myself and my life to the Chinese teachers here (I'm the only foreign teacher at my school). Too bad I'd basically exhausted my knowledge of the Chinese language after the first day ;) All in all, I felt like the school had potential, and my meeting with the principal went well, but I still wasn't sure how I felt about the school. Deciding to sleep on it, and show up the following day again, I took the bus back home and met Andrea and our good friend Shirly for pizza! Papa John's is a close walk from our houses, and we feasted on American goodness...with garlic butter (the key ingredient to our love of Papa John's over Pizza Hut) :D We had a much-needed relaxing and laughter-filled evening, and afterwards I headed off to buy a notebook. Sinnina was insistent that the notebook I used on my first day wasn't big enough, so I ended up walking 15 minutes to the supermarket to pick one up, only to realize on my walk home that they sell them at the corner store RIGHT by my apartment. Ah well. Good to know for next time!

What a nice welcome to the grocery store! Also noteworthy: this photo was taken on a "people-mover" like in airports that serves as an escalator between levels of the massive shopping center.

Wednesday—Sinnina met me at the bus stop today to "help me take the bus to school." I probably could've made it just fine on my own, but she was unable to explain which bus I needed to take, so she just showed me instead :p I had another day of observing Sinnina teach at school, which I was very grateful for-- nice to have more time to prepare than the previous school had given me. I think I pleased the principal by electing to stay for the whole day and observe class, even though usually I'll be able to leave by 11:10 on Wednesdays. When I first arrive at school, I eat breakfast, and then stand outside greeting students for half an hour. The kids are pretty shy and confused by me so far :) An annoying part of the day would be during my "free time" when Sinnina would summon me to help the tiniest class eat their breakfast, get changed, etc. I feel very strongly that that isn't part of my job description, but I didn't want to argue with her either. Honestly speaking, this day was pretty rough for me, still unsure about the school, adjusting to classes and trying to communicate with my boss (who comes off pretty bossy and confusing, possibly just because of the language gap). I was pr*ying for strength to make it through and trust in Him, when my computer stopped working. I have to confess that I was having a hard time looking to Him to keep me strong, and was questioning why so many things seemed to be going wrong. But, I had packed along the book we were reading for FoC B*ble Study (Th*ology of the Cross), which contained a lot of comfort. I'm also grateful again, that He blessed me with so many nice friends this year. Not understanding why my computer randomly stopped working, I texted several friends asking for their help. Three or more people responded saying they'd be more than willing to look at my computer, take me to a shop, or have a friend look at it. So many people offered to help that I told some of them not to worry about it, because I already had enough offers :) Once I got home, my lovely friend Sylvia came by my apartment to look at my computer (she studied computer-related subjects in college). She didn't have any immediate solutions, but had some good ideas of things to try. Spending the evening with her cheered me up so much. We went out to grab dinner and had some good girl talk and serious conversation, walked around arm-in-arm (something I really like about the culture in China), and did a little shopping. We spent over 30 minutes in a nearby shop filled with random items (makeup, jewelry, games, household supplies...kinda like a Chinese "Dollar Tree") and laughed a lot at some funny dice games we found. We also cracked up at the shop owner, who asked where I was from. Sylvia and I both told her I was American, but she insisted that I look VERY British and MUST be British. She just kept repeating "Ying Guo Ren! Ying Guo Ren!" (literally British country person) over and over. Eventually we just laughed it off and continued shopping, but again as we left she shouted her insistence that I am in fact British, not American :D It was such a comfort to spend that time with Sylvia...another frustrating day with a nice conclusion!

Turkish meat-kabob ("chuan" in Chinese) vendor. They're all over the city...quite tasty and spicy!

Thursday—I woke up at 6:30 today, got ready in 20 minutes, and boarded the bus for my first day of teaching! I was pretty nervous, and didn't completely know what to expect, but Sinnina was there to help me through it, and it went pretty well. Each morning I teach 5 classes: the Strawberry Class (2-3 year olds, for 10 minutes), the Biggest Class (5-6 year olds, for 20 minutes), the Big Class (5-6 year olds, for 20 minutes), the Middle Class (4-5 year olds, for 20 minutes), and Small Class 1 (3-4 year olds, for 20 minutes). Teaching, while repetitive, is pretty easy in theory-- singing lots of songs, doing some chants, and working on simple vocabulary. They tell me almost exactly what to teach, so that's quite nice, and means almost zero lesson planning...a huge plus :D Whether I'll be able to control these kiddies is another story! Sinnina said she liked my teaching, was very happy with it, and that I am "clever" (standard compliment here...I don't know if I've ever been called smart or intelligent...it's always "clever"), and sent me off for the day. Still feeling down about my computer, unsure about my school, and frustrated with the month so far in general, I was ecstatic when my parents and sister Maria called me on my bus ride home. We caught up, and they also let me vent to them for awhile. Thanks guys, for being the best family I could ever want! I love you :)

The "lovely" view of the rubbish pile from my apartment balcony ^_^

I met Connie at Tong Ji Hospital, her workplace, for lunch, and then to have her friend take a look at my computer. Two exciting things happened: 1) our friend Britney, a student there, just happened to spot us in the cafeteria out of the thousands of people, and we ate lunch together and 2) when Connie's friend took a look at my computer, it started up as normal, without a problem. He looked at it for awhile, but couldn't come up with any explanation as to why it just started working again. I was also confused, but pretty happy :D In the evening we had some FoC bonding time when Kelsey, Brian, and I went out to eat at an awesome nearby restaurant. It's a nicer, sit-down place, but it has a picture menu!!! Combining that with our small but growing knowledge of Chinese food, we ordered a scrumptious meal of sweet and sour pork, spicy potatoes, and more. It was nice catching up with Brian and getting to know Kelsey more. Our apartment doesn't have internet yet (Kelsey and I don't have enough money to pay the yearly up-front cost), so thankfully Brian lets us use his :) After hanging out at his place for a bit, Kelsey and I went to bed VERY early...Andrea and my friend Taylor called me just after 10, but I was already sleeping, and ignored their calls. They did have exciting news to tell me though...

I didn't capture this too well (I was on the bus), but there were hundreds of  guards standing by in Wuchang (the part of Wuhan with lots of universities) for the opening of its new museum, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which ended dynastic rule in China. Oh, and the Chinese president was in town!

Friday—My friend Taylor wants to be b*ptized!!! Today turned out to be possibly the best day I'd had in China this time around...teaching went pretty well and I'm starting to get the hang of how classes work here, and then I texted Andrea and Taylor in regards to their calls the night before. Taylor, a good and funny friend of ours, with excellent English, called Andrea and then tried calling me to tell us he wants to be "washed," to become a part of G*d's family! Wow. The news certainly made my day...he is an awesome guy and a cool friend, but I never knew at studies how much he was actually into the B*ble, and how much of it was just liking to practice English with foreigners. HE works in awesome ways though-- Taylor moved away from Wuhan, but his boss in his new city (a Chinese guy), is a Chr*stian and has been taking Taylor to ch*rch. Just amazing. Thanks to that great news and to it being FRIDAY, teaching blew by! I headed over to Brian's apartment after school to use the internet, hung out with Kelsey in the afternoon (we did some redecorating and jamming out to her ipod), and got together with all the Hankou gang (Kelsey, Brian, Andrea, Aaron, and I) for absolutely scrumptious ranch burgers. It was a group effort as we all contributed something to the feast...it's not often that you get a large quantity of meat in Chinese dishes, so the burgers, while expensive, were well worth it! I spent the night at Andrea's...since we were roomies last year, we had lots of catching up to do. We got some wine, watched a movie, and had to pause it over and over because we kept talking. We didn't finish the movie until the next weekend ;)

Okay, so here's the story: Kelsey is proudly displaying our new (and improved, hehe) wall decor. Last year Brian and Aaron had what they claimed were a giant "A" and "B" on the wall, to stand for their names. But to us, they just looked like blobs ;) Sorry guys, if you're reading this... 

So we spent over and hour trying to tear the pictures down without ripping them (a difficult task, since the tape would NOT come off the wall, and their pics were just on printer paper), then we hung them back up to actually look like "A" and "B." And, well, I think you can figure out why we chose to display a big "J" and "K." :)

Saturday—Today was an exciting day: after Taylor's request to be b*ptized, he also announced that he'd be in Wuhan for the weekend. So Andrea and I headed to his house, and met his lovely mother. Taylor's a bit of a trouble-maker and claims he was even worse as a child, so it was fun asking him mom for stories about his childhood and looking at their family photo albums. Ivy and Jess also came to share in the reunion and delicious lunch! Taylor's mom made a feast of soup, noodles, fish, tofu, baozi (a Wuhan staple-- buns stuffed with meat), crabs (whole crabs that we had to crack and dig into on our own), and homemade wine. The wine was delicious...she used grapes, a bit of sugar, and water, and left it to ferment for a month. The result was amazingly sweet, some of the tastiest wine I've ever had! Along with lots of joking around and catching up, Taylor also asked us to tell him more about being "Washed" and what that involves. Jess, Andrea, and I took turns fielding his questions and explaining things to him, excited to have him so interested. Afterwards I headed to Hanyang to meet my friend Kristine, who I'd become friends with on the bus last year. Earlier in the week, having a great QQ convo with her, and making plans to get together, was a big pick-me-up. There was some confusion as to where we'd meet, but eventually I ended up taking a motorcycle taxi to meet them. Here's how motorcycle taxis work in China: they're not official city vehicles or anything like that, just random dudes driving around offering rides. Oops, as I'm writing this I feel compelled to add--sorry Mom! It wasn't my first choice, but there weren't any readily available taxis. And lots of Chinese people take 'em :) ANYWAY, people are usually around offering rides, you tell them where you want to go and maybe haggle over the price, and you're on your way! I told the driver I thought it was too far of a journey, but he said it was fine, and offered a cheap price. 

At the roller rink with Kristine and Lily (I gave them both their "English names" because it's fun...and I'm awful at remembering Chinese names) :p

After a bit of struggle communicating with the friendly driver, he shook my hand and dropped me off at 万达 (Wanda), a popular shopping mall in Wuhan. The newest one in the city, this place was gigantic (it contained an IMAX), clean, and modern. I waited around for Kristine, who surprised me by showing up with FOUR friends. Oh boy. I felt overwhelmed, and also OLD (they're all 20-year-olds), but we had a lot of fun walking around, talking and joking. Kristine's pretty bubbly and sweet, even when she says things like "You look slim now. Last year when I met you, I think you were a little bit fat." She later on referred to herself as "VERY fat" many times though, so I wasn't very offended :) The two boys can speak English, but were pretty shy, so it was mostly us girls walking around and talking, doing a bit of shopping, spotting other foreigners (always a welcome sight), checking out a skating rink, and heading out to dinner. We had fish, cabbage, and other stuff that I can't remember. My fave part of the evening was getting the chance to share my fa*th. Kristine mentioned something about my being a happy person, and I shared with her the REASON why. Later on at dinner, I pr*yed to myself and she commented on that, asking me what my r*ligious beliefs are. Between the four of them (their English is good, but talking is still tricky when it's with deeper topics) I was able to explain how important HE is to me, and told them I'd like to invite them to ch*rch sometime. Please keep these young people in your pr*yers!!! They wanted me to sleep over at the girls' dormitory after dinner, but I was too beat from the week, and headed home, watched some T.V. and was out for the night.

With the newly-named "Jon" and Jim (the only one of the 4 who had an English name before meeting me) :)

Sunday—Today was another uplifting day. I journeyed across town to ch*rch with Brian and Kelsey, ran into Aaron and Andrea on the bus, and delivered c*mmunion wafers and children's B*ble materials I'd brought from America. Our Chinese friend Goliath (yup, that's his English name) was confirmed today...what a blessing! Afterwards we headed out to get street food, and I ate with Kelsey, Darrin, and Goliath. Kelsey and I enjoyed naps at home in the afternoon, and then met up with our Chinese friends Esther and Angela, and Andrea and Nicole for dinner and some girly pampering. Our dinner was two parts: delicious and insanely spicy oysters, and McDonald's double-cheeseburgers (to combat the spiciness and also because the oysters weren't too filling), haha. With Angela's help, the four of us foreigners got some pretty nails for pretty cheap (about $5-$7). The week ended with taking a taxi back home to plan for B*ble Study with Brian and Kelsey.

Clockwise from lower left: Kelsey, Andrea, Nicole, and my decked-out fingernails!

"Here It Goes Again"

“I shoulda known, shoulda known again…but here it goes again.”

Posing Chinese-style by the champagne bottle in front of 西园 (xi yuan, a new AWESOME shopping center).

One of my fave bands, “Ok Go,” has a famous song with the aforementioned, highly appropriate title. The lyrics seem fitting…here I am, just beginning my second year in this crazy place, Wuhan. “I shoulda known” that I’d be a bit homesick, culture-shocked, and overwhelmed: this morning in a nutshell. But I also should have known that He would give me comfort and security in spite of my fears. In the music video for this song, band members run and jump around four running trampolines, a hodgepodge of , confusion, with perfect grace. They jump right in and move with ease. That is clearly not me in China. Even though I know what to expect to a degree, I’m still a fish out of water, a “wai guo ren” (foreigner) pointed out and either ridiculed and embraced…often not for being “Julie,” but simply for being different. Today, as I looked out my window onto the street, feeling a bit tentative about doing this all over again, I caught myself wondering “Why on earth did I come back?”

But I know…it’s all for Him.

I’d be lying if I said I was completely ready to return. This summer at home was spectacular—I got to see almost all of my old friends, and spend a great amount of time with the best family ever (that’s you guys)! I also was blessed to see two great friends get married, along with a cousin…3 weddings, full of celebration and reminders of G*d’s plan and purpose. Sometimes it’s easy to see and trust in His plans; other times it’s difficult…this summer also brought sadness, as my beautiful Aunt Julie lost her battle with cancer, but won the crown of Life. Our happiness for her is great, but that doesn’t change the fact the family will miss her until we’re reunited. Leaving the family (and country) was really difficult, only a week after she passed away. Yet it was a strange kind of blessing to be there in her last days, to say (a temporary) goodbye, and to comfort and draw comfort from the family in His Word ( 2 C*rinthians 1:4). At the funeral, her p*stor referenced my Aunt Julie’s worn and tattered B*ble, evidence of a strong relationship with Him, her willingness to put others before herself, and her ability and desire to reach out to people in deed and pr*yer. If I could ever become half the strong Chr*stain woman she was, I’d feel grateful. I know I will think of her countless times this year, trying to emulate her service and love for Him. Aunt Julie had sent me a cross-stitch bookmark she’d made last year in China, and I plan on carrying it around with me often, remembering her and her example. We’ll have a lot to talk about when we see each other again :)

This is how China welcomes me? With a closed-off children's playground, a lone oasis of color and joy in the Shanghai airport? Really?

My first couple days already have been eventful. After saying goodbye to the fam, I had a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago that was routine, until the end. Early on, I’d noticed the guy next to me reading and marking up his B*ble…I thought it was pretty cool, but chose sleep instead of making conversation :p However, as we touched down, he and I began to talk and dove into sp*ritual discussion pretty quickly. He was off to a Chr*stian conference in Hawaii (jealous? Me? Nah…) and we chatted about being a b*liever in the workplace, overseas, and in all stages of life. We wished each other well as we left the plane, but a minute later he rushed up to me, asking if he could say a quick pr*yer together , asking for G*d’s blessing on the m*ssion work in China. Definitely uplifting, especially as I made my way to the gate for my Shanghai flight, and became a minority yet again J Plopped RIGHT in the middle of a row of five *sigh,* I was next to an older Chinese lady who spoke zero English, and a middle-aged Chinese couple who just spoke a little. I had half-Chinese/half-English conversation with the husband and wife, and served as food translator for the elderly lady…it was fun being able to explain different foods/drinks to her and help her order the right thing, though my “hey, look at me speaking Chinese” pride quickly got shattered when she tried to start up a convo later, and I couldn’t understand :/ I watched a movie and slept a few hours on the 14-hour flight…it would’ve been longer, but the Chinese wife kept wanting me to “teach her some English words” for the duration of the flight. Got a bit tedious, but she was really nice, and I learned a little more 中文  (Chinese) from her :D Customs, baggage claim, re-checking in, and all that jazz went well in Shanghai, and a met a nice girl on the plane with decent English—my first new “QQ” (Chinese Instant Messaging) friend this year in China :D

View from an overpass near my apartment.

After landing and waiting at baggage claim, I made friends with an older guy originally from Wuhan, who’s lived in America for 30 years. He offered me a ride along with his friend to my area of the city! I know that might seem a bit sketchy, but we’d been talking for awhile, his friend was a middle-aged lady, and I could understand enough of their convo on the way to know they were indeed taking me to the right place, not abducting me :p They wouldn’t accept pay no matter how much I tried, and the nice man even helped carry my luggage into my first stop: my old apartment building, at the Foreign Language School. What a nice, unexpected gift from HIM. Getting the point across with the security guards was difficult, but I eventually explained my intentions: briefly store my HEAVY suitcases with them while I ran upstairs to break into Aaron’s dorm room and grab my apartment key, rush outside to the ATM and then to put a little money on my phone, then lug the suitcases to the street and take a taxi. The driver dropped me off at the new place (Kelsey, my new roomie, had already moved in) and I thanked G*d that everything went so swimmingly! I was welcomed to the new place with a nice note from Kelsey, and exchanged a few joyful texts and calls to friends that I'd returned. After lots of that, and a bit of unpacking, I hit the sack...for only 4 hours (curse you, jet lag)!!!

Check it out--Angry Birds at the new shopping center near my old school :)

On Thursday morning I woke up around 4:30 a.m., tried and failed to get back to sleep, and resigned myself to a few hours of watching “How I Met Your Mother” before getting up around 8. I spent the morning unpacking, writing out lists, and generally avoiding going outside until necessary. In spite of all my travels last year, I found myself kind of terrified to venture out (shout out to Andrea: THANK YOU for helping me overcome that fear last year), but after a short nap, headed out to meet Sophia, one of my best friends in the city. Adjusting to stares and being the odd one out, I focused on reuniting with Sophia and her boyfriend, Jasper, and thinking of the possibilities this year holds. We exchanged joyful greetings and headed to her “Grandparents’” house (they’re family friends) for snacks. I’d been there once before—they’re super sweet and welcoming, and their daughter “Hannah” likes sharing her basic English phrases with me. After eating eggs, peanuts, seeds, and fruit, we went to the bank to exchange money, and did a big of shopping. We stopped so I could show Jasper and Sophia my new apartment, and I gave them some clothes I’d bought them in the U.S. as a gift (a “Luther High” tennis t-shirt for Jasper and a child’s size dress, from Goodwill, for 24-year-old Sophia) :D Dinner was amazing, simply because it was my first “real” Chinese meal in a few months…fish, eggplant, soup, rice, and “Snow Beer.” Hao chi (delicious)!!! There seem to be lots of restaurants in this area, and I’m making a new goal to learn how to read basic food characters so I can eventually order easily at a place like that without a Chinese friend. We had a nice afternoon together, catching up, and discussing a bit of His Word as well!

Lunch with Jasper, Sophia, her Grandma and Grandpa.

After dinner, I headed to K11, a popular “restaurant tower” nearby, to meet with Kevin, a school recruiter who’s helping me find a job. We talked over options (kinda boring, so I’ll leave it out) which was kinda stressful/disheartening. But, we ran into an old friend of his, who bought me a green tea Blizzard from DQ (surprisingly delicious), so you’ve gotta cherish what you get, I guess :D Plus, his friend told me she’d been reading B*ble stories with her daughter recently and I had the opportunity to tell her I was available anytime she wanted to talk. HE sure gives us lots of opportunities here! After our meeting I called Adam (our “shepherd” here in Wuhan) to discuss my new school, spent an hour using internet at Starbucks (we don’t have any in our apartment yet), and walked back to the apartment. Internet usage included a few "QQ" conversations and one of my students asking "WHEN WILL YOU COME TO VISIT US?" which made me happy :) My friend B. Rock called to catch up and we had a fun conversation for about half an hour (his English is sensational and he’s really sarcastic). A good day!

My apartment building! We only live on the 5th floor, but still, pretty cool.

Friday—This morning I took the qin gui (light rail train), an awesome, clean and efficient means of transportation in this crazy city, to meet Kevin and check out a potential new school Of course he was quite late to meet, and when we arrived at the school, the gate was locked and NO ONE was there. I guess that was the best time for him to call the teachers and ask if anyone would be there that day ;) Anyway, after that (not completely surprising) disappointment, we went to drink some delicious nai cha (milk tea) together and talked for a bit. He's an interesting fellow--sometimes he comes off slightly antisocial and maybe a bit rude, but then at other times he opens up like a book. This was one of those times...he even started talking about the B*ble and r*ligion...he'd "studied" with members of our group a few years back. He shared his thoughts on how his life had improved since he read His Word, and how the main message of the B*ble is "peace." Hmmm. Well, kinda. Unfortunately he talked and talked lots and there wasn't much room for me to interject. But later on when he was talking about his job, helping clueless foreigners in China, I brought the convo briefly back to HIM. I related how helpless foreigners are in Wuhan with how helpless we are apart from Chr*st, and how that makes us incredibly blessed to have HIS sacrifice. I don't know how much got through...but please send pr*yers out on his behalf. I hope to have more chances to talk with him.

We have this nice big balcony with a great view...on my first step outside, I was treated to this sight. Yep, it's a crab carcass. Our guess is that someone from an upper floor decided the crab was bad and threw it downward. Oh China...

Back at my apartment, I decided to spend the afternoon exploring the area. I found an alley with tons of street food and a convenience store--sure to be the most-visited place in the neighborhood for me :) I got some "re gan mian" (hot and dry noodles, Wuhan's most famous dish) for lunch, did a bit of shopping in random shops along the road, and headed to Carrefour. The supermarket's pretty popular in Wuhan--French owned and operated, so it has some Western products, but is still very "Chinese" :) While looking for jiaozi (dumplings), a store worker started talking to me in Chinese, but after we'd exhausted the words/phrases I could say (took about a minute, haha) I asked if she could speak English. She could...very well! New QQ friend for me :D After picking up toilet paper, shampoo, dumplings, and a couple teaching supplies, I stopped by 中百 (Zhong Bai, a convenience store) to put money on my bus card, did some more walking around and exploring, and headed back to my apartment for a bit of brainstorming on how to possibly teach English to kindergarteners :p I stopped by a nearby buffet-style place for supper, and headed to Aaron's a bit later. All the other FoC-ers were still out of town on vacation, but since he was back already, we caught up and chatted for a couple hours. After some laughs about the craziness of our experiences here, I headed to McDonald's for ice cream and lots more laughs with B. Rok. After an evening full of getting reacquainted with friends, I headed home a bit before midnight, finished unpacking, and crashed (a bit literally, given the rock-hard mattress) into bed!

Jie Fang Gong Yuan, a nearby park decorated with millions of gorgeous flowers, to commemorate an upcoming festival!

Saturday—This morning I met Kevin, yet again (we're becoming quite tight), and visited my potential job...the new kindergarten. We watched the students doing their morning exercises to different pop songs (pretty precious), met with some administrators and teachers (with low-level English), and attempted to figure out my teaching schedule. Basically I sat there feeling confused, picking out bits & pieces of their conversation I could understand, getting increasingly overwhelmed. Last year at my school, all the teachers in my office had stellar English--if I just spoke a little slowly and didn't go crazy on college-level vocabulary, they understood. Not this year :/ Ah well. Kevin and I went out for lunch, and had some supposedly "famous in Wuhan" chicken noodle soup (he told me I could pick whatever I wanted, I chose beef noodle soup, then he said "what about chicken?" because it was cheaper) :p After we grabbed some iced red tea at Lucky's Cake Shoppe, Kevin abandoned me...3 hours before I had to be back at school...what to do?

Yu (fish) and qiezi dou jiao (eggplant & green beans)

I decided to take a walk to Jie Fang Gong Yuan (gong yuan means "park"), a huge and gorgeous paradise I'd passed many times on the bus last year. I spent about an hour walking around, checking out mountains of flowers, admiring how clean and nicely put-together the place was, and...getting lost. Those of you who know me well won't be surprised by this. At first I was carefully keeping track of my every step, but somewhere in the midst of plants, pagodas, staring Chinese people, ponds, boats, rides, and vendors, I had no idea where I was. Panic set in. I couldn't be late reporting back to my new school (although, as you'll learn later, it probably wouldn't have mattered...read on). Thanks to HIM, I found my way out (I spent a good half hour walking around aimlessly, racking my brain for insight and searching for familiar landmarks, and pr*ying, haha). I walked the 10-ish minutes back to school, and spent over an hour trying to lesson plan, but really having no idea how to go about it. They gave me some teacher's manuals, but they were 95% in English. I also had no idea which grade levels I would teach and when. I stopped by the administration office, and talked to a couple ladies there in Chinese, English, Chinglish, and with the help of a computer translator, trying to get answers. The only real answer: teachers will watch you teach tomorrow. It's only practice. Okay. I threw together something as best as I could with no info, and left school around 4. The adjoining kindergarten's foreign teacher, Peter, met me as I walked out--we took the bus part of the way and he showed me how to get back to my apartment. He teaches at 4 different schools in Wuhan. Whoa. Good for him, but no thanks :)

Wedding pics in the park!

In the evening I had a joyful reunion with Andrea, the "Dong B" to my "U Dong" and my former roomie/teacher/partner in crime last year in China. After excitedly catching up in her apartment, we headed to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant (Tim's favorite place last year) for some delish and much-missed Chinese food and beer. We made some easy small talk with the friendly fuwuyuan (waitress), talked for hours, and headed back to her apartment. I raided a bin in her room of some teaching supplies from last year, made some copies, and headed home. My evening ended with a bit of talking with Kelsey (who I'm still getting to know) and a surprise phone call from Mike, a good Chinese friend of mine from last year. He lives in Beijing now, but hopefully we'll still keep in touch a lot this year. A bit nervous for the following day, I headed to bed. 

Jie Fang Gong Yuan.

Sunday—So, generally we don't associate Sundays with working, especially teaching. But in China it's a different story, especially after a holiday. Lots of Chinese "holidays" are made up the previous and following weekend, so no real work days are lost. Quite lame-tastic in my opinion, but what can you do? I got ready, walked to the light rail train, transferred to a bus, got off a couple stops too early, and had a nice long walk to my school :p After heading up to my office and settling in a bit, I stood by the front gate of the school to greet the approximately 1,000 students (plus their parents) as they walked in. Lots of them were pretty shy and ignored me/hid behind their parents, until they saw my "foreigner" face. Then their reactions ranged from delight to shock to everything inbetween :D I had absolutely no idea what was going on today...I knew I was scheduled to teach two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon, but had no idea about their age group, their previous knowledge, the English ability of my Chinese co-teacher, etc. Made for a stressful day. Turns out that my first class was 3-year-olds, who understandably are still learning how to speak Chinese, haha. Given no guidance or suggestions, and being observed by several teachers and the principal, I taught the kiddies a simple "hello" song and played a game of "Musical Pumpkins." The students were adorable and seemed to enjoy class. Afterwards, my co-teacher told me the lesson went well, "much better than [her] first day of teaching." So that made me feel good. After a couple hours of internet and QQ in my office, and lunch, it was back to teach my afternoon classes. Even though they were a different age group, I still had no idea what was expected of me (are you sensing a theme here?) so I stuck with the same lesson. The English level of my co-teacher was pretty low, but she did fine. It did lead to a couple funny moments though...like when I was trying to describe "monster" to her and the class. She didn't know the English word. She eventually came up with a guess in response to my growling and making claws with my hands: giraffe. No, that's not what I was going for ;) After school I headed to Lucky's Cake Shoppe for a bit of supper, and took a bus to Ding Zi Qiao Lu (where we have ch*rch).  We'd scheduled an evening English service, and even though I took a strange new bus there, and got dropped off in a different place, I was pleased that I could find my way there! Arriving early, I got to meet Sarah, Peter, Darrin, and Andy, the other new members of our team this year! Soon I was greeted by all the other returning FoC teachers, and our "shepherd" Adam and his family, Sherry and baby David :) It was great to reunite with everyone and w*rship HIM together. What a comfort in an uncertain situation He is...no matter what the present and future holds...He holds us in his hand!

Another view of gorgeous Jie Fang Gong Yuan.