12/29

I have so many stories to tell! I'll try to just pick a few so it does not turn into a 200 page novel ;)

So on Wednesday I started my afternoon classes. The students are older than me (late 20s or older), and some of them actually have family in America and they are learning English and will someday be moving to America to join the rest of their family. They are very interested in learning about American culture, and are actively trying to learn English but are typical language students: too nervous to speak in English so they ask the Chinese English teacher if they are saying it correctly before proceeding in English--even half way through the sentence. It would be much better if they would just try to say it right and then be corrected later, but we're working on that ;) I am helping with pronunciation and putting sentences together in the right order. But that's every day that I do the afternoon classes.

I've been doing that most days...except for when I was sick. I only went to one of my night classes due to the parties we had :)

Saturday we had our free class. A decent amout of people came. I helped with the little kids. I found out that though I am really good with kids, I am not quite as good with them when they don't speak English....and when I failed to talk with the teacher I'm helping before hand to ask what I should do during the class--whoops! But that's ok. They just stared at me like normal--cause I look different.

Sunday afternoon I went to a weekly meeting. I had a friend translate for me so that I knew what was being said. It's a 2 hour long 'program' and not knowing what is being said is...well...quite boring. It was nice, though. At night we had another free class. There are certain things I am not allowed to talk about because...well...I am a foreigner. These are the things I also cannot mention in email because...well...I'm a foreigner. I also do not lead these Sunday classes, but I am able to participate if a question is asked where maybe I have more expertise than someone else. But on Sunday night at the free class, we only had maybe 20 people show up as opposed to the normal 100 or more. So we only split up into 2 groups instead of 3 or 4, and talked about John...preparing the way for Someone. We had so many questions asked. There were many new words, and we explained what they meant. And when we explained the words, there were questions that no longer had anything to do with the words, but with the concepts. It was wonderful seeing how hungry they were. And I don't mean physically! There was a very difficult and deep question that was asked, because the whole 'water and word' with infants vs adults came up, and then we talked about how babies are often...well, yeah, because they do wrong things as well, and we are commanded to do so as well. And we were asked how they do wrong things. I got the opportunity to explain some deep stuff. It had to be translated though, because this was the low level English group, and I'm not sure if they knew enough English for that idea to fully come across well in English. So one of the strong (in a non-physical sense) Chinese young men translated for me, and it was wonderful. I could just see the eager faces looking at him while he was sharing. I got goosebumps because of how amazing it was and how much I felt Him there. We actually went overtime because of all the questions people had. It was very enjoyable.

Monday was my day off...but it felt nothing like it! I went to lunch with friends and then walked around and visited some ancient buildings. It was very cool. Then I went to the university with one of the students and walked around there for what seemed like FOREVER because this university is HUGE! Then I went back to my apartment for half hour and went out for supper with a friend and her fiancee. After supper we went to the park and I tried my hand at tai chi, and also at dancing. You will never guess what kind of dancing they were doing---LINE DANCING! I would have never guessed that that's what I would learn in China.... haha. But there was also a beautiful water show going on in that park as well as a stage performance: singers and dancers (modern and ballet and such). It was a beautiful night. I had a good time.

Today I went shopping at the western store so I could get food to cook so that some of the Chinese can experience what I like to eat in America. So I will be cooking enchilladas and pizza eventually. Probably not together...but yeah. Then I came back and had classes at 2:30. We talked about getting groceries and about other things, we played a game, and we took a break. During the break they decided that we should go out for afternoon tea. So we left and ate together, and they were practicing their English in a practical location. We were going to go to an actual high tea restraunt, but it closed 15 minutes after we got there, and that did not leave us enough time. So we went out for dumplings instead. They were wonderful. Then one of the students invited me over for supper with her and a friend (and their daughters) at her friend's apartment. I accepted.

We had hot pot. That is a traditional Chinese meal. You cook soup...water and chicken and/or pork bones...for a couple hours. You also prepare many things such as meat, vegetables, or other things to put into the soup later. Then, you make rice. You have a hot plate in the middle of the table where you have a pot and you have the soup in it (now without the bones). You then sit around the table, and put in the first dish. So you put in the lamb, which is what we had. You wait for it to cook (it's precooked, but it has to get warm). Then you take it out whenever you feel like eating some, and it's good. Then, eventually you add the next dish. We had potatoes, lotus, and something else I was unable to identify. They were pretty good. We then ate until we were full, and then put some of the soup (now with LOTS of flavor) in our bowls. Then you drink the soup. It was delicious! That is the traditional hot pot. We happened to also have rabbit on the side. It was pretty good--it was made up with a spicy sauce and everything. But I had a hard time eating what I usually identify as a pet...

That was the rest of my day. I then agreed to take on some more substitute positions...so I teach classes at a local school tomorrow morning, and then also Saturday morning I will teach some classes. I hope they go well.... I guess we'll see! I will be talking about the New Year----not Chinese style.

Well, even though I weaned out some stories, it still became a novel. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it anyway :)

I must go, as I have to be waiting for the bus in 9 hours and I have to somehow sleep between now and then.
Have a wonderful New Year!
-Alissa

Christmas!

It’s Christmas morning!
I woke up this morning to a phone call from one of my American friends…we are having a get-together at 10:30, and it is now 10:15. I am actually going to send this message after the party, but that’s ok. The 6 of us will eat food together, celebrate Christmas, and watch either Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, or White Christmas. It will PROBABLY be Home Alone 
I am excited for tonight. Hopefully the play goes better for me than it did last night. Yesterday at about 3, I started getting a cold. I was in class (just an assistant) when I realized this, and I left quickly to find some Kleenex. During the break for the class, Sue (the Chinese English teacher) came up to me and asked if I was getting a cold. I said yes. We walked down to the offices, a lot of Chinese was spoken, and out came some wonderful bottles—yes, you guessed it. Chinese medicine! I tried Chinese medicine.
It was a great time trying out new things. It didn’t work, but that’s possibly because I didn’t keep taking it every 4 hours like you are supposed to. I ended up getting American medicine. It’s not like I’m all that sick—just a cold. But I don’t want to give it to everyone else! So as I mentioned, the play didn’t go so well for me. I am playing Mary, plus I am the MC, which makes it a lot of work for me. I was very tired because of the cold, and just wasn’t feeling up to it. Plus, I had to say my lines in Chinese…and even though I had them down almost perfect (to American standards haha) when I was practicing, I completely forgot the lines while I was up there. I had both Daniel and Hilda whispering my lines to me while I was attempting to listen to one or both of them and get a faint memory of what I was supposed to say!
Other than that, the play was great. Everyone enjoyed it. There were about 250 people there (at least that’s how many cookies were taken! And everyone got either one or none! We decorated the Christmas tree, and that was really cool. The kids sang, and even though I didn’t understand it, I thought it was beautiful. I recorded it  When writing the play, we had to be careful that me, being the American MC, didn’t say anything about…well, you know...due to legality issues. But we had a Chinese MC who did a great job at keeping everyone entertained and sharing.
Well, I am off to another day: Christmas day! Have a wonderful WHITE Christmas back home!

12/22

So I finally found out what it is I am doing :)

On T-F I will help out with classes from 2:30-5, and then from 7:30-8:15...except for Thursday night where I will help out with classes from 8-9:30. I will just be assisting, as there was another short term worker who just left yesterday, and so I will be taking over her helper positions...it also makes no sense for me to have my own classes because I am not here long enough.
On Saturday and Sunday I will help out with the free classes. Saturday I will help with the children, and Sunday I will assist a Chinese person as there are things foreigners are not allowed to lead.

Monday I have the day off, and I don't start class until 2:30 (or 4:10 if I find I don't have time for stuff is what I was told) and so I can make it to Macau to check my other e-mail accounts some Monday.

I am excited for the team from CUW to come. I am going to help Hilda out with showing them around and stuff like that ;) So it should be a good time. By then I'll be fluent in Chinese and know this place like the back of my hand...... ha. Ok so maybe not even close, but it will still be a good time!

On Sunday I am going to a friend's apartment to eat Indonesian food. She is an Indonesian living in China and wanted to cook for us. I am going to eventually (after xmas) round up the ingredients for enchilladas (and make the sauce myself!) and cook for a group of people, as well. It should be...interesting because it will just be in a toaster oven, so I have no idea how long it will take. Plus, glass explodes in toaster ovens (if you didn't know....) and so I will have to use a small cake pan instead of the normal casserole dish that I use. But it will be a lot of fun experimenting haha.

So xmas in in 2 days...that is crazy!! I still can't believe it. It does not feel like xmas here. Probably because the only decorations we have are here for educating about the American culture, and when I walk down the street, I do not see much. Every once in a while you'll see a Santa, but that's once in a while...not in every store like at home.

Well, my computer battery is about to run out, so I should get going. I hope everyone is having a wonderful xmas season!

In Him,
Alissa

12/18

Ni hao!

I love it here! It's such a great city. We are kind of in the run down area, but that's ok. I like the noise and the lights. I'm not fond of all of the smells, but everything else is great.

I am told that I will find out on Tuesday what I am doing...I cannot remember if I said that before or not. But until then, I am supposed to "Have fun!" So tonight I am going to get a massage. I was curled up in a ball most of the plane ride, and now am very sore because of it...but some others wanted to go to get a massage too, so we are off. Tomorrow after play practice I will be going to a shoemaker with some new friends and we are going to get shoes made. Then at night I believe there are classes I will be helping with. Sunday after the weekly meeting I will go bowling with some friends, then there are some classes I will help teach. And possibly play practice. Then on Monday I am going over to a friend's house to eat. The life of a teacher here is...full of not knowing what's going on, and so finding things to fill in the time. But don't worry--it will be busy teaching very soon. I just don't know what I am doing yet, so I have to fill in the time somehow :) It will not just be fun and games...well...teaching will be fun though! Right now I am working on the relationship building aspect.

I am excited for the team from my school back home to come. It should be fun seeing familiar faces for a couple of days. By then I will be extremely familiar with the place and how everything works here and will impress them with my mad skills ;) Ok, so maybe not, but we'll see.

On the way to the center, there is a vendor that sells zebra print shirts. I laughed. They said that the zebra prints were not out until a couple weeks ago...I said they knew I was coming! (For those who don't know, I have recently been known to wear a zebra print trench coat.) I definatly brought my zebra print, so I will have to sport it sometime. It's currently drying, because there is no dryer...just a washer (which I am thankful for!)

I am finally getting used to this place. Today I went around the town a little. I now know of more than one good grocery store/supermarket. I have yet to find the fresh market they all talk about, though. We went to a western store and I bought some hot chocolate!! It was good. And just so you all know...to buy life cereal, it was 68 dollars...which translates to about 10 US dollars! That's a lot. But it's imported... so yeah. The imported stuff is expensive. But the swiss miss...it was about 30 dollars, so that was a little less than $5...more like $4.50 for a box. I think that should be only a little more than in the states... don't tell me if it's a lot more cause I will probably buy more. The weather just chills you to your bones! It's only 53 F, but it feels much colder because there is no respite. It is exactly as cold inside as it is outside. There is a space heater that works...but only a little bit. I have taken to winter coats everywhere. I am in my winter coat right now and I am very cold.

Well, I have to go study my lines for the play. I get to say them in Chinese! Wow...I have to practice. I only have 2 lines, and one of them is "Of Course!" So the English will not be hard...but the Chinese will be. Luckly it's in Mandarin and not Cantanese, though that is the local language. (We are doing the play in both English and Mandarin). This should help their English skills! (And my chinese skills!)

There is a dinner going on right now, but I am not going to go. They are serving lamb, and I'm not a fan of lamb, so I'm going to go to McDonalds. Haha maybe. Or maybe I'll go to the market and buy something to cook. We'll see what actually happens. I have the city at my fingertips, so I will go. The only thing is that I don't know the language, so that will be a SLIGHT problem for going out to eat. But I can manage. There are leftovers in the fridge too if I fail.

But everyone is heading out, so I think I will too.

Bye!

Alissa

12/14 (From Taiwan)

Hey guys! I just wanted to let you all know that I am in Taiwan right now. I am waiting for my flight which boards in 2 hours. I survived the 14 hour plane ride (yes, i was 14 hours:D) and I already have a funny story...or 2.

Story number 1!
AHHH everything seemed to go wrong at first. The plane ride was crazy. I got switched to United instead of Continental. That was because I would have missed my flight to LAX and then in turn to Taiwan, and then in turn to Macau...fun stuff. So I went to Chicago instead of houston. It made it a bit shorter so that worked for me. But once I got to LAX, I wasn't at a Continental booth...and I needed to find one to get my next tickets on a different airline. So I had to exit security and find the Continental ticket booth...that was a treck! So I finally found it, and the guy was telling me I wasn't supposed to be there, even though on my ticket it explicitly told me to stop at the Continental ticketing booth. UGH! So I had to walk outside in the rain with my laptop bruising my leg (cause it was in the top of my duffell due to security...don't try that at home. it hurts when you walk.) with 2 coats in the really warm weather. I smelled BAD. It was not fun cause I was really dizzy and shaky cause I hadn't eaten a bite in 12 hours, and I was lost and confused and hot. But finally I found the international airport (a completely different building) and they were kind over there. I went to the Eva Air, and they put me in the Elite class instead of the regular. Not sure why, but i didn't make a difference on the plane...I just had a shorter line. So I finally got my ticket and found out where I had to go, went through security for about the 3rd or 4th time the trip (don't worry...there were more in other airports too) and finally found the gate. I got a hot dog for $4, and finally ate SOMETHING. So from LAX I flew to Taiwan. And here's where my next story starts.

SO the guy I was sitting next to on the plane was very nice. But there was that language barrior. Every once in a while he would say something to me in English...like "it's slow" or something like that. But I figured that because he ordered in Chinese and was speaking to me in very short sentances that he did not know English. WRONG! haha I feel bad now. After deboarding and getting to the gate for Macau (which took me FOREVER to find out cause it looked like a bunch of symbols!), I saw him there. He was like, "didn't we sit by each other on the plane?" and we got into a long conversation about how he was a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, and he is here for a 1 day conference. He's originally from Taiwan, but he's on his way to Macau right now. So we talked. Too bad I didn't know he spoke English! I should quit assuming things, I guess!

I have another 4 hours before I get to Macau and get to meet the people at the English center there. Then I will be there for a few days, then on Wednesday (my time...so Tuesday) I will head to Jmen to meet my "family" and teach English :)
The airport here has free internet, so I was really happy to be able to send out a message while I'm waiting! I found where to buy international calling cards, and my only hope now is that they accept USD! I sure hope so.

If anybody asks, let them know that I am doing well, and survived my first unofficial Chinese meal...it was pasta with chicken and a white sauce...doesnt sound too Chinese, but it was different--I promise. I ate about 5 bites. Well, it's probably time for me to go find that calling card. I love you ALL! I will keep you updated as much as I can :)

My best to you all :)
-Alissa

12/16

The people are very nice, and I am just hanging out this morning, and going to go see the city a bit. I saw a little bit yesterday, and it was...great. It's a little unnerving, but that will soon pass. The apartment is an adventure. I will show pictures sometime. Yesterday I went around with one of the teachers and he showed me all the places I need to know: like the place to get really good tea. I had cold strawberry milk tea, and since we are foreigners, we are VIP's, and get a dollar off our drinks :)

I also need to buy a backpack because the luggage I brought won't really work with what I need for daily life...like bringing my computer to and from the language center. But whatever works. I am excited to start. I have a "lead" in the play for some of the seasonal festivities we are having around here--and we get to say it in Cantanese too :) I get to learn! The reason "lead" is in quotes is cause it's not actually a lead...it's more like the mother...I think you know what I mean. If not I'll explain when I get back. I've never played that part before... Haha they told me right away..."by the way! guess what?!" :)

I hope to pick up on the language. It is hard to go day to day without being able to speak with the people. All the people both Chinese and foreign in the English center speak English (obviously...) so I can speak with them, and the ladies are more than happy to help us translate. But it would be nice to learn the language myself. None of the other foreigners actually know the language either...

It is about 10:30am right now, and I am just waiting to see what I am going to do for the next month. I am not sure what/when I will be teaching, but we'll figure it out. All I know is that it will be english, but I am not sure what age group I'll be teaching to.

The work is amazing here. There are so many opportunities to teach. Everyone wants to learn. English is a great way for them to get better jobs and more respect.

Last night the foreigners took me out to eat. We went to this cute place, and since none of us knew the language, we picked the pictures that looked the best. All the food is family style, so since there were 7 of us, we ordered 8 dishes. They put it on a Lazy Susan and we share the food. You start out the meal by sitting down and cleansing all of your bowls and chopsticks with hot tea, because it has amazing cleansing powers. And then you get tea to drink, and you order your food. They bring it out as soon as it's done...they don't wait until everything is ready like they do in the states. So if you order dessert, it will come out as soon as it's ready...sometimes before some of the other food. It was pretty good food. We had dumplings, pork, lamb, veggies, and some other stuff. It was good. Typically for lunch they order out and then go out for supper. Bob and Eileen (who I am staying with) typically cook, but everyone else orders out and stuff.

I should probably go so that I can go shopping and the like. I have to get that backpack! I will write more later, but this is all for now. Well, I wish everyone good luck with finals and the like, and hope that everything is well at home!

I send my love!
-Alissa

Macau

So today I spent the day in Macau. Last night I went to bed around 8pm and woke up at 6am...3 hours before everyone else! I spent the morning getting ready, facebooking, finding the guitar and playing it a bit, and eating dragonfruit! That was an adventure! I took a video, and am trying to upload it to facebook (while I still can before I go to mainland tomorrow where it is blocked!) so that some people can see it. It says there are 3 hours and 17 minutes left, and based on how slow it's been going I'll have to say I believe it!
Anyway..... Today. I went with Jon and Doris to the Concordia English Center. It was a good time. The morning I spent just sitting around reading the newspaper and facebooking. Then we had lunch together and some Chinese people came over. We ordered out, and I got rice with beef and onions. It was pretty good. Then I sat around while they had a meeting, and yeah. It was relaxing. I had the task of getting Christmas decorations out, too. That was an adventure. The "closet" was extremely packed...I had to PULL some racks of chairs out of the closet then pull out ANOTHER rack of chairs, and then finally look through all the boxes to see what was Christmas decorations. I pulled it out. I also pulled out all of the Christmas play stuff, but had to put it back cause they didn't want it out.
Then we just...waited. I ate supper (which I had purchased in the supermarket... frozen Beef Ho Fun...beef with noodles. (More like 2 very small pieces of beef and lots of pasta). I ate it with chopsticks, and the Chinese were impressed that I already knew how to use them :)
Then, we waited for people to get there. About 6 Chinese people came. We sang songs, watched a movie about the birth of Jesus, and decorated for Christmas. Oh--and had lots of treats.
They were very nice. I think I will love it here. Granted it will be different in the mainland, but I'm sure it will be wonderful.
I went to the 7-11 and got a Slurpee today. It was good. :)
I think that's about all I have for now. But it's really late and time for me to go to bed! I am getting tired since I've been up since 5:45am and it is now 12am!! I am ready to sleep.
Well, this will probably be my last personal blog. I head off to the mainland tomorrow and will no longer be able to access it. Megan will keep you updated though.
Have a wonderful day...night...day... whatever. Have a good one!
-Alissa

My first day in Macau

So. I am now in Macau! I made it.
The people here are SO nice! I love it. I got a shower, a tour of the city, and a couple wonderful meals! OH--and I have an AMAZING view! I'm attempting to access facebook right now to upload pictures, but it's not loading.

It was confirmed that all social networking sites ARE blocked in China, and even chat programs are blocked...Skype is not, though. Unfortunately, with the time difference, it doesnt make that much of a difference because it will be a while before I can use it with friends! Plus I don't have my webcam with me so I would only be able to use the typing function.

I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The place is amazing. The culture is so different! Brinn was the girl who picked me up. She's so nice (and from Wisconsin...she lived in Sheboygan!). We walked around Macau and ate at a famous dumpling place. Luckily most of the stuff here in Macau is in Portugese in addition to Cantanese, so I can understand most of the signs because I speak Spanish. But I was informed that once I make it to mainland China, I will not understand anything. It's ALL Cantanese...and the Chinese characters. No Portugese on the signs. The little Mandarin that I learned will be useless, as I probably learned simplified (4 tones) or traditional has 6 tones, but in Cantanese there are 9 tones...and I don't know how I will be able to handle that! Every once in a while they said it's written out so that you can read it if you are a Westerner, but for the most part it's just the symbold. But I hope that my host family will be able to help me out with that.

I'm not used to being the one who doesn't understand the language. I can usually pick up on what people are saying. Not here. And body language is different. If you motion "come here" like you would in America, you are actually saying "go away." If you make the motion with your palm DOWN instead of up...and kind of shake your hand up and down...THAT is how you say "come here" in the Chinese culture.

They will just stop while walking. You'll be walking behind them, and all of the sudden you run into them because they just stopped dead in their tracks. They also STARE. It's horrible. Well--not really, but I'm just not used to it. It's not impolite in their culture to stare. They will just look at you for a long time with no shame...cause they don't even realize it's impolite to us.
I also was seated at a table with other people. Brinn and I were eating, and there were 3 school-aged kids who were seated with us. They moved when a table opened up, and an older lady was seated with us, soon followed by a different couple. It was kind of fun, but they just stare. They don't say hi.

So many more stories could be told, but they're better told in person! I have stories about a lady with a cart full of flowers, and a few more I'm sure. I just can't think. I haven't slept since 1:30am local time, and it's now almost 8pm. I will probably be going to sleep very soon. I am just hoping that facebook will load so that I can upload the wonderful pictures that I have of the Taiwan airport and of Macau.

I have a BEAUTIFUL view from my room. I can see downtown Macau and I can actually see mainland China from my room. The lights are beautiful. There is a large windowsil so tomorrow I might sit in it and read...just like you see in the movies, but we don't have those in the USA...at least I never did! Haha.

Tomorrow I have a big day. I went grocery shopping, and bought food for tomorrow. I bought mandarine oranges, dragonfruit (yes, dragonfruit!), and a frozen dinner. I also got LIFE cereal and some fake milk to put in it. It's milk from either Singapore or the Phillapenes. I was told that milk from mainland is bad. So I have to read lables! (if in English, that is!)

I was given keys to the apartment here....guess what that means?! I might be on my own. They really trust me, I guess. I don't know if I'll be able to find my way. Plus I don't have my cell phone yet. I will be getting one in mainland, but they didn't get me one for 2 days in Macau (which is COMPLETELY understandable. I wouldn't have either. I can use this time without a cellphone to...idk...be liberated haha) But they gave me a sheet with phone numbers, plus with the addresses written in Chinese so that I can ask for directions...or give a taxi driver the sheet, point to where I have to go, and get there safely :) Someone was thinking!

Well, I think I should probably attempt to sleep. Facebook is not loading, so it will have to wait until tomorrow...or for 6 weeks. I won't get it in mainland, so after tomorrow I am out of luck for sharing photos.

Well, goodnight! It's more like good morning there, as it's about 6am...but it's 8pm here and I'm SOOOOO very tired. Hopefully sleep comes fast and lasts for a long time! It's off to the English center at 8:30 tomorrow morning, and I will not get back 'til late! We have an "Eat and Greet" at 12:30-2, I have initiation/orientation after that, and we have a meeting at night. I'm not exactly sure what it's for, but they are probably going to ask me to stay.

Hey Everyone!

It's Monday morning here in Taiwan! I am leaving in about 2 hours for Macau, and will be meeting the people at the language center there in about 4 hours! Thank goodness for free Internet!

I think I am experiencing culture shock already! Not too many people speak English. Well, some do, and I am seeing a lot of United States faces, but not as many.

I should probably get going, but hopefully everything is wonderful back at home!

Megan will be updating when I can't...hopefully she'll see this and post what I just e-mailed to her, cause I am not able to type that much, and the browser is all in Chinese so I can't figure out how to create a new tab to copy and paste haha. Well, I'm off.

Have a wonderful day!

TODAY!

Well, I leave for China today! I am eating lunch in an hour with a bunch of friends, and then will be off to the airport! I am excited to go. I just re-packed my bag so that everything fit...hopefully it will still fit when I come back! I guess I don't have anything new to say, except I figured out that Megan will be updating my blog while I'm gone. I'll send her e-mails and she'll put them on the blog :)
I guess this will probably be my shortest post. Usually I'm long-winded in my writing so this will be a nice relief from my usual style :)
Have a Merry Christmas!
Alissa

So I leave tomorrow! Crazy stuff. I just finished my classwork...well...except for a couple worksheets.
I won't be able to blog while in China...it will most likely be blocked, plus I can't take the chance of certain information coming to me on the web. So I will be letting my mom or roommate...not sure yet...update my blog while I'm gone. I'll send updates to them and you will be able to read them then :)
I am excited to go. It's a strange excited, though, cause I'm really subdued. I think it's just cause of the stress. But it will be ok! I am still in disbelief that I'm going to China tomorrow, but I guess I will be that way probably until I get there. Anyway, it's time for me to go finish laundry and cleaning and getting last minute things done.
I heard from the other english teachers I'm staying with, and she told me that she likes to bake :) They have made use of the toaster oven in wonderful ways!! Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. So I'm excited to experiment with them!
I'm also excited to be working there. I am not sure how it will go, because I've never taught English before, and I will have to come up with creative methods of instruction! I think that it will really help me in the future with whatever I am doing, though. Also answering their questions will be a very important part of my job...making sure to correctly answer them and to help them grow! His will be done, right?
Well, time for me to go, as I said before!!
Blessings to all :) You are all loved by "the Big Guy" :)

SO I have 9-1/2 days until I leave for China...WOW!

I started packing today. I still have a book report to do, and am putting that off by a) packing for China, and b) blogging about China! I am so excited for this trip.

But for now I have to concentrate on school a little bit... I am taking all of my finals a week early...next week to be exact. So I have a week and a half left of school...and that is classes PLUS finals, all jam packed together. FUN!

So I guess it's off to attempt to get to my book report...

So I have 2 weeks and 1 day until I leave! I am very excited, but also nervous at the same time.
I am home for Thanksgiving break! It's very nice to be home and everything, but not nice when you are sick. Yesterday (Thanksgiving) I was in bed with a fever ALL day. I was awake for 4 hours consecutively, and that's the longest I was awake all day. I am still recovering, and hope to be able to go back to school on Monday. Making the drive will be difficult when sick, so I'm just hoping for a full, speedy recovery: espeically so that I can get classes done so I can leave for China! I am finally getting all of my finals scheduled so that I can take them all a week or so early.

I heard that it's VERY cold there. It's about 50 degrees EVERYWHERE...inside and out. So it sounds like I'll be needing to bring lots of warm clothing and such. Even though 50s are normal (and even warm!) around here...we can escape to a 70 degree house. There it's cold all over. So it will be different than what I am used to!

I found out that when I'm in China, I will probably not be able to use this blog...but don't worry. I'll have my mom update it while I'm gone. I'll send her e-mails and she can post. :)

SO I was at a conference this weekend in Chicago, and I was asked when I left for China. The date happened to be November 12, and I realized that it is just ONE MONTH before I leave! (Well, now less than a month!) I am super excited for this! I still have some papers to send in, and some things to take care of, but for the most part I am ready. I got some mental readiness this weekend at the conference as I talked with people who are currently doing the exact same thing that I am about to do: teach English in Asia! They encouraged me as I will be on my way soon!

I saw God working so much in my life this week. I walked downtown Chicago and just saw the crap that there was. There were so many homeless and hopeless. My heart just went out to them. I wasn't able to do much, but I was able to talk with a few people downtown and hear what was going on. It's hard to just see through the fake story that they tell you and realize that behind that front there is a hurting man. I don't know if the message of hope got across to the man I talked to, but I think that he at least heard about the Christian homeless shelter and will find his way there. After that, he will hopefully hear about what Christ has done for him! Isn't God good?!

Well, I'm off to play some frisbee :) Gotta love playing Ultimae on warm fall days!

Wow. It's NOVEMBER already!!! I leave in 5 weeks and 4 days! I am so excited to be able to teach English to the people in China. It is a new experience for me, and I hope that the blessings will overflow! I want to thank everyone who is supporting my trip, and am so pumped that this opportunity has come up!

The dates for the trip are December 12, 2009-January 22, 2010! (Rapidly approaching!)


What I've been doing so far....

• I've been reading. A lot. I've been googleing China and looking at the geography, weather, population, etc. I've been looking at photos of past English teachers, and have been familiarizing myself with the place I will be spending more than a month in!
• I got my visa! It arrived in the mail yesterday, which makes this even more of a reality that I am actually leaving soon!
• I have been filling out LOTS of paperwork including insurance stuff and contract-like stuff. It's great :)
• I have been reading books on traveling in general, and about my specific trip! It's been encouraging hearing what others have to say who have been in China or similar countries in terms of what I will be doing. It may be challenging teaching English when I do not speak Chinese! I found out that I will be teaching some free classes and also helping out with some of the long-term teacher's classes as well.

I am on my way home this weekend to get a few more things in order, such as medicine/vaccinations (and making sure they're up to date!) and getting my car fixed so that it can survive the Wisconsin winter without me!! I'm also making sure I can see my friends back home before I head off for over a month, completely missing Christmas AND my birthday at home! :( But that's ok. I will get to celebrate it in China! :)

I am so excited! I am preparing to go to China for about a month, and everything is starting! I am still waiting on the contact information, and am excited for this direction that God is taking me. As soon as more information becomes avaliable, I will let you know :)