We live in China! That's legit!

I’m back!  Sorry I haven’t posted on here in so long; I am not very good at this blogging thing!  Life in China is still really good!  It is Day 22 and it is starting to feel like I live here.  WEIRD! 

Before I begin talking about the past two weeks, I want to tell you about my team in Huangshi.  I will be using their names a lot during my posts, since we hang out all of the time.  There are seven of us who live in Huangshi from Zhong Relations.  Paul and Erin Korson are the married couple from Michigan and teach at the No. 3 high school.  Aaron Noble is from Michigan and lives with Kevin Bruce the Canadian.  They both teach at the No. 8 middle school.  Chelsie Priest is from Ohio, but lived in South Carolina all during college, so she understands southerners! Haha She teaches at No. 16 middle school.  Just wanted you to have a little info about these peeps!

Last week was pretty crazy!  We got back from Wuhan last Sunday, which included awesome American food and fellowship time with the team.  It was so nice to see everyone in Wuhan and get to catch up since we haven’t seen each other since training in August.  On the way back to Huangshi, we took a van, which included wooden bench seats.  Let’s just say they weren’t the most comfortable seats ever.  I got a little motion sickness, but it all turned out okay!  Later Sunday night we got a call from our waiban, Diana, saying that we wouldn’t be teaching our Grade 1 students that week because they had military training.  SWEET!  We had only taught one week at this point and now we get another week off! 

The 2011-2012 Zhong Relations team in Wuhan

During our week off, we tried to explore Huangshi more.  We took a walk to the lakes that are on the outskirts of the city and surrounded by mountains.  It was a nice change of pace from where we live in the middle of downtown.  On Friday, we walked to the lakes, had a picnic lunch and read our books under a Chinese gazebo.  It was so peaceful!  On our way back to our apartment, we got a little lost. Haha It all turned out okay though because we found this awesome bakery, with legit chocolate cake that looks like a swiss roll.  Yummy!



One of the lakes



On Saturday, we headed up to the school to watch our students perform for military training.  At first, I wasn’t sure what this training would be like and thought it might be very intense.  However, it was not that hard core and the students seemed to enjoy it.  It mainly teaches them discipline and respect.  For all my dance team friends, it reminded me of drill downs that we did during dance camp.  Each class did a performance, but most of the routines were the same.  Although we were not supposed to be the main attraction of this performance, we ended up being the focal point after all.  This happens all of the time!  Huangshi is a “small” Chinese town and doesn’t have many foreigners who live here, so we are very popular.  The performance basically turned into a photo shoot.  It started with the teachers wanting pictures with us, then the students, and finally the military trainers took pictures with us too!  CRAZY!  Also, people continually took pictures of us during the performance.  They tried to be sneaky, but we knew what they were doing.  I felt like a total celeb with my sunglasses on pretending to be ignorant of the paparazzi.  Hehe

The rest of the weekend was spent with the Carpenters (the founders of Zhong Relations), who came to visit us in Huangshi.  We went to a Chinese flea market, which looked like legit China, including stalls with anything and everything you could imagine.  There was food, shoes, clothes, yarn, art stores, bedding, etc.  We found foam for our beds there! Yay! Our beds are not as hard as rocks anymore.  They are still very firm, but much better than they were prior to the foam.  We then got massages, which were heavenly, got our toes painted and headed to dinner.  Sunday we celebrated Sophia and Ray Ray’s birthdays at KFC.  Sophia is the Carpenters daughter and RayRay is Jessica’s daughter (Paul and Erin’s waiban).  Overall, it was a great weekend!

Luckily, this week has been more “normal” if you can call anything in China “normal”.  I got back into a routine with my teaching schedule.  I am definitely a person who needs some structure in their life!  J  My classes have gone pretty well.  Most of the students are very sweet and shy, but some of the high school boys are ridiculous.  My form of punishment for those that are disrespectful is to make them dance in front of the whole class!  (I stole this idea from one of my teammates, Aaron) They get very embarrassed, but it has been working pretty well so far.  Tuesday was another team member’s birthday (Paul), so we all went out to eat for it.  It was the best meal I have eaten so far in China.  We had green beans, sweet and sour fish, chow mein, and a pork dish that tasted just like bacon! YUM!  It was so good that I barely came up for air.  It is rare that I actually feel full here in China.  My appetite has basically been cut in half, but at this dinner it was back in full force.  We then headed to our apartment for cake, ice cream and presents.  Yay birthdays!  It was such a good night!  I love our Huangshi team!

We also joined a gym this week.  I have only gone twice, but it has been fun both times.  Last night we went to a jazz class that the gym offered.  Lesley and I had no idea what to expect.  It was a lot of popping and reminded me more of hip hop than jazz.  Of course we were the center of attention again and y’all know how much I enjoy that.  The whole gym stopped what they were doing when we walked in and then stood at the door to the jazz class to watch.  The entire class already knew the routine, so we had to pick it up quickly.  Luckily we are both former dancers, so it wasn’t that bad and turned out to be really fun!

Living in China is definitely an adventure.  Every day is different.  Some days are good, some not so good, but He is with me every step of the way.  There is no doubt in my mind that I am here because He wants me to be.  I wouldn’t have chosen this adventure on my own and could not possibly do it by my own strength.  I am already learning how much I need Him every single day and learning how to depend on Him for everything.  “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” Isaiah 40:29. He is good and His love endures forever. 

I love getting your e-mails and updates about your life!  Keep them coming!