Bitten by the Bug

The ever unfriendly little flu bug has been slowly creeping around campus and attacking all the foreign teachers. It began last week and sure enough made its way to me yesterday. I began to feel nauseous yesterday morning in class and told my students I had to teach sitting down. After class I went home and that's when it hit hard! Major chills and aches all over. Then the fever set in and I felt like death had cast its shadow over me. I kept counting down the hours until it was morning in the U.S. because all I wanted was to talk to my mom. I rarely ever get sick, but when I do I become the biggest baby. A mixture of talking with her and taking some traditional Chinese medicine made me feel a little better until about 8 pm. Then it hit all over again and I forced myself to go to sleep in the hopes that sleeping would put me out of my misery. That seemed to do the trick because when I woke up this morning, I was experiencing no symptoms and was well enough to teach again. The silver lining in the sickness was the comfort I got from all the other teachers around me. Most of them have been sick in the last week, so they were all too willing to do anything to help. One of them even bought me a card and stuck it on my door. It is so wonderful how we have all become so close and like a little family just in 2 short months. I am very thankful for the care and support we all are able to offer one another.

On a lighter note, I spent Sunday touring the botanical gardens near campus. One of the Chinese teachers here has been observing my classroom in hopes of improving his Chinese. Last week he invited me along with one other foreign teacher (Marg) to visit the gardens with him and his family. The gardens were so beautiful and afterwards we ate dinner in a private dining room. All the food was organic and had been grown there in the gardens. When I told him how much I loved the food, he ordered some for me to bring back to the apartment and cook throughout the week.

I was unable to visit the orphanage on Friday because of a little mix-up. We went downtown and couldn't find the building. Don thinks they moved offices and forgot to tell him. He rescheduled the meeting for this Friday afternoon, so please continue to pray with me about this opportunity and the possibilities it could hold.

Prayer Requests

**Language study- I find myself getting frustrated often with the language, which definitely affects my attitude towards learning. I also don't study nearly as much as I should outside of class. Pray for an attitude adjustment for me so that I might find the language exciting and be more productive in my studies.

**Cultural sensitivity- There are so many cultural things to get used to here and I so often allow myself to revert to my American mindset and become close-minded about many things. Pray for understanding on my part and a willingness to adjust my actions so they don't offend those around me.

Back to the Real World!

Well I had an absolutely wonderful week of rest and relaxation and am ready to reenter the world of working! I was able to get a lot accomplished, but also just had some great down time. I took naps every afternoon and found time to pick back up with my daily running which I have been neglecting lately.

One thing I did last week was got satellite television and it has been really nice. I get all of the major shows including Lost, Amazing Race, and Survivor as well as some syndicated shows like Seinfeld and Friends. The coolest thing about it is that I get two Christian stations, which I wasn't expecting. One of them is TBN. It basically shows The 700 Club, Kenneth Copeland, etc. and the other day had a service from FBC Atlanta with Charles Stanley. The other station is called JCTV (Jesus Christ television) and is MTV for Christian videos, showing music videos and interviews with popular Christian singers all day.

I was also able to find out last week that there is a possiblity that I can volunteer at a local orphanage each week. After seeking the Lord's heart about my place of service in the city, I decided to look into this opportunity but am not 100% sure it will happen. There are some hoops to jump through and I won't know for sure if I can do this until my meeting on Friday with someone who works there. My prayer is that whatever happens I will have peace and know that it is from the Lord. If this opportunity does not work out, then I know God is guiding me in a different direction and I pray for discernment and wisdom as He leads.

Into My Cocoon

You know how caterpillars go into their cocoons and do not emerge back into the world until they have transformed themselves into a beautiful butterfly? Well, this week I have become a caterpillar. Only it is not myself that I am transforming but instead all my lesson plans for the upcoming weeks. Yes, I have become a recluse much to my dismay!
This week is the annual Harvest Festival and so we have been given the entire week off from teaching. Almost all the foreign teachers have left the city and are traveling around China and other parts of Asia. However, I decided to spend this week working on lesson plans and studying my Mandarin. I know many of you are shocked beyond belief because I have always been one to pick social activities over work. I mean we are talking about the girl who stayed at Late Night Cafe "studying" until 5:00 am the night before her big Statistics Mid-Term just so she could hang out with friends. However I knew that if I took off this week and traveled I would feel very overwhelmed when I got back. Then I would then need a vacation from my vacation. So my goal by the end of the week is to have at least the next month of lesson plans figured out and to have mastered Chapters 1&2 in my Mandarin book.
There has been some play amidst the work this week though. Saturday I gave my apartment a much needed makeover (well just my den) and painted it! It is truely amazing what a little coat of paint will do. It already feels homier (not really a word) and I think it has motivated other teachers to paint their apartments as well. I am also going to try my hand at making homemade applesauce tonight. I was really craving some, but you can't buy it here. So we'll see how domestic I can be and hope it turns out somewhat edible.
My big prayer request this week is for the time I will spend with the other foreign teachers who stayed behind. I have had 2 guys ask me over for lunch on 2 separate occassions and I know this will be a great opportunity to share about my love for God and how He brought me here. One of them was in my apartment today and noticed that I had bible verses displayed on the wall. He read them aloud and then asked if I was a Christian. I know he isn't a believer and my prayer is that I can be bold in speaking if the opportunity to share presents itself (which I am sure it will). Ephesians 6:19 has been my prayer for this week, "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel."

Thank you all my brothers and sisters back home and truely "I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3

Week of Firsts!

First class, first dental visit, first time to a new church! Yes, I had a great week with a little bit of scary put into the mix. First of all, my classes last week went very well and I had a great time getting to know all my students. They all picked English names, as is a tradition here for the students, and it was funny to hear the different names they came up with. Some of them wanted really wacky names, which weren't names at all but verbs and random objects instead. I had one guy who wanted to be Seafood and another girl who wanted to be called Bone. I strongly encouraged them to pick a real name, and after some serious persuasion on my part they agreed to change it. The only difficulty I have had so far is the unwillingness most of them have to speak out in class. I got very frustrated today with one of my classes because they weren't participating at all and I took it as laziness and lack of attention. After class I had one guy approach me and tell me that he along with some others are fearful to speak out in class because they are afraid they don't know the correct answer and will be humiliated. I know this will be an obstacle that I will have to help them overcome, but at the same time I want to be sensitive to their feelings of insecurity. My goal throughout the year is to help them feel safe in the classroom both with each other and me, and hopefully through time they will feel more comfortable speaking in class.
My dental visit last week wasn't quite as thrilling. Many of you may remember the agonizing trouble I have had with my tooth since June. Well, I finally got very fed up and just couldn't take the pain anymore. So with some help from Don, I got a translator and took a little trip to the hospital. In a nutshell, I must have a root canal which will take 4 hospital visits. I have completed the first 2 visits and will actually have the root canal in two and a half weeks. I am somewhat frightened because I have heard that the Chinese believe a little pain builds character and I don't think they numb your mouth as much as they do in the States. Well, thank you very much but I think I have enough character and would rather have the drugs! However, it really isn't up to me, so I guess I will just have to put myself in their experienced hands and trust that everything will be alright. The bright side to this adventure is that I got to meet 3 students (one of which is very close to my age) who acted as my translators, and they will probably go with me again on my next visit. I know that God has used this tooth problem to open the possiblity of new friendships, of which I am very thankful!
Yesterday Dee and I visited the other Christian church in the city. It was a wonderful time of worship and for the second week we have been able to use the Pinyin hymnals that we got. Pinyin uses our alphabet to spell the Chinese words, so it makes it easier to read. I know people around us were probably laughing hysterically to themselves because we completely butcher the words, but the important thing is that we are trying and at least now are able to participate during the worship time. After church we met three girls from Indonesia who were sitting next to us. They are studying at the medical university here in the city and are also new to China. We gave them our phone numbers and they seemed excited to get together with us sometime soon. I am thankful for the new people I have met, and pray for continued opportunities to meet and get to know the people around me.

Prayer Requests:
**My students
**My teaching (both lesson planning and actual teaching in the classroom)
**Relationships with other foreign teachers, Chinese staff, and others I have met
**Continued Spiritual Growth