{"id":284,"date":"2009-11-30T12:04:07","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T04:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/?p=284"},"modified":"2009-11-30T12:04:07","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T04:04:07","slug":"football-turkey-pumpkin-pie-and-chopsticks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/?p=284","title":{"rendered":"Football, Turkey, Pumpkin Pie, and Chopsticks"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am thankful…<\/p>\n

…for my students at the FOC school.\u00a0 Even though my third graders drive me crazy most of the time, there are glimpses of progress.\u00a0 I continue to pr-y for the six-year-old third grader that I have in my class.\u00a0 Just Saturday, I noticed his motor skills were lacking tremendously.\u00a0 He could not use a scissors.\u00a0 But his English–reading and speaking–is phenomenal!\u00a0 I still have trouble grasping how this does not transfer to his writing.\u00a0 We made paper turkeys and colored cornucopias.\u00a0 Under the cornucopia, each student was to list what he or she was thankful for.\u00a0 One of my students said G-d and J-sus.\u00a0\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I couldn’t help but smile.\u00a0 One of my seventh graders brings his Holy Book with him to class each week.\u00a0 During our break times he reads it.\u00a0 Saturday, I asked him if he had a children’s B Study that he goes to.\u00a0 He told me that his parents are not Chr–tian.\u00a0 Keep this young man in your pr-yers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

…for my students at Qinghua University.\u00a0 I look forward to this class each week with great anticipation!\u00a0 It is hard to describe how much I love these students.\u00a0 Most of them are in their late 20s or early 30s.\u00a0\u00a0Last week I taught them American Football.\u00a0 The other American teacher, Shane (who has the same students on opposite days), let me come to his Monday class and we team-taught them the rules of the game.\u00a0 Since each class is only an hour and a half, we had both classes come to both time slots.\u00a0 After we taught them the object of the game and how to play it (we kept it really basic), we gave them a 15-20 minute break before heading to the field to play.\u00a0 During this break, many of the students were discussing the rules in Chinese.\u00a0 I only knew this because another student told me!\u00a0 Football was hilarious.\u00a0 They had a hard time transferring what was on the paper to the field.\u00a0 Even Shane kept telling them that it would be easier to show them than to tell them.\u00a0 After a great time on the field, a few of the students invited Shane and me to have lunch with them.\u00a0 This was also quite enjoyable!\u00a0 After that, I went home to work on my lessons for the next day.\u00a0 Two of the other teachers and I were planning to have supper together that evening so I asked them if they would mind me inviting some of my students to join us.\u00a0 They both agreed to this and the texting began.\u00a0 That evening we had supper with four Chinese men.\u00a0 My American friends had only heard about my students before this episode.\u00a0 They now understand why I have such a good time in class!\u00a0 I’m starting a new B study with a few of them this week.\u00a0 I have just over a month left with these students as many of them will be traveling abroad for business in the new year.\u00a0 I may never see some of these people again and it makes me so, so sad. \ud83d\ude41\u00a0 Keep them in your Pr-yers as I use what little time I have left with them to share J-sus with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

…for my students at Sinopec.\u00a0 These men have come a long way since I first met them in September.\u00a0 Although I haven’t had a full class in a few weeks, we still have decent discussions.\u00a0 Many of them miss class because they have to go back for work.\u00a0 Most of them return but I think I have lost one for good.\u00a0 I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. \ud83d\ude41\u00a0 The past week, I only had four students.\u00a0 Two were gone for work and two were sick.\u00a0 A couple weeks ago they told me that they didn’t like to use the book and that they would rather have a discussion about real topics.\u00a0 This is what I wanted from them since the class started!\u00a0 Their English has been improving tremendously.\u00a0 It is fun to hear them discuss things in English.\u00a0 The other day, the discussion got heated!\u00a0 They couldn’t help themselves….Chinese, Chinese, Chinese.\u00a0 I tried to stop them!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n

…for Mr. Wang.\u00a0 He is never on time when I am supposed to meet him to get paid.\u00a0 In one breath he tells me that I look like a boy.\u00a0 In the next he tells me that my Qinghua students love me.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0If I ever write a book, I’ll include a character like Mr. Wang in it.\u00a0 He can be so endearing but also\u00a0very frustrating.\u00a0 He’s a walking contradiction.\u00a0 But when I tell others about Mr. Wang I can’t help but smile. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n

…for full-sized ovens and other cooking conveniences.\u00a0 China teaches people to improvise.\u00a0 We have a toaster-oven in our apartment so you can imagine how fun that was to cook a turkey.\u00a0 My roommate discovered this when she was working on our turkey for Thanksgiving dinner!\u00a0 It turned out great!\u00a0 We had about 20 people at our apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.\u00a0 We had our Thanksgiving service on Sunday morning.\u00a0 The service had special music and we could smell the food cooking.\u00a0 It was awesome!\u00a0 A friend of mine, one of the other foreigners that I teach with at Sinopec, joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.\u00a0 I think he was missing home a little.\u00a0<\/p>\n

…efficient forms of transportation.\u00a0 On the 17th I found out that my class at Sinopec on Thursday was cancelled.\u00a0 I was pretty excited because that gave me two days off in a row!\u00a0 On the 18th I found out that I might have to go to Hong Kong to renew my visa.\u00a0 Early in the morning on the 19th I found myself on an airplane to Shenzhen (right next to Hong Kong) so that I could take care of this visa problem.\u00a0 I wasn’t thrilled to go because I knew I wouldn’t be able to spend much time there.\u00a0 This was the first traveling I did on my own in China.\u00a0 I had help buying the plane tickets and I was given instructions for what to do when I got there.\u00a0 Hmmm….\u00a0 So when I landed I was supposed to find a certain bus to take me to the border so that I could go through customs into Hong Kong.\u00a0 I found a bus but I wasn’t sure it was THE bus.\u00a0 So I called the teacher who helped me get the plane tickets that morning and he talked to the lady by the bus for me.\u00a0 She handed the phone back to me and he said, ‘do whatever she tells you to!’\u00a0 That would have been great advice for someone who speaks Chinese! AHHHH!!\u00a0 So, I just went with it and bought a ticket for this bus.\u00a0 I was on the bus for a while and arrived at the appropriate place.\u00a0 I crossed the border and then bought a subway ticket so that I could get to right place.\u00a0 When I got off the subway, I wasn’t really sure where I was supposed to go.\u00a0 So I called someone at ALS for directions.\u00a0 I had to use a payphone because my China phone does not work in Hong Kong.\u00a0 I made it to ALS where I met wonderful people who were all busy that afternoon.\u00a0 So, I was given a couple maps of the city and told to have fun!\u00a0 I decided to take the subway to the island and then take the ferry back.\u00a0 It was really nice to be by myself all afternoon without a phone.\u00a0 I’m including a few pictures from Hong Kong below.\u00a0 I can’t wait to go back in February for our retreat and (since it will be perfect timing) to renew my visa once again!!\u00a0 I am also thankful for the Siirilas for letting me stay at their apartment when I was there!<\/p>\n

…for my Chinese friends: the friends that I ‘inherited’ when I got here and the new friends that I’ve made since coming.\u00a0 For Jay, Ross, Maggie, Peter, and Michael from my Qinghua class.\u00a0 Michael came to one study and is so excited to come to another one!\u00a0 He said he’s going to bring a friend.\u00a0 For Kevin who I met on the train.\u00a0 He still comes to studies, though I think that he struggles understanding much of them.\u00a0 I honestly never thought that I would rather spend time with my Chinese friends than my American friends.\u00a0 This realization hit me a couple of weeks ago when I found myself looking first to my Chinese friends when I was making plans for supper or hanging out.\u00a0 Now, I can’t wait to hang out with them again!\u00a0<\/p>\n

…for the opportunity to share HIS GOOD NEWS with many Chinese friends.\u00a0 It’s great to see people who have never heard about HIM learn of HIM for the first time.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

…for friends and family back in the states who are Pr-ying for us.\u00a0 I enjoy hearing about what is happening there also!\u00a0 It was nice to chat with each of my family members on Thanksgiving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Highlights of the past two weeks:\u00a0 dinner with students, Hong Kong and staying with\u00a0the Siirilas, Tuesday night B study, Football with my students, and eating pumpkin pie with chopsticks!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A

A view of Hong Kong Island from the ferry.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

A view of a building in the financial district on the island. <\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

The island at night. This was without a tripod. I can't wait to go back and actually have my tripod!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"On

On the way to the airport in Hong Kong I saw this message. This was after I spoke to the driver whilst the vehicle was in motion. I was also standing forward of yellow line! Notice the driver is on the right side of the bus.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am thankful… …for my students at the FOC school.\u00a0 Even though my third graders drive me crazy most of the time, there are glimpses of progress.\u00a0 I continue to pr-y for the six-year-old third grader that I have in my class.\u00a0 Just Saturday, I noticed his motor skills were lacking tremendously.\u00a0 He could not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.schlomer.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}