My dearest friends,
Please forgive me for being out of touch for so long. The end of the year went so quickly and China blocked blogspot…Life here is forever interesting. However, I am now in Thailand on vacation so I will finally update. ☺
So much has happened since I posted last in February. In my class we finished our unit on penguins and also studied space, important people of the world, and weather. The kids had wonderful fun with each of these and I grew so much as a teacher in presenting each of these new ideas. It is so wonderful to be able to look back over this last year and see not only how much my students had changed and grown, but also how much I had changed and grown. I hardly remember the scared young woman who moved to China sure that she would fail and damage the children in her class somehow. It is such a blessing to see that not only do my students know more than when they began the year, but they are also better people…and I was able to have a hand in that. I never realized before what a blessing teaching is…you get to help raise children to become all that they can be. It is truly an amazing calling.
Other things have also happened outside the classroom. One of my roommates, Kayla, got very sick and we are still trying to get her well. Thank you so much for your thoughts for her as she is going through this. She seems to be doing better and she has just returned from a month long hiking trip with several students and she has more life and energy then I have seen in her in months. My second roommate, Karen, had a rather hysterical incident when her family came to visit just 1 week ago which had them quarantined in their home for four days because they might possibly have swine flu….Thankfully they did not and she was not only able to spend those 4 days with her family but they were also able to make it to Beijing where they are now enjoying her vacation.
However, I must tell you that though these two girls have come to mean so much to me I have moved into another apartment. One of my friends left Qingdao to get married and her roommate, Kristen, and I have decided to try being roommates. I officially moved into her home about 2 weeks ago. I am so excited to get to know her better after she returns from America. I am also excited to be able to continue to grow my relationship with Karen and Kayla within our small family of staff. That is one thing that I truly love about working in this school. When I moved to Qingdao last year I immediately inherited a wonderful and extremely diverse family. I love them as if I had been born into this family and I will never forget them as long as I live.
For more recent news, the school year ended with no problems and much excitement. However, no rest was to come yet. School ended on Friday and early on Monday morning I began 2 hours of Chinese study each day. Plus my family had come to visit the week before school ended. My mother stayed for two weeks and my sister is still here with me. I found out quickly that trying to show my mother what my life in China was like and show her a good time was more exhausting than teaching school! We had so much fun together though and I enjoyed showing her my passion for this place that I have come to love so much. After she left Liz and I were comatose for a few days before we started to explore again. It is amazing how quickly the four weeks of Chinese study filled up. And I was so happy to find when I came to the end of my Chinese study that I am finally starting to understand. I can’t say very much yet, but I am now able to do a little more than just communicate my needs. I have also found that what everyone says about learning a second language is try…I understand so much more than I am able to say. I have found myself having 20 minute conversations with taxi drivers that don’t consist of much more than saying yes, no, introducing myself, and haltingly sharing what little else I have learned. I am so amazed at the patience of most Chinese people though. They don’t seem annoyed by my slow and confused speech…which I am sure has a very strong English accent…rather they get excited and seem to enjoy listening to my try so much that they keep trying to talk to me though I say “I don’t understand” over and over. It truly makes each day an adventure worth experiencing. ☺
I have also discovered something very interesting about myself this summer…before the summer began I knew that I could possibly be a too devoted to my work but I never thought of myself as a workaholic. I now must honestly say that I truly am a workaholic. In the four weeks since school ended I have planned 2 new units and begun revisions on the ones that are already planned…all this in addition to doing other work in my class, attending and doing Chinese homework, and spending some time relaxing. It has been a lot of fun and yet when my sister and I left for Thailand a few days ago I felt myself excited at the prospect of not being able to and refusing to do work for the next two weeks.
Now Liz and I are in Phuket, Thailand where we will enjoy the next week lying on the beach, snorkeling, canoeing, and hopefully many other fun activities. I can’t wait to see what Thailand has to offer. I’m already enchanted by this beautiful and tropical place. I’ll make sure to put some pictures here and on facebook before I leave. After enjoying Thailand, Liz and I are planning to spend a few days in Beijing and see things like the Great Wall before she goes home at the end of July. What a beautiful vacation it is going to be.
I love you all and I hope you are having an excellent summer!