American Thanksgiving is coming up, which means this coming weekend is a long one for us! We get Friday off! We're planning a trip to Xi'an which was a former capital of China. It is also the site of the Terracotta Warrior Army, if you've ever heard of that. We're taking an overnight train Thursday night, arriving Friday morning. We'll spend Friday and Saturday there then come back on the train Saturday night. It should be an adventure since neither of us have travelled by train yet here. It's about 8hrs by train. We could fly but that costs more money.
We also finalized our Christmas plans this week. we're leaving here the 17th of Dec. and flying to Southern China where we'll spend a night with friends in Hong Kong. then we'll head over to Macau and fly from there to Manila. We're excited about going somewhere warm and having 3 weeks off! there are only 4 weeks left until the end of the semester, which means we have to start thinking about report cards again! really feels like we just finished those. but this semester is shorter than next semester.
lots going on around here. we had a seemingly busy week. lots of stuff happening with accreditation of the school. so many meetings and extra things to take care of. the students are also busy getting ready for the Christmas program. this week we also made a spontaneous outing to see the Chinese Acrobats. so amazing! seemed like a short program for almost $30. oh well, we had fun going with a group of friends.
we also had small group on Friday night. we're meeting with, so far, 2 other married couples. it's great to learn from one another. we're all at different stages in our marriages. one couple has been married for 2 years, and the other for 16. it's great to share our experiences and grow together.
yesterday we had my co-worker and her husband over for dinner and then we played Settlers! they've played it before, but hadn't in awhile so this was a refresher. but they are excited to play again! we're really enjoying the ch-rch we're going to. it really feels like it's full of authentic christians. we've been asked to share our stories, or give our testimonies. we'll probably do that in the next couple of weeks.
anyways, it really is feeling like home here. we've made our home together and everything is 'familiar' now. we have our routines, but always have things that throw us off. actually, about a week ago I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of a woman crying. it sounded so close. it must've been upstairs. she was wailing and it sounded like she was just aching with grief. It kept me up for awhile...all I could do was pray for her. I have no idea why she was crying. she could've been mourning someone, or maybe it was domestic abuse (which is common here)...and it kinda haunted me into the next day....it's as if G-d wanted me to know about the pain that many women suffer in China. we've heard about it from other places before, but this time I felt it deep down.
Scott and I are happy to be here, growing together....I can catch a small glimpse of the work He is already doing in our hearts to open our eyes to what he's doing, and to see the people he loves deeply. (you should all read Sacred Revolution by Shane Claiborne)
zaitian!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
first weekend apart....
yes, Scott and I actually spent a weekend apart! He wanted to help at youth camp. I was going to, but felt it might be too tiring, and I'd rather stay at home to relax and take care of some things. we both had good weekends. I went out for dinner with a co-worker then she came over and we watched Planet Earth (nerds!). On Saturday I went with another co-worker and her visitor to an Antiques market. so busy! and what a great big place! I didn't buy anything big because we don't want to accumulate many things here, but I found a couple of interesting small things. including a birthday present for Scott. I'll tell you about it later!
back at home I decided it was finally time to go out and buy a little vacuum. we'd talked about it but never actually gone to buy one! and I could go find what I wanted! I found a powerful little dust-buster...didn't realize how LOUD it was until I got home. but at least it sucks up a lot of dirt!
as I was cleaning this weekend I may have gotten a little excited about the power of bleach! I was looking at our ugly, tiny counter, and all the little stains it had...and I thought "I wonder if bleach would take this out?!" sure enough, as soon as I poured some on it started to clear up! cheap counters! how terrible. but at least it looks nice now.
I also took advantage of the weekend on my own to watch a girly movie (Girl with a Peral Earring) - based on a novel, about the Dutch painter Vermeer and his famous painting. I also slept very soundly this weekend! no one to wake me up with their snoring :)
anyways, I have some more marking to do before my class comes back from gym class.
ta-ta for now!
back at home I decided it was finally time to go out and buy a little vacuum. we'd talked about it but never actually gone to buy one! and I could go find what I wanted! I found a powerful little dust-buster...didn't realize how LOUD it was until I got home. but at least it sucks up a lot of dirt!
as I was cleaning this weekend I may have gotten a little excited about the power of bleach! I was looking at our ugly, tiny counter, and all the little stains it had...and I thought "I wonder if bleach would take this out?!" sure enough, as soon as I poured some on it started to clear up! cheap counters! how terrible. but at least it looks nice now.
I also took advantage of the weekend on my own to watch a girly movie (Girl with a Peral Earring) - based on a novel, about the Dutch painter Vermeer and his famous painting. I also slept very soundly this weekend! no one to wake me up with their snoring :)
anyways, I have some more marking to do before my class comes back from gym class.
ta-ta for now!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Thanksgiving again!
tonight our staff is having a social....celebrating Canadian and the upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday. the hotel where our main campus is located agreed to roast the turkeys for us, which is a big deal. because there are only a few staff that have full-size ovens and it's a big job, especially to then bring it to the school. I'm going to make carrot cake this afternoon for the ocassion.
this week was a short week of classes, but a busy one! we had parent-teacher conferences Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. about half of them had Korean translators....which made for one awkward situation when the translator was the mother of another boy in my class. it's been stressful for me....I found out some things about some of my students. for example, one boy I thought had poor English because he just came from korea. but he's actually been attending international schools his whole life. so he's not fluent in either english or korean! a bit of a shock. I barely understand him when he speaks, and his writing is terrible.
and then a big incident between two girls. they came to me on Thursday morning to say that one of the girl's diary and wallet were missing. I found out from the mother on Friday morning that it was that same friend who stole it! one mother came to me crying about the situation, meanwhile the guilty one's mother didn't want to talk about it and brushed it off as not important! social situations seem particularly important to korean parents. another mother was crying to me because she feels bad about taking her daughter out of her previous school where she had close relationships. AAHHHH!!! I just have to remember not to allow their burdens to become mine.
what else have we been up to? umm....last weekend we tried to find a community center in a migrant village where we were going to volunteer for the morning. but we couldn't find it! but it was a good experience to walk around in this poor migrant village, which is right here in Beijing, not far from our house! welcome to China!
our neighbours also came over last weekend and taught us how to make dumplings and play Mah Jong. really nice of them! we are quite blessed to have neighbours like them.
last night we had another small group with two other married couples. we're studying a book by a christi-n author about communication. it's nice to fellowship with other married couples. so far we just hang out with non-marrieds our age.
anyways, I should go do some laundry, cleaning and baking. I'm really hoping to get a dust-buster or some sort of little vacuum. the dust is just overwhelming! Scott's at another soccer tournament. oh, and he starts coaching girl's volleyball next week. meanwhile I'll just get used to this teaching thing :)
this week was a short week of classes, but a busy one! we had parent-teacher conferences Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. about half of them had Korean translators....which made for one awkward situation when the translator was the mother of another boy in my class. it's been stressful for me....I found out some things about some of my students. for example, one boy I thought had poor English because he just came from korea. but he's actually been attending international schools his whole life. so he's not fluent in either english or korean! a bit of a shock. I barely understand him when he speaks, and his writing is terrible.
and then a big incident between two girls. they came to me on Thursday morning to say that one of the girl's diary and wallet were missing. I found out from the mother on Friday morning that it was that same friend who stole it! one mother came to me crying about the situation, meanwhile the guilty one's mother didn't want to talk about it and brushed it off as not important! social situations seem particularly important to korean parents. another mother was crying to me because she feels bad about taking her daughter out of her previous school where she had close relationships. AAHHHH!!! I just have to remember not to allow their burdens to become mine.
what else have we been up to? umm....last weekend we tried to find a community center in a migrant village where we were going to volunteer for the morning. but we couldn't find it! but it was a good experience to walk around in this poor migrant village, which is right here in Beijing, not far from our house! welcome to China!
our neighbours also came over last weekend and taught us how to make dumplings and play Mah Jong. really nice of them! we are quite blessed to have neighbours like them.
last night we had another small group with two other married couples. we're studying a book by a christi-n author about communication. it's nice to fellowship with other married couples. so far we just hang out with non-marrieds our age.
anyways, I should go do some laundry, cleaning and baking. I'm really hoping to get a dust-buster or some sort of little vacuum. the dust is just overwhelming! Scott's at another soccer tournament. oh, and he starts coaching girl's volleyball next week. meanwhile I'll just get used to this teaching thing :)
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