Hello everyone,
We have really had a great week here in China. We started our English Readings this week and they went wonderful. We have three different groups per week and all of them are talkative and interested in the topics we discuss. They are all full of questions which is a great thing. We have about 15 in each group.
We are really beginning to make more friends here. I recently met a girl on the street who approached me to practice her English. She is not even an English major, which was really brave of her to talk to me. Most people will not do that because they are not confident enough. I am trying to get together with her more to practice her English and to make a new friend. I am trying to take all the opportunities that He gives me to meet people.
My students are all great! This week was our first week to have Freshmen. When I walked into class, they started applauding. It was strange. For many of them, it was their first time to see a foreigner and many were shaking when they had to talk to me. They are all very respectful to their teachers. All of my students are wonderful. I am really working on learning all of their names, which is a challenge. I have around 250 students so it is taking a little longer than I thought it would.
I found a Chinese tutor. I start my lessons today so we will see if a tone deaf person like me can learn Mandarin. I really want to be able to communicate with more people, especially the children here. They are often so fascinated by us and I would love to be able to speak with them. I'll let you know how the language training is coming.
Next week is National Holiday so we get a week off from school. We are going to go traveling around this province. We will take a lot of pictures and post them on our picture website.
We are still homesick, but we know our work is here. We miss everyone at home a lot, but we are beginning to feel better and are excited about the 9 months we have left here. We are meeting and getting to know so many great people and we hope we will be able to impact their lives through Him.
-Jess
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Another week of adventure
We enjoyed our five day weekend. It was relaxing and enjoyable and we got to spend a lot of time with some great people. Saturday was Dustin's (another American teacher) birthday so some of our Chinese friends took us to KTV which is a karaoke place. It is different than what you would expect, which is a good thing. You are in a small room with a tv and microphone. We had about 12 people in the room. It was a blast! Craig and I performed a duet to Take Me Home Country Road by John Denver. Who ever thought that we would karaoke to John Denver in China. We also sang more songs, but that was the most memorable. Sunday we had a Mid-Autumn party with some Chinese friends. We played games and laughed ALOT! They bought Craig and I a beautiful and yummy cake to welcome us to China and Nate and Jess got us a jar of peanut butter and some Miracle Whip! It was a great day and really made us feel more at home.
China is getting better. I still get homesick but I have decided in a way that is a blessing. I have been given such a great family and the best friends anyone could ask for and that is why I miss home so much. It is the people in my life that I miss the most. If I could bring them all here, I would be fine. Any takers?
Yesterday we got the best present ever, Katie brought us CHEESE! I know that may sound silly to you at home. We have not had cheese in a month and it something you don't think you would miss, but believe me you do! We are really learning how to cook here and what we can get and now that we have cheese the possibilities are endless! The only thing I need to work on is making tortillas. The last ones tasted like I fried playdough, but we ate them anyway because it was somewhat like a tortilla. We laughed while we ate them, just because they tasted so funny.
We are getting more used to the noise around us. We have a disco club in the back street behind us. They play some American music, I think I have heard the song Smooth Operator at least 40 times. One day they even played some Randy Travis. The only noise I will never get used to is the honk of the big trucks here. You can't even imagine the shrillness of these honks. When you see one coming you cringe, because 99% of the time, they will honk. Sometimes you just want to scream!
Our classes are still going well. We are starting our English Readings next week. We are very excited to start those and have our students over to our house!
We know the decision to come here was the right decision, though sometimes it is hard We are truly learning to be humble and appreciate what we have at home. I think a lot of times we take for granted what you have until you don't have it right there anymore. We know at the end of the year we will be sad to leave but so excited to see our family and friends at home. We have been blessed!
Don't forget to email us, we love to get notes from home! They really mean a lot!
China is getting better. I still get homesick but I have decided in a way that is a blessing. I have been given such a great family and the best friends anyone could ask for and that is why I miss home so much. It is the people in my life that I miss the most. If I could bring them all here, I would be fine. Any takers?
Yesterday we got the best present ever, Katie brought us CHEESE! I know that may sound silly to you at home. We have not had cheese in a month and it something you don't think you would miss, but believe me you do! We are really learning how to cook here and what we can get and now that we have cheese the possibilities are endless! The only thing I need to work on is making tortillas. The last ones tasted like I fried playdough, but we ate them anyway because it was somewhat like a tortilla. We laughed while we ate them, just because they tasted so funny.
We are getting more used to the noise around us. We have a disco club in the back street behind us. They play some American music, I think I have heard the song Smooth Operator at least 40 times. One day they even played some Randy Travis. The only noise I will never get used to is the honk of the big trucks here. You can't even imagine the shrillness of these honks. When you see one coming you cringe, because 99% of the time, they will honk. Sometimes you just want to scream!
Our classes are still going well. We are starting our English Readings next week. We are very excited to start those and have our students over to our house!
We know the decision to come here was the right decision, though sometimes it is hard We are truly learning to be humble and appreciate what we have at home. I think a lot of times we take for granted what you have until you don't have it right there anymore. We know at the end of the year we will be sad to leave but so excited to see our family and friends at home. We have been blessed!
Don't forget to email us, we love to get notes from home! They really mean a lot!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Look at our Pictures
Hello everyone,
Here is our picture website, http://picasaweb.google.com/jcd1983. We hope you enjoy looking at all of our pictures. We will try to get new pictures up every few weeks or at least once a month. Since we both love to take pictures you will get to see a lot!
-Jess
Here is our picture website, http://picasaweb.google.com/jcd1983. We hope you enjoy looking at all of our pictures. We will try to get new pictures up every few weeks or at least once a month. Since we both love to take pictures you will get to see a lot!
-Jess
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Our First Full Week
We have completed our first week of teaching. We have so many great students and I am so excited to get to know them more and share my life with them and to learn about their lives. They have such a desire to learn English and to know about American culture. Yesterday was Teacher's Day and some of my students brought me a big bouquet of white roses. It made my day!
We have a five day weekend this weekend. We have two freshmen classes and they do not start classes until the 22nd because they have military training for the first two weeks. This weekend is also the Mid-Autumn Festival which means no classes on Monday.
Last night, we ate at the best restaurant. It is called a hot pot restaurant. They have a giant pan in the middle of the table that they heat up that has a yummy chicken garlic broth. You get different vegetables and boil them in the yummy mixture. It was the best meal I have had since we have been here. Saturday we are going to an American restaurant that has steak and onion rings(YAY!). I don't think Craig and I will have to worry about losing weight because there is a lot of good food and he has discovered Fried Bread and Chinese Coke (which tastes better than American Coke, it doesn't have that burning feeling when you drink it). We are getting better using our chopsticks. I still have days where I feel dumb with them and have problems eating and want to throw them across the room. The hardest thing I've had to eat was a whole potato with chopsticks. I thought it was bread and when I picked it up I realized it definitely was not. It took me 5 minutes to eat it with my chopsticks and I dropped it several times. I was very frustrated! You should try to eat a potato with chopsticks and you will know what I'm talking about. Craig and I have cooked fajitas and hamburgers, but we have no cheese so it is not quite the same. You take what you can get it when it comes to eating Western food here.
We are hoping to start our English Readings at our apartment very soon! Craig and I have been working on planning those and choosing what we will be discussing. We are very excited about getting the groups started. We will let you know how they go.
We hope everything is going well with you at home. We miss everyone! Take care and we talk to you soon.
We have a five day weekend this weekend. We have two freshmen classes and they do not start classes until the 22nd because they have military training for the first two weeks. This weekend is also the Mid-Autumn Festival which means no classes on Monday.
Last night, we ate at the best restaurant. It is called a hot pot restaurant. They have a giant pan in the middle of the table that they heat up that has a yummy chicken garlic broth. You get different vegetables and boil them in the yummy mixture. It was the best meal I have had since we have been here. Saturday we are going to an American restaurant that has steak and onion rings(YAY!). I don't think Craig and I will have to worry about losing weight because there is a lot of good food and he has discovered Fried Bread and Chinese Coke (which tastes better than American Coke, it doesn't have that burning feeling when you drink it). We are getting better using our chopsticks. I still have days where I feel dumb with them and have problems eating and want to throw them across the room. The hardest thing I've had to eat was a whole potato with chopsticks. I thought it was bread and when I picked it up I realized it definitely was not. It took me 5 minutes to eat it with my chopsticks and I dropped it several times. I was very frustrated! You should try to eat a potato with chopsticks and you will know what I'm talking about. Craig and I have cooked fajitas and hamburgers, but we have no cheese so it is not quite the same. You take what you can get it when it comes to eating Western food here.
We are hoping to start our English Readings at our apartment very soon! Craig and I have been working on planning those and choosing what we will be discussing. We are very excited about getting the groups started. We will let you know how they go.
We hope everything is going well with you at home. We miss everyone! Take care and we talk to you soon.
Monday, September 8, 2008
We have arrived!
Sorry it has been so long. We have been having internet problems and trouble accessing this website. We have arrived in Enshi! We arrived in Wuhan and stayed there for 5 days and then had a 14 hour van ride through the mountains. The views were incredible! We arrived in Enshi last Monday night. Our city has around 400,000 people. It is a very different experience here and we are still adjusting. The city is a large city and has many places including two large supermarkets, but sadly there is not a McDonalds or KFC(if you can figure any way to get us a cheeseburge we will be greatful ha ha).
Craig and I started our classes this morning. We both enjoy it very much. We have already met so many people that have such kind hearts and want to help us. We look forward to building stronger relationships with them.
Being here, you are always the center of attention which can be a little overwhelming. Here are a few humorous examples. I had a little boy run up to me and said UH-OH like something was wrong with me. It was cute. Most of the kids have never seen foreigners so most are very curious. Craig was trying to find a pair of farmer shoes here at a street market, but a size 44 is very large here and hard to come by. We had a group of old Chinese women following us down the street helping us to find shoes. Most of the time when you are shopping, there is always a crowd watching to see what you buy.
We will let you know when we get our picture website set up so you can see the scenery and people here.
We would love to hear from you on our email!
Thanks you! We will do our best to keep you updated on our adventures!
Craig and I started our classes this morning. We both enjoy it very much. We have already met so many people that have such kind hearts and want to help us. We look forward to building stronger relationships with them.
Being here, you are always the center of attention which can be a little overwhelming. Here are a few humorous examples. I had a little boy run up to me and said UH-OH like something was wrong with me. It was cute. Most of the kids have never seen foreigners so most are very curious. Craig was trying to find a pair of farmer shoes here at a street market, but a size 44 is very large here and hard to come by. We had a group of old Chinese women following us down the street helping us to find shoes. Most of the time when you are shopping, there is always a crowd watching to see what you buy.
We will let you know when we get our picture website set up so you can see the scenery and people here.
We would love to hear from you on our email!
Thanks you! We will do our best to keep you updated on our adventures!
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