A Great Week

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