Forced Family Fun

So every family has forced family fun. You know what I am talking about, the events that everyone in the family must attend, willingly or not, all in the name of "family bonding." I am not saying that this is a bad thing, in fact good memories come from these events.. Anyways, SMIC (the company my school is under) had one of these events under the name of Company Sports Day.

Now, most of you know that I love sports but this day put a new maning to competitive. Basically there were a couple thousand grown events ready to compete in random events that should be at a fun day at the park and are not really competitive, but people were here to win. Different departments formed the teams (I honestly don;t even know what departments were w/ us except for the CEO). Anyways, the events were quite amusing. There was a tug of war competition where people were more serious than I had ever seen. A race called the Centipede Run which was like a three legged race on steroids. Basically they tied people's legs together like a three legged race but instead of there being two people there were 10. The teams practiced for this event, came out in knee pads, and there was a mattress at the end of the course to catch the forward momentum of teams. Among other events was a 100 M run, jump roping (and yes, tis was with adults), some relays, and other things that I am not sure about.

The day began with the opening ceremonies in which all the departments marched around the track in different formations. Some teams dressed up in cheerleading type costumes and did cheers. Another team dressed up in black and yellow spandex suits and did like modified arobics on the track. There was a group of grown men dressed in camo that did some serious kung fu accompanied by people dressed as bugs bunny, a bee, and something else that I forget (it was a funny combination). There were also serious marchers that has the perfect one-two-one march down and their faces had stern, serous looks to them.

The best though was that my K1'ers represented the school and marched the track. They were so cute and I was so proud. They also did a dance in front of everyone. It was funny, b/c I was so happy to see them do it that I was kind of giddy. Anyways, here are some pics of my kids (they are so precious).

To my friends and family

John Piper in Future Grace writes of a massive oak tree that stands outside his window. While the tree is visibly massive from the ground up “what is not seen is the roots. That’s the way it is with roots. They support everything but they don’t get much attention. The more massive the tree, the more massive the root system. It’s there, and if we could see it then we would be amazed. We would understand why this tree is still standing after decades of wind and lightening and hail and heat.”

Now that I have been in China I have spoken to many people who have told me that I am brave for coming and adventurous and how proud they are of me for making the step and so on. People ask me why I came and how am I adjusting to life and all sorts of questions, and I have recently realized that the answer to all these questions is my support system back home, my roots.

Being away from my friends and family physically has shown me that despite me not being able to see my support system it is there. Like the roots of a tree, I can only stand because I know that I am supported from something so deeply rooted that nothing will make me fall, no matter what comes my way. The reality is that the strength of my support system has gotten me through many hard times and challenging times. Times when I felt so much loss that I didn’t think anything could fill the void; times of confusion when I couldn’t make sense of anything; times when I was scared and times when I needed to be grounded back to reality. I have been encouraged and lifted up and prayed for more than I know and have realized and have acknowledged, and because of this I am able to be where I am today.

And I realize that it is the people who have come and gone in my life that have given my roots to be strong and to trust and to know that no matter what happens someone will be there to catch me and support, no matter where I am, even if I am in China. Despite my questioning of faith and God I have had amazing people to remind me what it is to be a Christian and the unwavering promises of God. I have had people speak louder to me through their actions and their own struggles than any words could express. Without my friends and family I know, without a doubt, I would not be who I am or where I am today. Without the support that so often goes unnoticed and unrecognized I know that I would not have the strength that I do and the sense of adventure that I have.

And so I thank you. I thank you for being my roots; something so deep that I can’t even recognize it or know its depths. And so if you want to know how is it that I am adapting to life in China, know that part of the answer is you. The knowledge of knowing that I have a group of people supporting me and encouraging me along the way makes life here so much easier. And as my roots have gotten me through so much I know that whatever comes my way across the world I will be able to handle it and grow from it.

* Sorry for the sappiness of this post... I am in a contemplative state of mind :)

Links to my videos

Here are links to videos I made...

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om6aODvMOso
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXAc_LD2EzY
  

My hot air balloon ride

While in Yangshou some of my friends (Tarah, Janai, and Laura) decided to go on a hot air balloon ride. We were soooo excited because Yangshou is absolutely gorgous, you've seen some pics now so I think you would agree. Anyways, the day of the ride, which was supposed to be for sunset, it was hazy and cloudy so we debated doing it because we knew the view woud not be that good, but we decided to do it.

We went up in the balloon. It was pretty, but not too much visibility. We reached close to 3000 ft (910 meters) so we were super high up. Being that high is such an amazing feeling. I have not felt that free since I went sky diving. When you are up that high it is so peaceful, well, except for the sound of the gas to light the flame of the balloon.

After about an hour we saw the other two balloons going down to land, so we figured our turn was next. Well, we were right and the balloon started to descend. Going down was so beautiful because we could see more and Yanghou is so green and the division fo the field and rice patties are gorgeous. As we went down our balloon passed over a village and we couls see and hear the children yelling "Hello" and "Ni hau" to us, so of course we were yelling back. I did not realize it, bu Tarah brought up the idea that maybe we weren't supposed to land here. As I thought about it, the thought made sense since I no longer saw the other balloons and the kids and adults were really excited to see the balloon so close (something they probably don't normally see). Well, tha balloon went down there was a tree. The pilot attempted to get the balloon to go higher but there was no luck and we brushed the top of it. To be honest, it was kind of funny to think we hit a tree in a balloon. Instead of continuing to go up we started to go down into a rice patty. The balloon hit the rice patty and we were soon horizontal in the basket. But, we didn't land here. The balloon picked up and in front of us were some houses. Thank God we cleared them, but on the other side of the houses was a tree that we were not so lucky to miss. And, as you can guess, the basket made a direct hit into the top of the tree and branches. We were ok, in fact we were laughing hysterically at this point. By now we realized that the liot made a wrong turn, but he didn't speak English so we couldn't ask him. On the other side of the tree was a field which we went down in. The landing was not smooth at all. We hit once, bounced up a bit, and landed again on the side.

Meanwhile, through our attempts to land and us hitting the trees the village which we were over ran to see what the heck was going on. As we climbed out of the basket, laughing so hard that I thought I was going to pee my pants, there were about 50 kids, not mention a bunch of adults around us. The kids were so happy to see us, some of the adults were happy too, some were curious as to who the heck we were and why we were there, and others were less than thrilled. However, we really couldn't do anything except stand in their field that we crashed landed into. It was funny because we had some old lady yelling at us. We figured the crops were probably hers, so she was not too happy with us.

We thought it was pretty awesome; definately an experience and it definately made the ride worthwhile (despite the lack of visiblity). I mean, how many people can say that they rode a hot air balloon in China, hit two trees, ran into a rice patty, and landed in some random field in a random village? Not too many I assume.

Finally the bus found us. We found out through a couple that was on the bus that they spent 45 minutes looking for us and some random boy had to get in the van to show the driver of the van where we were. Our hypothesis that we were not supposed to land there was correct, in fact we found out we missed the landing area by about 9 miles. Anyways, here are some pics from the air and from the ground. Enjoy!

more Yangshou Pictures

Yangshou pictures

They are precious in His sight

The holiday is approaching!

Next week is a China National Holiday. I really don't know what it is for, but I kind of don't care because I get the week off of work (woo hoo!). I am super excited because I get to travel around China. I leave on Saturday with 4 boys from our group to Zhang Jie Jia. You should look it up, it is absolutely gorgeous. All for of these guys are definately "manly men" in regards to they have the attitude of "we don't care if we have a place to sleep at night" and "Sarah, you have to make sure all your stuff for one week fits into a carry on bag", so it should be exciting. I did reserve a hostel for us to stay in, so I know I have a place to sleep (and them too if they want to join). Then it is off to Yangshou. Well, we fly into Guilin then take a ferryboat to Yangshou on the Li River. We will meet up with the rest of the group (so there will be 12 of us total) to spend that remainder of our time ni beautiful Yangshou.

Unfortunately for y'all this means no random stories and pics from me for a week. So sorry to all those who waste time at work by readin my blog. BUT (and there is a light at the end of the tunnel) I will be back the following week with pics and stories that are at least somewhat amusing and interesting. I am just assuming that everyone loves to read what I have to say, so humor me and pretend like you do :)

Oh yeah, on a random note... my phone is working now! I know, it took forever to work, but now I can communicate with the outside world once again! Let me know if you want the number.

More pics of the Bund area

Looking over the Huangpu River into Puxi at sunset.

Mc Donald's are everywhere! Good for me b/c I love vanilla frosty cones, but still kind of disturbing.

Walking around Shanghai

The Pearl Tower!

Last weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous. For the first time in a little while the sun was shining so staying outside was a mandatory. No one else wanted to do anything, so I just decided to walk around and explore a little. I went to the Bund, more exacly Pearl Tower. Shanghai is divided into parts: Pudong (the side I live on) and Puxi (pronounsed Pu Shi) and the dividing line is the Huangpu River. Anyways, the Pearl Tower is in Pudong and side opposite of the River is Puxi.
As I was saying, the day was absolutely amazing and I hope that you can enjoy these pics as much as I enjoyed the day.

This week in review

This week in class went pretty well except for I had a few random events take place:

1) Monday-- the first kid peed his pants in class
2) Monday-- in my after school class a girl burnt her hand b/c she was getting water out of the dispenser and got the "hot" water and not the "cold" water. Apparently 5 year olds don't associate red with hot and blue wioth cold yet. Oh well, she should have brought water with her to soccer class anyways.
3) Tuesday-- my second kid peed her pants (I was afraid a trend was starting)

Well, besides 1 burnt hand and two wet pairs of pants everything went as planned! All in all a successful week.

Oh yeah, hopefully this weekend my phone will work b/c we found out where to buy the stupid piece we have been missing. Well, we actually went to the store to get it and after 45 min on taxis and subways and getting lost twice we arrived at the electronics place at 7:10 to find out it closed at 7... oh well. At least now I know. Email me if you need the number.

I found a team!!!!

The other night I was at a bar called O'Malleys and started to talk to this guy named Max. Anyways, I found out that he plays soccer and the team is sponsored by the bar. Turns out that there is a league in Shanghai and that each team kind of represents a country (his team is the Dutch team and there's a British team, Japanese Team, German team, etc.) He told me that they were going to a tournament this weekend and that I could come. Even though I would not be playing I wanted to go and at least be around soccer. Long story short, after their first game like half the team had to leave and they found out that I played so they let me play the last two games. It was kind of funny b/c I felt like a little kid in my father's clothes b/c the jersey was huge, my shorts went past my knees and the socks couldn't stay up w/o tape. Regardless of how ridiculous I looked I did not care... I got to play.

The guys on the team are so nice and I had a great time. Most of them are from Holland, but Max is from Argentina, two guys are from the US, and I am sure another counrty or two is represented.

Every Tues they practice so I am going to start to practice with them. As far as I know there are no women's leagues, so this is all I got. I am not sure if I will play in other games, only if they need me, but I am so stoked to be able to pracitce once a week. At least when I return to Cal Copy I will not have lost my skills, and hopefully they will improve.

I finally get it...

For the longest time I have wondered why teachers want to teach and why they like it so much (ok, I realize that there are some teachers who don't like it, but let's leave them out for argument's sake). Anyways, my first week of teaching I wondered why the heck I even wanted teach and why it seemed like a good idea. Trying to control four year olds who don't even really know english, how was that a good idea? Well, I think I am finally realizing why... the joy that they have.

There is this boy in my class whose name is Luke. He is super cute but really hyper and does not listen. I tell him to sit and he doesn't. I move his chair to the back and he doesn't care so I move him to the front of the room and he sits (thank God) but he scoots his chair around and is just a bigger distraction. I keep him after class to talk to him, but he doesn't understand so I feel like the teacher on Charlie Brown who speaks but the words just come out as noises. So, I decided to talk to his Chinese teacher so that she can talk to him (at least she knows Chinese) and I find out that even in Chinese class he misbehaves (I was relieved to know that is wasn't just me). Anyways,I realized that disciplining is not really going to work, so I decided to just keep him involved. On Wednesday he was a lot better (not perfect,but who is) so I gave him a sticker. He came for class in the afternoon and he was so much better.

Well, I talked to his teacher to tell her how good he was and she told me that in the morning he showed her the sticker so she gave him a big hug and that even in Chinese class he was better. It amazed me that all it really took was one simple sticker for him to be better. Seeing Luke change in such a short time made me realize that I can have an impact on these children.

There are countless other stories of my kids and how in just two weeks I already have so much love for them. At times they drive me up the wall, but they are teaching me so much. They are teaching me about the little joys in life. They are teaching me that even a sticker can be the biggest reward. They are teaching me how to be a kid again. They are teaching me about patience and understanding. They are teaching me that there is so much in life to learn. They are teaching that it is fun to run around and scream with laughter. They are teaching me that it is ok to to dance crazy and sing with a bad voice and color outside the lines...

And I realize that this is why teachers love to teach, because not only do you get to impact others but you get to have others impact you in ways never thought possible. And so here are some pics of my kids... some are of them running and sleeping, no, they ARE NOT falling asleep in my class (althought this boy Danny thinks it is funny to pretend that he is sleeping) in a song that we do and the others are of them coloring.

I love my kids

So, for the first time my students are listening to me. It is unbelieveable. I hope I am not jinxing myself by openly stating this. I have to say that it is so glorious to be able to feel like I am controlling my classroom instead of my kids driving me into complete insanity where banging my head against the wall seems like more fun (and trust me, that is how I felt last week).

Today I was able to get through my complete lessons and I even had time left over. In case you are wondering, we are learning to ask "What's this" and respond with "It's a..." We are also learning about the letters P and B. It is so awesome to have a job where I get to sing the Hokey Pokey and read Berenstain Bears and act like a complete fool. I always wondered why people taught elementary school but now I know. Despite the agony I have when I have no control, the moments where they listen and do what I say are just beautiful. Also, running around and singing and dancing is actually a good work out, so I kill two birds with one stone!

Coffee, glorious coffee

This week has been beautiful... no, I am not talking about the weather b/c it has been raining. Anyways, this week has been beautiful because I found a coffee shop and I got a coffee maker! I know, this sounds so trivial, but believe me I could not be happier. For the past month I have been drinking this Maxwell House instant coffee crap. The sad thing was I sort of started to get use to it. Well, not sure if I got use to it or if my body decided it should stop trying to fight the crap that I was drinking b/c it would be the coffee it would get. Tangent, so back on track. The coffee shop is called the Coffee Beanery. It has couches and even magazines in English! There, I sat on a couch drinking REAL coffee with whip cream as I read some trashy gossip magazine... it was so beautiful. Sure the gossip magazine was a month old so I sure it is now old news, but to me it was new. Who knew that Ashley Simpson got a nose job (not me till two days ago). And then, to top it off, I was given a coffee maker! This means in the morning I can now make coffee. Praise the Lord! I need to figure out what type of coffee here is good, but even crappy drip coffee is better than instant coffee. If you don't believe me I will send you some of the stuff I have been drinking and you can compare and get back to me.

I know, simple pleasures for simple people, but I don't like to think of it this way, I like to think of it as a a coffee addicts dream come true.

Pics of my classroom

Here are pics of my classroom. I admit, one of the board I can't get to stay on the wall so it is crooked. I will send pics of my kids. Last week I was so lost in the class and had not control and today they were so freaking cute. I am learning so much everyday about being a Kindergarten teacher. I am convinced that I will learn more than they will. As the saying goes... "all I ever need to know I learned in Kindergarten."

Chipmunks...

Whoever said that chipmunks can't be pets? I was tempted to get one but I was able to show some self control. It would be fun, but then I thought about having the things run around my house and I walked away. Besides, I don't want to get rabies. Oh yeah, Mom, the tower of turtles was a picture I thought you would appreciate :)

Big Thumb Plaza

Big Thumb Plaza is an area in Pudong that we visit at least nce a week. It is a nice little break from the Living Quarters and there is an American food restaurant that resembles a 50's diner called Moon River. Every Tuesday is teacher Tuesday and we get 50% off all the food. It is nice to be able to get a salad (that is what I get) but others enjoy hanburgers, breakfast burritos, etc. There also is a DVD store where we can buy just about nay movie or TV series for really cheap. They vary from like $1.50 to $2.50 per DVD while TV series are like less than 4 bucks per season. It is nice to be able to get TV fixes ever now and then. At this time we are into Gilmore Girls and Band of Brothers. Kind of an interesting combo, but such is life. I also like that there is a McDOnalds for vanilla cones. It is hilarious b/c the workers there have a western theme and they wear black denim jeans with the McDonald's Arch sewn on the butt pockets and cowboy hats. I want to take a picture, but I am not sure how they would feel about it