It's hard to believe that it has been nearly a month since I left the states for this country 9 time zones away. Time has felt quite different over here, almost like it runs on a different kind of clock. Whatever the case, much has happened during my first month here. 3 weeks were spent at a hotel in Beijing where our team underwent training, training, and more training. The preparation was long and arduous, but it was well put together and I believe prepared us as best as it possibly could for what lay ahead. I can't pretend like there wasn't any fun involved either. We all had the amazing privilege to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. It was simply incredible to stand in so many places full of history, nearly 4,000 years to be exact. Anyways, we have had great opportunities to visit these amazing places as well as eat very cheap in many Chinese restaurants and even have a night out on the town singing karaoke with the team. If you would like to see any of these pictures, many are posted on my facebook and should be available to those who do not have an account. I am looking into posting more photos onto a photo blog, but I have not got around to it yet.
There was a lot to do Beijing and many friendships were made, but at the end of it all we had to say goodbye to the other teams and head our own ways. After a 6 hour train ride from Beijing to Changchun, we finally arrived at our school on Sunday and began unpacking and settling in to prepare for our first day of teaching on Wednesday. It turns out that the school wanted us to begin on Monday, so after some scrambling and throwing things together we were 'ready' for Monday. I didn't feel to nervous about it until I walked some of my friends to their classes and watched as they helplessly were led to the 'point of no return.' My first class was in an hour and a half and I had that much time to begin planning my escape. The time finally came for me to step into the classroom and after a couple of minutes, I realized they really weren't bloodthirsty and I began to settle into teaching mode. I taught a total of 3 classes this week and will teach more this next week. I made many mistakes and I will continue to do so, but I am confident He will continue to mold me into a man and teacher after His own heart. It turns out I am teaching freshmen and will not begin teaching my official classes for another 3 weeks until my students get back from mandatory military training, but I will continue substituting for teachers and teaching my afternoon English Corners during this time.
During our time here at Hua Qiao, we have already had a lot of fun. We went out to eat at a Korean restaurant last night with some students and then went to a coffee shop of "like-minded" people. At lunch, we played full court basketball for an hour with some other teachers and ended up losing at the end due to poor fitness. It won't happen again! Supposedly we are supposed to perform some kind of song on Thursday in front of all the teachers so please remember us during that time. I look forward to the stories that will come from that.
There is so much more I want to share, but I will have to send it out in my next email. Please continue to 'lift up' both myself and my team in your daily conversations. He has been so amazingly faithful and I cannot tell you how excited I am to see what He has planned for this year. We have already had the opportunity to meet a few students and I know many more will be coming into our lives soon. Please ask that we would love as He loves, and that He would be our priority and our focus above all else. That we would shine so brightly that those around could not help but notice something different about us.
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:37-38
-jo
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