Below is the link to a new photo album as well as two new videos. One is a video of me and my class doing our class chant I wrote for them. The second video is from an adventurous motorcycle ride that my sister and I took in Chongqing. :-)
Class A Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/Session3ClassAAces#
Class A Chant Video: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/ChinaVideos02#
Since our class letter was A, I decided that we should be called "Aces." We obviously needed a song or chant to go with it to build some class pride and comraderie. The following is what I came up with. :)
Lyrics
We are we are Aces!
We are we are Aces!
We will we will rock you!
We will we will rock you!
We are we are awesome!
We are we are attractive
We are we are amazing!
We are we are Aces!
Class A!!
Motorcycle Video: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/ChinaVideos#
Finally, I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers! As I mentioned in my last post, I have been missing home quite a bit lately with my sister leaving with the SPU study abroad group just a few days after Thanksgiving, and Christmas quickly approaching. Thankfully after a long week of rest in between sessions and after receiving multiple encouraging emails from friends and family, I am rejuvenated and ready to rock and roll in the new session that starts tomorrow.
This session I will have another medium+ class and will be co-facilitating with a 24 year old guy named Geoff. We're pretty excited about being two young, tall American guys teaching people who are our parents age. :-)
Cheers,
Kyle
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanksgiving and Homesickness
Another session has come and gone. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, it was my first time with a medium-high class which was a much needed change from two very low classes. I co-facilitated again and this time it was with a girl named Laura, who is a 26 year-old second-year facilitator with a ton of energy and a great person to work with.
My lunch conversations with the students were much more meaningful as well. I was able to get beyond simple conversations about my chopstick skills, favorite foods, and China travels and on to discussions about the differences between Chinese and American culture, the challenges of being a teacher in China, and values and beliefs.
And, since Thanksgiving fell in the middle of our session, during lunch one day I was able to explain how we celebrate it and how we pray the Lord's prayer at dinner. This was a simple conversation but one where the students showed interest and a desire to understand. I also learned more about Buddhism during that meal as well. After talking about my beliefs, my student told me that she believes there was a god and goddess who were brother and sister and created the earth many years ago. I asked her where they are today, and she said that after they created the earth the god became all of the mountains and the goddess became all of the rivers. I asked her where people go when they die, and she said they go "to the west." I asked about the Buddhist temples, and she said it is there that people bring food and paper print outs of houses, cars, etc., because they believe that those who die need it in the next life. This was all very fascinating to me and revealed to me the stark contrast between our belief systems. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go much deeper than that.
Experiencing Thanksgiving over here was also really challenging. In fact, it was just this last weekend that I had to say goodbye to my sister who left China just yesterday. This, coupled with the fact that I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite students was really rough.
This has and will likely continue to be a hard season as I make it past the 4 month marker and experience my first Christmas overseas. This is especially the case because it was this time last year that I was heading home to be with family and friends for over a month long break at my parents house... it was therefore even harder to say goodbye to Lauren and see all her classmates so excited to get home. This has really put me through the ringer, but by God's grace I'm hanging in there. I am thankful He has graciously provided a big family of fellow believers for me to live and commune with.
Needless to say, I could really use your prayers during this time and the upcoming months as I am stretched and challenged in many new ways. Pray that God would remind me of His love and how He is always working for my good even in the midst of hardship. Pray for our team, that God would unite us and draw us closer during this Holiday season.
Thanks for your prayers and your emails!
PS: To end on a positive note, my class monitor who was one of my favorite students sent the following text to me towards the end of this past session after we had the TIP Talent show:
"You are a great facilitator. After arriving here, I changed a lot. Thanks for you and Laura. Tonight we all feel very excited and have a wonderful time. Have a good dream."
It's comments like this that encourage me and keep me going. :)
My lunch conversations with the students were much more meaningful as well. I was able to get beyond simple conversations about my chopstick skills, favorite foods, and China travels and on to discussions about the differences between Chinese and American culture, the challenges of being a teacher in China, and values and beliefs.
And, since Thanksgiving fell in the middle of our session, during lunch one day I was able to explain how we celebrate it and how we pray the Lord's prayer at dinner. This was a simple conversation but one where the students showed interest and a desire to understand. I also learned more about Buddhism during that meal as well. After talking about my beliefs, my student told me that she believes there was a god and goddess who were brother and sister and created the earth many years ago. I asked her where they are today, and she said that after they created the earth the god became all of the mountains and the goddess became all of the rivers. I asked her where people go when they die, and she said they go "to the west." I asked about the Buddhist temples, and she said it is there that people bring food and paper print outs of houses, cars, etc., because they believe that those who die need it in the next life. This was all very fascinating to me and revealed to me the stark contrast between our belief systems. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go much deeper than that.
Experiencing Thanksgiving over here was also really challenging. In fact, it was just this last weekend that I had to say goodbye to my sister who left China just yesterday. This, coupled with the fact that I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite students was really rough.
This has and will likely continue to be a hard season as I make it past the 4 month marker and experience my first Christmas overseas. This is especially the case because it was this time last year that I was heading home to be with family and friends for over a month long break at my parents house... it was therefore even harder to say goodbye to Lauren and see all her classmates so excited to get home. This has really put me through the ringer, but by God's grace I'm hanging in there. I am thankful He has graciously provided a big family of fellow believers for me to live and commune with.
Needless to say, I could really use your prayers during this time and the upcoming months as I am stretched and challenged in many new ways. Pray that God would remind me of His love and how He is always working for my good even in the midst of hardship. Pray for our team, that God would unite us and draw us closer during this Holiday season.
Thanks for your prayers and your emails!
PS: To end on a positive note, my class monitor who was one of my favorite students sent the following text to me towards the end of this past session after we had the TIP Talent show:
"You are a great facilitator. After arriving here, I changed a lot. Thanks for you and Laura. Tonight we all feel very excited and have a wonderful time. Have a good dream."
It's comments like this that encourage me and keep me going. :)
Class A
(more pictures to come)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Subscribing to my blog
Dear friends and family,
If you would like to subscribe to my blog, simply enter your email address into the box to the left and follow the easy instructions that will appear in a pop-up window. If you are using a pop-up blocker, you may need to turn that off momentarily to open the page.
Subscribing to my blog means that you will receive an email that will notify you that I have updated my blog.
I hope that helps!
Kyle
If you would like to subscribe to my blog, simply enter your email address into the box to the left and follow the easy instructions that will appear in a pop-up window. If you are using a pop-up blocker, you may need to turn that off momentarily to open the page.
Subscribing to my blog means that you will receive an email that will notify you that I have updated my blog.
I hope that helps!
Kyle
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Chinglish, burnout, rejuvenation, and Tracey's baptism!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/PhotoScavengerHuntSnowAndVisitingMySister#
So the last session came and went very quickly. I taught another "low-level" class with Abby, which had its ups and downs. First of all, you can always count on some pretty hilarious Chinglish sayings. One of my favorites was in a journal entry from one of our students who wrote that on the first day she was "afraid to open her mouse," but now has "built her confidence so that she can open her mouse." Another one of my students created a new word. He was writing about the Photo Scavenger Hunt we have the students participate in here and he said, "Today is the most interciting day at TIP for everyone!" I actually really like this combination between "interesting" and "exciting" and have thought about integrating it into my vocabulary.
Perhaps the funniest recent realization has been the fact that most Chinese people cannot pronounce my name to save their life. To try and help them, I have started introducing myself at the beginning of each session (in front of all 200 students) by telling them that if they can say "smile" then they can say "Kyle," and that every time they smile they can remember how to say my name. The only problem is that Chinese people don't know how to say "smile." Instead they pronounce it "smell." So my master plan often fails, and I usually get people pronouncing it "Kael," "Kell," "Karl," "Kerry," or "Kielly." In fact, one of my students last session called me Kael, Kerry, and Kielly all in one 20 minute dinner conversation! Furthermore, during the Photo Scavenger Hunt, one of the students came and asked me if I was the facilitator who was from Seattle. I said yes, she said thanks "Kael," glanced at my name tag, and proceeded to spell my name Kely . I don't know what to do with that… perhaps I'll change my name next session to something simple like "Tom."
As for the downs of last session, one of the problems with a low class is that after the first week at meal time, you no longer have anything to talk about with your students. You can only ask so many times about their hometown, their family, and their favorite food. You can also only tolerate for so long hearing them say you can use chopsticks very well, ask you if you prefer noodles over rice, and tell you "My hometown is very beautiful. Welcome to my hometown!" Additionally, the 10 minute speech that everyone has to give at the end of TIP becomes almost identical for all 30+ speeches. We encourage them to talk about a "meaningful life experience," and while some tell us about an experience in the past, many simply talk about "Life in TIP" which makes for a long 5 hours of speeches!
Therefore, at the end of last session I was a little burnt out. Thankfully, however, I was able to go and see my sister for a week in Chongqing where she is studying through the SPU Business Abroad program. This was an absolute God-send and breath of fresh air, as I was able to hang out with her and about 20 other SPU students for a week. It worked out well because her room had a living room so I could sleep on the couch, and her roommate was traveling during most of the time I was there. Consequently, I had my own bed for 4 nights. This was an important time to recuperate and enjoy some quality family time. Lauren and I spent a lot of time relaxing and skyping our parents, and we also took a crazy motorcycle taxi ride 20 minutes up a mountain and then hiked to a pagoda. (See pictures!)
Additionally, Tracey accompanied me on the trip because she needed to work on getting her visa to go to San Francisco next March. Therefore, another awesome part of the trip was getting to be a part of Tracey's baptism! It was actually pretty crazy how it came about. On Tuesday night Tracey had met with a pastor and a friend's mom for dinner. They spent the whole night together talking about Tracey's life and how she came to faith. At some point in the conversation, the pastor asked if Tracey had been baptized. She said she hadn't, but wanted to get baptized around Christmas time. The only problem with that was the English fellowship we attend in Beijing requires people to go through a 6 month(!) baptism class. When the pastor heard this, she told Tracey that was far too long and that new believers could be baptized after they made a commitment of faith like they were in the early church.
So, the following night I joined Tracey, her friend's mom, and the pastor for dinner. We ate "duck pot" and had a long conversation about the pastor's ministry in Chongqing and the fellowship in China in general. As we got close to the end of dinner, I asked Tracey if she wanted to ask the pastor about baptism again. She asked, and the pastor said we could go baptize her in the nearby river that night! Therefore, despite the fact that it was 9:30pm, we went to my sister's dormitory and got a change of clothes for Tracey and headed towards the river...
What happened next was absolutely hilarious but also very special. First of all, I should tell you that night baptisms are actually quite common in China because the Chinese like to get baptized in their undergarments for some reason and don't want a bunch of people to see them in this state. Therefore, the pastor and Tracey's friend's mom stripped down to their underwear (50 year old women mind you!). Tracey remained in her jeans, and I remained in my shorts, and with Tracey and I laughing hysterically, we waded out into the river. Then, once we were in deep enough water, it got more serious and the pastor prayed in Chinese over Tracey. Then I quoted Matt. 28 saying "And Jesus said to them, 'Go and make d1sc1ples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.'" I also asked, "Tracey, do you believe that you are a sinner?" She said yes. I then asked, "Do you believe that Jesus came and died for your sins and made atonement for you?" She said yes. Then, with me holding one of Tracey's hands and the pastor holding the other, we baptized her at 10:30pm in a river in the heart of China!
This was such an amazing experience for me and Tracey because it was in Chongqing where we first met and I first began sharing my faith with her when I studied at the university the year before. Then, after our group had left China, I continued to skype with Tracey and helped d1sc1ple her by encouraging her and teaching her biblical truth. In March, I heard the glorious news that she had become a believer, and I continued to skype with her trying to help answer her questions. Then, I came back to China to work at TIP, and as I talked about in my last post, I was able to serve with Tracey in ministry. And finally, everything came full circle when I was able to be a part of her baptism back in Chongqing where we first met! I am so thankful that God allowed me to not only witness this but be involved in it! It's mind-blowing how God works in our lives. :)
Lastly, I am now back at TIP and co-facilitating a medium-high class which has been a completely different experience than a low class. Everything is much faster, and in my opinion much more exciting because I can actually have intelligent conversations with some of my students! While the low students are fun to work with because they are very child-like, I am enjoying a higher level class because I am such a relational person and am actually getting to know our students.
I will try to send another update at the end of this session. Also, see the blog below if you want to read the "Great Wall Fiasco."
Thanks for reading!
So the last session came and went very quickly. I taught another "low-level" class with Abby, which had its ups and downs. First of all, you can always count on some pretty hilarious Chinglish sayings. One of my favorites was in a journal entry from one of our students who wrote that on the first day she was "afraid to open her mouse," but now has "built her confidence so that she can open her mouse." Another one of my students created a new word. He was writing about the Photo Scavenger Hunt we have the students participate in here and he said, "Today is the most interciting day at TIP for everyone!" I actually really like this combination between "interesting" and "exciting" and have thought about integrating it into my vocabulary.
Perhaps the funniest recent realization has been the fact that most Chinese people cannot pronounce my name to save their life. To try and help them, I have started introducing myself at the beginning of each session (in front of all 200 students) by telling them that if they can say "smile" then they can say "Kyle," and that every time they smile they can remember how to say my name. The only problem is that Chinese people don't know how to say "smile." Instead they pronounce it "smell." So my master plan often fails, and I usually get people pronouncing it "Kael," "Kell," "Karl," "Kerry," or "Kielly." In fact, one of my students last session called me Kael, Kerry, and Kielly all in one 20 minute dinner conversation! Furthermore, during the Photo Scavenger Hunt, one of the students came and asked me if I was the facilitator who was from Seattle. I said yes, she said thanks "Kael," glanced at my name tag, and proceeded to spell my name Kely . I don't know what to do with that… perhaps I'll change my name next session to something simple like "Tom."
As for the downs of last session, one of the problems with a low class is that after the first week at meal time, you no longer have anything to talk about with your students. You can only ask so many times about their hometown, their family, and their favorite food. You can also only tolerate for so long hearing them say you can use chopsticks very well, ask you if you prefer noodles over rice, and tell you "My hometown is very beautiful. Welcome to my hometown!" Additionally, the 10 minute speech that everyone has to give at the end of TIP becomes almost identical for all 30+ speeches. We encourage them to talk about a "meaningful life experience," and while some tell us about an experience in the past, many simply talk about "Life in TIP" which makes for a long 5 hours of speeches!
Therefore, at the end of last session I was a little burnt out. Thankfully, however, I was able to go and see my sister for a week in Chongqing where she is studying through the SPU Business Abroad program. This was an absolute God-send and breath of fresh air, as I was able to hang out with her and about 20 other SPU students for a week. It worked out well because her room had a living room so I could sleep on the couch, and her roommate was traveling during most of the time I was there. Consequently, I had my own bed for 4 nights. This was an important time to recuperate and enjoy some quality family time. Lauren and I spent a lot of time relaxing and skyping our parents, and we also took a crazy motorcycle taxi ride 20 minutes up a mountain and then hiked to a pagoda. (See pictures!)
Additionally, Tracey accompanied me on the trip because she needed to work on getting her visa to go to San Francisco next March. Therefore, another awesome part of the trip was getting to be a part of Tracey's baptism! It was actually pretty crazy how it came about. On Tuesday night Tracey had met with a pastor and a friend's mom for dinner. They spent the whole night together talking about Tracey's life and how she came to faith. At some point in the conversation, the pastor asked if Tracey had been baptized. She said she hadn't, but wanted to get baptized around Christmas time. The only problem with that was the English fellowship we attend in Beijing requires people to go through a 6 month(!) baptism class. When the pastor heard this, she told Tracey that was far too long and that new believers could be baptized after they made a commitment of faith like they were in the early church.
So, the following night I joined Tracey, her friend's mom, and the pastor for dinner. We ate "duck pot" and had a long conversation about the pastor's ministry in Chongqing and the fellowship in China in general. As we got close to the end of dinner, I asked Tracey if she wanted to ask the pastor about baptism again. She asked, and the pastor said we could go baptize her in the nearby river that night! Therefore, despite the fact that it was 9:30pm, we went to my sister's dormitory and got a change of clothes for Tracey and headed towards the river...
What happened next was absolutely hilarious but also very special. First of all, I should tell you that night baptisms are actually quite common in China because the Chinese like to get baptized in their undergarments for some reason and don't want a bunch of people to see them in this state. Therefore, the pastor and Tracey's friend's mom stripped down to their underwear (50 year old women mind you!). Tracey remained in her jeans, and I remained in my shorts, and with Tracey and I laughing hysterically, we waded out into the river. Then, once we were in deep enough water, it got more serious and the pastor prayed in Chinese over Tracey. Then I quoted Matt. 28 saying "And Jesus said to them, 'Go and make d1sc1ples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.'" I also asked, "Tracey, do you believe that you are a sinner?" She said yes. I then asked, "Do you believe that Jesus came and died for your sins and made atonement for you?" She said yes. Then, with me holding one of Tracey's hands and the pastor holding the other, we baptized her at 10:30pm in a river in the heart of China!
This was such an amazing experience for me and Tracey because it was in Chongqing where we first met and I first began sharing my faith with her when I studied at the university the year before. Then, after our group had left China, I continued to skype with Tracey and helped d1sc1ple her by encouraging her and teaching her biblical truth. In March, I heard the glorious news that she had become a believer, and I continued to skype with her trying to help answer her questions. Then, I came back to China to work at TIP, and as I talked about in my last post, I was able to serve with Tracey in ministry. And finally, everything came full circle when I was able to be a part of her baptism back in Chongqing where we first met! I am so thankful that God allowed me to not only witness this but be involved in it! It's mind-blowing how God works in our lives. :)
Lastly, I am now back at TIP and co-facilitating a medium-high class which has been a completely different experience than a low class. Everything is much faster, and in my opinion much more exciting because I can actually have intelligent conversations with some of my students! While the low students are fun to work with because they are very child-like, I am enjoying a higher level class because I am such a relational person and am actually getting to know our students.
I will try to send another update at the end of this session. Also, see the blog below if you want to read the "Great Wall Fiasco."
Thanks for reading!
The Great Wall Fiasco
New Pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/GreatWallFiasco#
After the end of our September session Dan, Tracey, 4 other facilitators and myself, went on a crazy adventure to the Great Wall. We took a bus about 2 hours away from the city and had planned on hiking to the wall in the late afternoon, watching the sunset over the wall, and then hiking back down with our headlamps at night. We had rented a hostel that afternoon, took 20 minute van ride from the hostel to a trailhead that would take us to the wall, and then began our ascent at about 4pm. The sun was to set at about 6pm, and the locals had told us we could make it up to the top in in less than two hours if we hustled.
The hike started out smoothly. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were excited to be away from campus. Yet, after about a half an hour in, the terrain started getting rather steep. In fact, as we continued moving upwards, there were some points of the hike that became more of rock climbing without safety harnesses and ropes! And, since we had started so late in the afternoon, we eventually got to the point of no return and had to continue to the top and hope to find an easier way down. The sunset was gorgeous, yet unfortunately it started to get rather cold when the sun went down. Thankfully we had packed some warmer gear and headlamps since we had been planning on hiking down after sunset. But we ended up not making it to the actual wall until about an hour after sundown and realized that there was no way we would be able to make it down on any safe route after an arduous 3 1/2 hour hike. So, we ended up camping the night in a large watch tower on the top of the Great Wall where we started a fire with sticks and small trees we ripped up from the forest below the wall! We hung out and talked for hours until it was around midnight, and then tried unsuccessfully to sleep for a few hours on the hard stone floor with our backpacks and nearby shrubbery for our bed. The temperature dropped to about 35-40 degrees and no one slept much, but we made it through the night.
And, eventually when the sun came up, it was by far the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen and I think the pictures will prove it. Then, with plenty of light to guide our path, we hiked down the mountain toward the bottom a different way than we had gone up (though it was still very rugged and steep). We arrived at the bottom after about 2 1/2 hours sleep-deprived, exhausted, and hungry, yet most of us were stoked to have spent such a crazy night on the Great Wall of China and were excited to tell our epic tale to others.
We then took a van back to the hostel, where we told our story to the hostel owners. They informed us that 2 college students had recently died hiking in the same area. This was crazy to hear, and left us feeling humbled and thankful that God had brought us up and down safe and sound.
(See the pictures for more details)
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/GreatWallFiasco#
After the end of our September session Dan, Tracey, 4 other facilitators and myself, went on a crazy adventure to the Great Wall. We took a bus about 2 hours away from the city and had planned on hiking to the wall in the late afternoon, watching the sunset over the wall, and then hiking back down with our headlamps at night. We had rented a hostel that afternoon, took 20 minute van ride from the hostel to a trailhead that would take us to the wall, and then began our ascent at about 4pm. The sun was to set at about 6pm, and the locals had told us we could make it up to the top in in less than two hours if we hustled.
The hike started out smoothly. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were excited to be away from campus. Yet, after about a half an hour in, the terrain started getting rather steep. In fact, as we continued moving upwards, there were some points of the hike that became more of rock climbing without safety harnesses and ropes! And, since we had started so late in the afternoon, we eventually got to the point of no return and had to continue to the top and hope to find an easier way down. The sunset was gorgeous, yet unfortunately it started to get rather cold when the sun went down. Thankfully we had packed some warmer gear and headlamps since we had been planning on hiking down after sunset. But we ended up not making it to the actual wall until about an hour after sundown and realized that there was no way we would be able to make it down on any safe route after an arduous 3 1/2 hour hike. So, we ended up camping the night in a large watch tower on the top of the Great Wall where we started a fire with sticks and small trees we ripped up from the forest below the wall! We hung out and talked for hours until it was around midnight, and then tried unsuccessfully to sleep for a few hours on the hard stone floor with our backpacks and nearby shrubbery for our bed. The temperature dropped to about 35-40 degrees and no one slept much, but we made it through the night.
And, eventually when the sun came up, it was by far the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen and I think the pictures will prove it. Then, with plenty of light to guide our path, we hiked down the mountain toward the bottom a different way than we had gone up (though it was still very rugged and steep). We arrived at the bottom after about 2 1/2 hours sleep-deprived, exhausted, and hungry, yet most of us were stoked to have spent such a crazy night on the Great Wall of China and were excited to tell our epic tale to others.
We then took a van back to the hostel, where we told our story to the hostel owners. They informed us that 2 college students had recently died hiking in the same area. This was crazy to hear, and left us feeling humbled and thankful that God had brought us up and down safe and sound.
(See the pictures for more details)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Curious Students and Short Stories
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/RecentFavorites?authkey=Gv1sRgCJqSjIDitsKM7QE
Our first 3-week total English immersion session ended a few weekends ago. I think the best way to describe it is to have you think of a three week summer youth group camp where you are a counselor for 20 days and are constantly exhausted. But in this “camp,” you don’t get to enjoy a game of capture the flag, a blob, or a high ropes course! Yet, even though it was tiring and not always exhilarating, the session overall was a great success and there were many opportunities to “reach out” to people as I will discuss in a moment. Although I have nothing to really compare it to, alumni facilitators and administrators alike said that the session went very smoothly. For me personally, it also went well. While teaching a low class requires a great amount of patience, I really enjoyed learning how to teach and getting to know my students. Furthermore, I had 3-4 separate conversations with students who wanted to know more.... They were all seemingly random too. I didn't even initiate them. It was like He said, "Sow seeds here!" and I simply responded to His nudging. Therefore, I thank you for your prayers, because God is answering them!
In order to illustrate this let me share a tactic we use. One way that we try to encourage conversation and get students thinking during meal time is to provide “conversation starter questions” on small slips of paper that are discussed while we eat. This way, we are able to ask questions that work as “hooks” to potentially have students ask deeper questions... One day in the middle of the session we were discussing the questions, “Is it possible to be a perfect person? Have you ever met a perfect person?” Below the questions, the vocabulary words that accompanied them were “sinless,” “remorse,” and “conscience.” That day, one of my students, came up to me when I was about to go and take a much desired nap. She asked, “What does the word ‘sinless’ mean?” I answered her by tying it to His life, and by reminding her of the Passion scene the students watched during Holiday club when they learned about Easter. This led to an hour and twenty minute conversation where I was able to explain the meta-narrative of The Book and the good news two or three different ways. By the end of it she said she wanted a Book, and I was able to give her one before she left for home. Needless to say I’m glad I missed my nap that day!
This experience was quite amazing because after going to so many book studies and community groups where we talked about sharing with others, I am finally on the front lines doing it (and, since the students’ initiate by asking questions, we are able to do this in a legal manner). Moreover, about half way through our conversation, it dawned on me that I was potentially taking part in Matt. 28 instead of just talking about it. And this wasn’t the only conversation I had this session either. There were two others just like it. Additionally, my buddy Dan has had similar conversations with students as well. One in which a woman emotionally broke down on the sidewalk and was balling because she was so hopeless. She was disheartened because she has seen her husband only three times a year for the past ten years, and has raised her child by herself. In that moment, Dan was able to tell her about the great Hope we have, and see her eyes immediately light up. She wanted to know more, and Dan spent 2 ½ hours unpacking the Story.
What makes all of this even more exciting is that my friend Tracey, the girl who had befriended our study abroad group last year in Chongqing and joined the Family only six or seven months ago, is now working for TIP and has been a big part of reaching out to these people. We have worked together with three different students to explain in Chinese and English (after the session ended) about why we have such a great Hope. She even spent those 2 ½ hours with Dan helping explain things and providing credibility. This is all very special because not only have I been able to see Tracey completely change from His saving work in her life, but I’m now seeing her “on fire” filled with the Spirit and wanting others to share in our joy. How providential.
Aside from this exciting news, I thought I’d just number off some other discoveries and short stories to tell you what else has been going on in daily life:
1) My sister came to visit me while the SPU gang was here in Beijing for a week. We (of course) almost spent an entire day shopping at the infamous Pearl Market where Lauren and her classmates all utilized the bartering tips I taught them before we went so they didn’t get ripped off. Don’t worry mom, I didn’t let her spend too much money!
2) Lauren also came to visit me at school during our first session with her friend Carissa. And, while I told them multiple times that they can’t practice ANY Chinese with the students (we have an English-only environment), a student of mine gave her a chair to sit in during our class and she blurted out quite loudly, “Oh xie xie!” which means “thank you” in Chinese. While she broke the biggest rule at TIP, the students thought it was hilarious!
3) There are multiple candy vendors that sell candy similar to delicious treats you would find at the Sweet Factory in the States. They ride around on these large bikes, and one can buy about a pound of candy for a little over a dollar. I’m not quite sure how safe or smart it is to be eating “street candy” but it’s sure tasty!
4) I ordered a banana split in a coffee shop a few days ago and instead of giving me a “cherry on top” they gave me cherry tomatoes with my bananas, ice cream, and whipped cream. A little strange if you ask me.
5) There is a group of foreigners who play Ultimate Frisbee under the lights on a turf field on Tuesday night, and a fellow facilitator and I have been going out the last few weeks to get some exercise. I never thought I’d be playing Ultimate in Beijing, and definitely not competitive Ultimate – these guys travel around the world and play in tournaments, and they are definitely the best players I have ever played with. Crazy.
6) I went on an English-fellowship church retreat this weekend where we stayed out in a beautiful location about 2 ½ hours outside the city in He Bei province. The glorious landscape reminded me of the Great Northwest. We had a bonfire by the river at night and sang worship songs in Chinese and English under the stars. This was a really special and unique experience. We also went white river rafting with no helmets and really sketchy lifejackets. Some parts of the river were calm and peaceful, but other parts were actually pretty intense. Thankfully no one got hurt! There were also many young believers on this trip which made it an excellent opportunity to mentor and teach people. There were about 25 people, and I was asked to lead a morning devotional where we worked through a leadership assessment (Jesus leading through us) that was Book-centered and rather useful. People enjoyed it, and it was a great experience for me to lead. I’m excited about further opportunities to lead people there. (Also, check out the pictures if you haven’t already.)
7) We have had a two week break because of the Chinese national holiday. I’m trying to redeem the time by learning some more Chinese. Tracey is a great teacher, and the other Chinese staff is willing to help as well. Furthermore, while it will be hard to continue to study during the session, a Chinese staff member is willing to meet with me 3 times a week to help me continue learning. I’m excited to see how God might use this in my work.
8) Last week, the other facilitators and I attended a “Foreign Experts” dinner reception in The Great Hall of the People celebrating the Republic of China’s 60th Anniversary (Since I am an English teacher I am considered a foreign expert. It is weird to be called that at 23, but I’m not complaining!). This is right next to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and is where the Communist Party of China holds its National Congress meetings. It is perhaps the most extravagant buildings I have ever been in. This event was also broadcasted on TV, and when I was riding the bus the other day I saw a rerun of our reception. Pretty cool. Also, the Beijing parade for this Anniversary was the most extravagant thing I have ever seen. When you get the chance, YouTube “China 60th National Day parade” or something and watch some of the videos. They put the Big Apple New Year’s celebration to shame. Unbelievable.
9) Going places around the city can be almost a full day event. It took Tracey and I 4½ hours (3 bus transfers both ways) to go to Ikea where I bought a room lamp. While this has been perhaps my best investment in China to date, it was sure a trek to get across town!
10) A group of us hiked to the Great Wall a few days ago… and ended up being forced to camp on the wall overnight in 35 degree weather without any of the appropriate gear… it was a crazy story and too lengthy to tell here, but I will share it in my next update.
Finally, I start my next session next week Tuesday where we will have 450 new students and I will be co-facilitating another low-level class with one of the new facilitators who just arrived. Her name is Abby and she is from Indiana. I will update again in a few weeks.
I would love to receive any news from the homeland when y’all get a chance to write. Also, thanks again for your prayers!
In Him,
Kyle
Our first 3-week total English immersion session ended a few weekends ago. I think the best way to describe it is to have you think of a three week summer youth group camp where you are a counselor for 20 days and are constantly exhausted. But in this “camp,” you don’t get to enjoy a game of capture the flag, a blob, or a high ropes course! Yet, even though it was tiring and not always exhilarating, the session overall was a great success and there were many opportunities to “reach out” to people as I will discuss in a moment. Although I have nothing to really compare it to, alumni facilitators and administrators alike said that the session went very smoothly. For me personally, it also went well. While teaching a low class requires a great amount of patience, I really enjoyed learning how to teach and getting to know my students. Furthermore, I had 3-4 separate conversations with students who wanted to know more.... They were all seemingly random too. I didn't even initiate them. It was like He said, "Sow seeds here!" and I simply responded to His nudging. Therefore, I thank you for your prayers, because God is answering them!
In order to illustrate this let me share a tactic we use. One way that we try to encourage conversation and get students thinking during meal time is to provide “conversation starter questions” on small slips of paper that are discussed while we eat. This way, we are able to ask questions that work as “hooks” to potentially have students ask deeper questions... One day in the middle of the session we were discussing the questions, “Is it possible to be a perfect person? Have you ever met a perfect person?” Below the questions, the vocabulary words that accompanied them were “sinless,” “remorse,” and “conscience.” That day, one of my students, came up to me when I was about to go and take a much desired nap. She asked, “What does the word ‘sinless’ mean?” I answered her by tying it to His life, and by reminding her of the Passion scene the students watched during Holiday club when they learned about Easter. This led to an hour and twenty minute conversation where I was able to explain the meta-narrative of The Book and the good news two or three different ways. By the end of it she said she wanted a Book, and I was able to give her one before she left for home. Needless to say I’m glad I missed my nap that day!
This experience was quite amazing because after going to so many book studies and community groups where we talked about sharing with others, I am finally on the front lines doing it (and, since the students’ initiate by asking questions, we are able to do this in a legal manner). Moreover, about half way through our conversation, it dawned on me that I was potentially taking part in Matt. 28 instead of just talking about it. And this wasn’t the only conversation I had this session either. There were two others just like it. Additionally, my buddy Dan has had similar conversations with students as well. One in which a woman emotionally broke down on the sidewalk and was balling because she was so hopeless. She was disheartened because she has seen her husband only three times a year for the past ten years, and has raised her child by herself. In that moment, Dan was able to tell her about the great Hope we have, and see her eyes immediately light up. She wanted to know more, and Dan spent 2 ½ hours unpacking the Story.
What makes all of this even more exciting is that my friend Tracey, the girl who had befriended our study abroad group last year in Chongqing and joined the Family only six or seven months ago, is now working for TIP and has been a big part of reaching out to these people. We have worked together with three different students to explain in Chinese and English (after the session ended) about why we have such a great Hope. She even spent those 2 ½ hours with Dan helping explain things and providing credibility. This is all very special because not only have I been able to see Tracey completely change from His saving work in her life, but I’m now seeing her “on fire” filled with the Spirit and wanting others to share in our joy. How providential.
Aside from this exciting news, I thought I’d just number off some other discoveries and short stories to tell you what else has been going on in daily life:
1) My sister came to visit me while the SPU gang was here in Beijing for a week. We (of course) almost spent an entire day shopping at the infamous Pearl Market where Lauren and her classmates all utilized the bartering tips I taught them before we went so they didn’t get ripped off. Don’t worry mom, I didn’t let her spend too much money!
2) Lauren also came to visit me at school during our first session with her friend Carissa. And, while I told them multiple times that they can’t practice ANY Chinese with the students (we have an English-only environment), a student of mine gave her a chair to sit in during our class and she blurted out quite loudly, “Oh xie xie!” which means “thank you” in Chinese. While she broke the biggest rule at TIP, the students thought it was hilarious!
3) There are multiple candy vendors that sell candy similar to delicious treats you would find at the Sweet Factory in the States. They ride around on these large bikes, and one can buy about a pound of candy for a little over a dollar. I’m not quite sure how safe or smart it is to be eating “street candy” but it’s sure tasty!
4) I ordered a banana split in a coffee shop a few days ago and instead of giving me a “cherry on top” they gave me cherry tomatoes with my bananas, ice cream, and whipped cream. A little strange if you ask me.
5) There is a group of foreigners who play Ultimate Frisbee under the lights on a turf field on Tuesday night, and a fellow facilitator and I have been going out the last few weeks to get some exercise. I never thought I’d be playing Ultimate in Beijing, and definitely not competitive Ultimate – these guys travel around the world and play in tournaments, and they are definitely the best players I have ever played with. Crazy.
6) I went on an English-fellowship church retreat this weekend where we stayed out in a beautiful location about 2 ½ hours outside the city in He Bei province. The glorious landscape reminded me of the Great Northwest. We had a bonfire by the river at night and sang worship songs in Chinese and English under the stars. This was a really special and unique experience. We also went white river rafting with no helmets and really sketchy lifejackets. Some parts of the river were calm and peaceful, but other parts were actually pretty intense. Thankfully no one got hurt! There were also many young believers on this trip which made it an excellent opportunity to mentor and teach people. There were about 25 people, and I was asked to lead a morning devotional where we worked through a leadership assessment (Jesus leading through us) that was Book-centered and rather useful. People enjoyed it, and it was a great experience for me to lead. I’m excited about further opportunities to lead people there. (Also, check out the pictures if you haven’t already.)
7) We have had a two week break because of the Chinese national holiday. I’m trying to redeem the time by learning some more Chinese. Tracey is a great teacher, and the other Chinese staff is willing to help as well. Furthermore, while it will be hard to continue to study during the session, a Chinese staff member is willing to meet with me 3 times a week to help me continue learning. I’m excited to see how God might use this in my work.
8) Last week, the other facilitators and I attended a “Foreign Experts” dinner reception in The Great Hall of the People celebrating the Republic of China’s 60th Anniversary (Since I am an English teacher I am considered a foreign expert. It is weird to be called that at 23, but I’m not complaining!). This is right next to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and is where the Communist Party of China holds its National Congress meetings. It is perhaps the most extravagant buildings I have ever been in. This event was also broadcasted on TV, and when I was riding the bus the other day I saw a rerun of our reception. Pretty cool. Also, the Beijing parade for this Anniversary was the most extravagant thing I have ever seen. When you get the chance, YouTube “China 60th National Day parade” or something and watch some of the videos. They put the Big Apple New Year’s celebration to shame. Unbelievable.
9) Going places around the city can be almost a full day event. It took Tracey and I 4½ hours (3 bus transfers both ways) to go to Ikea where I bought a room lamp. While this has been perhaps my best investment in China to date, it was sure a trek to get across town!
10) A group of us hiked to the Great Wall a few days ago… and ended up being forced to camp on the wall overnight in 35 degree weather without any of the appropriate gear… it was a crazy story and too lengthy to tell here, but I will share it in my next update.
Finally, I start my next session next week Tuesday where we will have 450 new students and I will be co-facilitating another low-level class with one of the new facilitators who just arrived. Her name is Abby and she is from Indiana. I will update again in a few weeks.
I would love to receive any news from the homeland when y’all get a chance to write. Also, thanks again for your prayers!
In Him,
Kyle
Let the Games Begin!
Here's the link to the pictures from my Inner Mongolia trip. There are also pictures from training if you haven't seen those already.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
New pics!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
The chaos has started. We’re only on day 4 of the 20 day session, and I feel like it’s been a week and a half. Why? When one combines lesson planning, two hours of teaching, one hour of game time, 2 staff group meetings a day, and speaking “special English” when one is with students for most of the day, one gets pretty exhausted. Furthermore when one spends 2-3 hours trying to work with the unbelievably slow and temperamental internet access so one can update their blog and do something as simple as email, the day feels much longer then it should.
Yet, even after only 3 full days of teaching, my experience has been very rewarding. Let me first explain my circumstances and then express the rewards. I am co-teaching with a girl on our team and we have a class of 27 Chinese teachers. Amanda and I are the two youngest facilitators, and so it’s kind of funny that the program director put us together because most of our students are twice our age! Speaking of them, most have pretty poor English, so I find myself talking V E R Y S L O W L Y. I have also had to find creative ways to explain concepts and ideas. Yet, while this can be a challenge, it is actually allowing me to gain confidence in my teaching because I have so much time to think about what I want to say before I say it. The Chinese passion to learn English and their respect for foreign teachers also makes teaching a lot of fun. They are easily likeable and a joy to teach, help and serve.
As for some of the already apparent joys of teaching (I’m sure I will be writing more on challenges and frustrations in due time!), students have to give a 10-minute speech in English at the end of the session. In order to help our students think of a topic, we had them discuss multiple questions including, “Who has been the most influential person in your life? Why?” And, when walking around the room and talking with two students separately, they said that we (the facilitator’s) have been perhaps the most influential because we have challenged and encouraged them to practice and excel in their oral English so they can go back and be better teachers to their students. Our students’ have no reason to suck up either, because they aren’t getting “graded” by us. Therefore this was a significant complement and not only made my day, but inspires me to be the best facilitator I can be.
Additionally, they are also very "hungry" for truth. Some of my students learned about "The Story" from watching some clips from The Passion in a class they are taking on American holidays. At dinner that day, I was able to strike up a conversation with three of them about what they learned. Even with their limited English, I could sense their curiosity and desire to understand. And, with the help of another teacher, I was able to share the heart of His passion with them. While I am unsure if they understood everything, I have 2 more weeks with them and have faith that other opportunities will arise for me to fill in some of the gaps. Please pray for a softening of hearts and opportunities to share.
Furthermore, another teacher has already had a student approach her after learning about this holiday and asked how she could "join us." She even asked how she could get "dunked" to make it more official. This was quite exciting news and we (teachers) rejoiced when we heard it! He is definitely working over here and we earnestly pray and expectantly wait for more to join The Cause. Please join with us and continue to pray for Him to glorify Himself through me and the others on our team, as we work and take part in making others glad in Him.
What I’m learning:
1) Chinese people pick the funniest English names. One girl’s name in my class is ‘Petty.’ One man’s name is ‘Johnson.’ Another student’s name in a different class is ‘Easter,’ and he is this short, shy, middle-aged man!
2) Chinese people, especially teachers have a serious respect for their teachers even if they are a foreigner who is half their age. I had one 35 year woman ask me the other day if she could go to the bathroom during one of our classes. This was strange coming from her, but it was a powerful expression of the respect they have for us.
3) I’m learning the importance of punctuality. For almost my entire life I have been “fashionably late” (however late that happens to be) to many of my classes, appointments, etc. Yet in TIP I am forced to be on time in order to set a good example for my students, and not delay our multiple staff meetings. I’m also learning not to be late because one rule in our class is if a student (or teacher) is late, we lock them out. Then, when we let them in, they must entertain us with a song or dance in front of the entire class as punishment for their tardiness. And, if you have known me for any amount of time at all, you know I can’t dance or sing. Seriously. It’s bad. Consequently there is a great incentive not to be late!
4) The older I get, and the farther down the road of sanctification I travel, the more I am realizing how little control I have over my life. But God, in His sovereign grace, brings great joy to those seeking to discover what He has already planned for their journey on that road. In other words, I am experiencing the great thrill of following God’s will for my life. Yes, trials, frustrations, and suffering undoubtedly will accompany the journey that still lies ahead, but godly joy and peace will be there through it all. Therefore, I think I can say with John Paton that "Nothing so clears the vision and lifts up the life, as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord." Namely, my decision to come to China. Or perhaps more accurately, God’s ordination for me to come here. God initiated, I responded, and I am enjoying this leg of the journey so far. J
I really should try to shorten these... sorry!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
New pics!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
The chaos has started. We’re only on day 4 of the 20 day session, and I feel like it’s been a week and a half. Why? When one combines lesson planning, two hours of teaching, one hour of game time, 2 staff group meetings a day, and speaking “special English” when one is with students for most of the day, one gets pretty exhausted. Furthermore when one spends 2-3 hours trying to work with the unbelievably slow and temperamental internet access so one can update their blog and do something as simple as email, the day feels much longer then it should.
Yet, even after only 3 full days of teaching, my experience has been very rewarding. Let me first explain my circumstances and then express the rewards. I am co-teaching with a girl on our team and we have a class of 27 Chinese teachers. Amanda and I are the two youngest facilitators, and so it’s kind of funny that the program director put us together because most of our students are twice our age! Speaking of them, most have pretty poor English, so I find myself talking V E R Y S L O W L Y. I have also had to find creative ways to explain concepts and ideas. Yet, while this can be a challenge, it is actually allowing me to gain confidence in my teaching because I have so much time to think about what I want to say before I say it. The Chinese passion to learn English and their respect for foreign teachers also makes teaching a lot of fun. They are easily likeable and a joy to teach, help and serve.
As for some of the already apparent joys of teaching (I’m sure I will be writing more on challenges and frustrations in due time!), students have to give a 10-minute speech in English at the end of the session. In order to help our students think of a topic, we had them discuss multiple questions including, “Who has been the most influential person in your life? Why?” And, when walking around the room and talking with two students separately, they said that we (the facilitator’s) have been perhaps the most influential because we have challenged and encouraged them to practice and excel in their oral English so they can go back and be better teachers to their students. Our students’ have no reason to suck up either, because they aren’t getting “graded” by us. Therefore this was a significant complement and not only made my day, but inspires me to be the best facilitator I can be.
Additionally, they are also very "hungry" for truth. Some of my students learned about "The Story" from watching some clips from The Passion in a class they are taking on American holidays. At dinner that day, I was able to strike up a conversation with three of them about what they learned. Even with their limited English, I could sense their curiosity and desire to understand. And, with the help of another teacher, I was able to share the heart of His passion with them. While I am unsure if they understood everything, I have 2 more weeks with them and have faith that other opportunities will arise for me to fill in some of the gaps. Please pray for a softening of hearts and opportunities to share.
Furthermore, another teacher has already had a student approach her after learning about this holiday and asked how she could "join us." She even asked how she could get "dunked" to make it more official. This was quite exciting news and we (teachers) rejoiced when we heard it! He is definitely working over here and we earnestly pray and expectantly wait for more to join The Cause. Please join with us and continue to pray for Him to glorify Himself through me and the others on our team, as we work and take part in making others glad in Him.
What I’m learning:
1) Chinese people pick the funniest English names. One girl’s name in my class is ‘Petty.’ One man’s name is ‘Johnson.’ Another student’s name in a different class is ‘Easter,’ and he is this short, shy, middle-aged man!
2) Chinese people, especially teachers have a serious respect for their teachers even if they are a foreigner who is half their age. I had one 35 year woman ask me the other day if she could go to the bathroom during one of our classes. This was strange coming from her, but it was a powerful expression of the respect they have for us.
3) I’m learning the importance of punctuality. For almost my entire life I have been “fashionably late” (however late that happens to be) to many of my classes, appointments, etc. Yet in TIP I am forced to be on time in order to set a good example for my students, and not delay our multiple staff meetings. I’m also learning not to be late because one rule in our class is if a student (or teacher) is late, we lock them out. Then, when we let them in, they must entertain us with a song or dance in front of the entire class as punishment for their tardiness. And, if you have known me for any amount of time at all, you know I can’t dance or sing. Seriously. It’s bad. Consequently there is a great incentive not to be late!
4) The older I get, and the farther down the road of sanctification I travel, the more I am realizing how little control I have over my life. But God, in His sovereign grace, brings great joy to those seeking to discover what He has already planned for their journey on that road. In other words, I am experiencing the great thrill of following God’s will for my life. Yes, trials, frustrations, and suffering undoubtedly will accompany the journey that still lies ahead, but godly joy and peace will be there through it all. Therefore, I think I can say with John Paton that "Nothing so clears the vision and lifts up the life, as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord." Namely, my decision to come to China. Or perhaps more accurately, God’s ordination for me to come here. God initiated, I responded, and I am enjoying this leg of the journey so far. J
I really should try to shorten these... sorry!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Pictures!
Here's the link to the pictures from my Inner Mongolia trip. There are also pictures from training if you haven't seen those already.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#
Inner Mongolia: Beautiful scenery, not so beautiful transportation.
I have a long story to tell but it’s rather comical so it might be worth your time…
Last year, while I was studying here for 3 months, I had dreams of going up to Inner Mongolia to ride camels in the Gobi desert and go sand boarding on the dunes. Unfortunately, since Chongqing is in the southern part of the country, it would have been something like a 36 hour train ride (one way) to make it that far north. Therefore, I abandoned the idea and traveled to locations closer to the school.
Beijing, however, is a mere 10½ hour train ride from Inner Mongolia. So, what I thought was a dead dream, became a reality during this last week during our 5 day break before our first teaching session begins. Four other year long facilitators and one of the Chinese staff members (Chris, who happened to have a nephew up in Inner Mongolia) and I headed up on the train this past Saturday night. Yet, we had multiple frustrating and hilarious complications in getting there (and back).
First of all, we had paid for a sleeper train which accommodates you with a soft mattress and air conditioning in a compartment with only 3 other people. So, after hauling our luggage from our campus, on a 15 minute bus ride and then almost an hour and a half long subway ride with 3-4 transfers, we arrived at the train station 25 minutes before our train was to leave which was at 9:40pm. Perfect timing right? Well, under normal circumstances it would have been, but upon looking at our ticket, Chris realized that we had come to the wrong Beijing train station! As a result, with 25 minutes to work with we frantically rushed back to the subway and began making our way as fast as we could underneath the city to the other station praying with all our might that God would either speed up our subway or delay the train. Yet, to our dismay, we arrived 17 minutes after it took off (China, for once, was actually efficient!).
At this point, I thought we were completely out of luck and that I had just thrown 250 kuai ($37.50) down the drain. But, after talking with someone at the train station, Chris was able to get us on a different train at 11pm that same night. The only problem was that we did not have a seat and were told that we may have to sit on the floor or stand during the trip.
This is where the “fun” begins. After eating dinner at McDonalds, we walked to the terminal, past the comfortable sleeper boxcars that we should have been on 2 hours earlier, and down to the “hard seat” part of the train. Here we were met with absolute chaos. The train was 300% overbooked and was more like a cattle car than an actual train! The seats, which only cost 76 kuai/person compared to the 250/person we paid for the sleepers, were all full and dozens of people were standing in the aisle in a single file line due to the crowded condition, with their luggage sprawled all around them. It was so packed that one of the train attendants had to loudly yell at us to squeeze closer together in order to get the doors shut. There were people sitting against their luggage in every nook and cranny possible. Being an American didn’t help our situation at all. For the first 10 minutes or so everyone couldn’t stop staring and laughing at us. Being foreigners, it was simply assumed that we would be in the sleeper cars, and they got a kick out of our misfortune.
To make matters worse, I got stuck right next to the only two bathrooms available for the hundreds of people in our section of the train, and was forced to stand there for the first 4 hours of the trip from 11pm-3am. Therefore, people were constantly coming in and out of the horribly smelly “squattie pottie” bathroom, and lining up right next to me to wait their turn. The doors were constantly slamming shut adding to the noise and the overall messy situation. Furthermore, this part of the aisle was no more than 3 feet wide, and I had my large suitcase at my feet which made it very difficult for people to get by. I constantly had to move back and forth to make room for people to pass, and on two occasions they pushed a snack cart (like what you see on an airplane) through this 3 foot section – and I had to lift my 35 pound luggage above my head to allow them to get through while being careful not to step on the people sitting around me!
As if this wasn’t bad enough, before the train even left the station there were more than 6 Chinese men smoking within 5 feet of me. And, in such a small space with no open windows and weak air conditioning, there was instantly a tobacco hotbox that made me feel even more claustrophobic and nauseated. This smoking continued throughout the journey.
By 3am, a handful of people got off the train at one of the midway stops and I was able to move away from the bathrooms and back towards my friends. Yet, without an actual seat, I had to take turns with Tim sitting on his uncomfortable luggage to rest our legs. Then, at about 5:30am, when I thought I could stand up no longer, I was offered a seat by someone who was getting off at the next stop. Exhausted but grateful, I sat down and fell asleep with my head on the table in front of me within seconds. When I awoke we were still about an hour and half out, but I couldn’t sleep any longer because my throat was too sore and scratchy from all the second-hand smoke.
Finally, at about 10:30am, the train pulled into the station. We slowly made our way off and were welcomed by the sunny Inner Mongolian weather. We went to the parking lot and were greeted by Chris’ nephew and uncle. They had managed to borrow two cars from some friends, and while we had hoped to go directly to a hostel to sleep, Chris’ family told us it was a perfect day to go to the Gobi desert and so we decided to go. This included a three hour drive, where most of us were able to catch up on a little sleep. Once we arrived we realized that the suffering we had experienced the night before was all worth it. The desert was beautiful as the pictures will reveal, and we were able to go on almost an hour long camel ride in what ended up being a thunder and lightning storm. We also were able to go sand sledding, and enjoyed two rainbows and the sunset over the Gobi.
The next day, we took a trip out into the Mongolian grasslands and stayed overnight with a family of shepherds in a traditional Mongolian yurt. There, we ate multiple authentic Mongolian meals and were able to go on an hour long horseback ride (As a side note, I now have much more appreciation for people who lived earlier than 150 years ago and rode horses for hundreds of miles. My whole body hurt after this, especially you know where, but it was still a great experience.)
Additionally, I should mention that the yurt was rather unusual. While it had no running water and the bathroom was the open range, the family had a satellite dish and had wired in cable TV. Also, while we slept in a traditional Mongolian yurt, it had a television and sound system and so we watched the movie “Hitch” once the sun went down. Furthermore, while the family was shepherds, they used a dirt bike to herd the sheep!
In the middle of the night, I was awakened from my slumber by a loud thunder storm accompanied by bright lightning that lit up the entire inside of the yurt. The rain water hit hard against the metal roof and prevented me from going back to sleep. So, I crawled out of my covers, put on my rain jacket, and precariously leaned out of the yurt to watch the lightning. This was an amazing sight to see. Gigantic lightning bolts were striking a mere 2 miles away, and they lit up the entire night sky. I was immediately thankful that God controls the storms and decides where each lightning bolt will strike!
In the morning we hiked to a nearby shrine which consisted of a large pile of rocks and multiple cow and pig skulls. Our host family told us this was an offering to the “sky god” and locals come from miles around and put a rock on the pile and make a wish after sacrificing an animal to this “god.” This was very fascinating, and I couldn’t help to think of the pagans in the Old Testament who made idols of wood and rocks and made sacrifices to make-believe gods.
Next, we drove back to the city of Hohhot and went to a hostel where we stayed for our last day and a half. We explored the city that afternoon, and chatted with other travelers at night. We also had traditional Mongolian hotpot for dinner. This tasted good, but didn’t sit so well with many of our stomachs. We were in and out of the bathroom multiple times during the next 24 hours drinking pepto like it was a juice box.
On our trip home, we took a sleeper bus instead of a sleeper train from 7:40pm to 5:30am. This mode of transportation was only slightly better than our train disaster. One problem was that the beds were not built for lengthy 6’2’’ people, but rather for 5’6’’ Chinamen. Consequently, my legs had to be continually bent to where my knees would hit the two metal guard rails on the side of the skinny bed. Other frustrations included constant bumpiness due to pot holes and poorly constructed roads making sleeping almost impossible, blinding lights due to other vehicles leaving on their high beams, toll booths every 20 minutes with multiple speed bumps further hindering my ability to sleep, people smoking on the bus, and 4 separate bathroom stops including one 15 minutes into the trip, and then one half hour stop at 1am at a restaurant for people to eat a “midnight snack.” Ridiculous.
A few lessons learned:
1) Never miss your train. Ever.
2) While the train ride was specifically taxing, it allowed us to empathize with the Chinese working class. It was humbling to think that millions of Chinese take trains like that every night.
3) Pack lightly. I lugged around my huge suitcase with bedding in it because I thought we would need it if we stayed in one hotel room with 5 people. Next time I’ll take the floor, or rocks, or sleeping sideways on a picket fence for that matter if it means I don’t have to haul that suitcase around.
4) Sometimes God ordains suffering so that we will appreciate His beauty and His grace more than we otherwise would. The desert and the grasslands were a sight for sore eyes after the miserable train ride.
Lastly, I’ll mention that our first session starts this coming Monday and I will be in Beijing at least through September because things have fallen through once again at the “new campus.” I’ll update at the end of the first week.
Kyle
Last year, while I was studying here for 3 months, I had dreams of going up to Inner Mongolia to ride camels in the Gobi desert and go sand boarding on the dunes. Unfortunately, since Chongqing is in the southern part of the country, it would have been something like a 36 hour train ride (one way) to make it that far north. Therefore, I abandoned the idea and traveled to locations closer to the school.
Beijing, however, is a mere 10½ hour train ride from Inner Mongolia. So, what I thought was a dead dream, became a reality during this last week during our 5 day break before our first teaching session begins. Four other year long facilitators and one of the Chinese staff members (Chris, who happened to have a nephew up in Inner Mongolia) and I headed up on the train this past Saturday night. Yet, we had multiple frustrating and hilarious complications in getting there (and back).
First of all, we had paid for a sleeper train which accommodates you with a soft mattress and air conditioning in a compartment with only 3 other people. So, after hauling our luggage from our campus, on a 15 minute bus ride and then almost an hour and a half long subway ride with 3-4 transfers, we arrived at the train station 25 minutes before our train was to leave which was at 9:40pm. Perfect timing right? Well, under normal circumstances it would have been, but upon looking at our ticket, Chris realized that we had come to the wrong Beijing train station! As a result, with 25 minutes to work with we frantically rushed back to the subway and began making our way as fast as we could underneath the city to the other station praying with all our might that God would either speed up our subway or delay the train. Yet, to our dismay, we arrived 17 minutes after it took off (China, for once, was actually efficient!).
At this point, I thought we were completely out of luck and that I had just thrown 250 kuai ($37.50) down the drain. But, after talking with someone at the train station, Chris was able to get us on a different train at 11pm that same night. The only problem was that we did not have a seat and were told that we may have to sit on the floor or stand during the trip.
This is where the “fun” begins. After eating dinner at McDonalds, we walked to the terminal, past the comfortable sleeper boxcars that we should have been on 2 hours earlier, and down to the “hard seat” part of the train. Here we were met with absolute chaos. The train was 300% overbooked and was more like a cattle car than an actual train! The seats, which only cost 76 kuai/person compared to the 250/person we paid for the sleepers, were all full and dozens of people were standing in the aisle in a single file line due to the crowded condition, with their luggage sprawled all around them. It was so packed that one of the train attendants had to loudly yell at us to squeeze closer together in order to get the doors shut. There were people sitting against their luggage in every nook and cranny possible. Being an American didn’t help our situation at all. For the first 10 minutes or so everyone couldn’t stop staring and laughing at us. Being foreigners, it was simply assumed that we would be in the sleeper cars, and they got a kick out of our misfortune.
To make matters worse, I got stuck right next to the only two bathrooms available for the hundreds of people in our section of the train, and was forced to stand there for the first 4 hours of the trip from 11pm-3am. Therefore, people were constantly coming in and out of the horribly smelly “squattie pottie” bathroom, and lining up right next to me to wait their turn. The doors were constantly slamming shut adding to the noise and the overall messy situation. Furthermore, this part of the aisle was no more than 3 feet wide, and I had my large suitcase at my feet which made it very difficult for people to get by. I constantly had to move back and forth to make room for people to pass, and on two occasions they pushed a snack cart (like what you see on an airplane) through this 3 foot section – and I had to lift my 35 pound luggage above my head to allow them to get through while being careful not to step on the people sitting around me!
As if this wasn’t bad enough, before the train even left the station there were more than 6 Chinese men smoking within 5 feet of me. And, in such a small space with no open windows and weak air conditioning, there was instantly a tobacco hotbox that made me feel even more claustrophobic and nauseated. This smoking continued throughout the journey.
By 3am, a handful of people got off the train at one of the midway stops and I was able to move away from the bathrooms and back towards my friends. Yet, without an actual seat, I had to take turns with Tim sitting on his uncomfortable luggage to rest our legs. Then, at about 5:30am, when I thought I could stand up no longer, I was offered a seat by someone who was getting off at the next stop. Exhausted but grateful, I sat down and fell asleep with my head on the table in front of me within seconds. When I awoke we were still about an hour and half out, but I couldn’t sleep any longer because my throat was too sore and scratchy from all the second-hand smoke.
Finally, at about 10:30am, the train pulled into the station. We slowly made our way off and were welcomed by the sunny Inner Mongolian weather. We went to the parking lot and were greeted by Chris’ nephew and uncle. They had managed to borrow two cars from some friends, and while we had hoped to go directly to a hostel to sleep, Chris’ family told us it was a perfect day to go to the Gobi desert and so we decided to go. This included a three hour drive, where most of us were able to catch up on a little sleep. Once we arrived we realized that the suffering we had experienced the night before was all worth it. The desert was beautiful as the pictures will reveal, and we were able to go on almost an hour long camel ride in what ended up being a thunder and lightning storm. We also were able to go sand sledding, and enjoyed two rainbows and the sunset over the Gobi.
The next day, we took a trip out into the Mongolian grasslands and stayed overnight with a family of shepherds in a traditional Mongolian yurt. There, we ate multiple authentic Mongolian meals and were able to go on an hour long horseback ride (As a side note, I now have much more appreciation for people who lived earlier than 150 years ago and rode horses for hundreds of miles. My whole body hurt after this, especially you know where, but it was still a great experience.)
Additionally, I should mention that the yurt was rather unusual. While it had no running water and the bathroom was the open range, the family had a satellite dish and had wired in cable TV. Also, while we slept in a traditional Mongolian yurt, it had a television and sound system and so we watched the movie “Hitch” once the sun went down. Furthermore, while the family was shepherds, they used a dirt bike to herd the sheep!
In the middle of the night, I was awakened from my slumber by a loud thunder storm accompanied by bright lightning that lit up the entire inside of the yurt. The rain water hit hard against the metal roof and prevented me from going back to sleep. So, I crawled out of my covers, put on my rain jacket, and precariously leaned out of the yurt to watch the lightning. This was an amazing sight to see. Gigantic lightning bolts were striking a mere 2 miles away, and they lit up the entire night sky. I was immediately thankful that God controls the storms and decides where each lightning bolt will strike!
In the morning we hiked to a nearby shrine which consisted of a large pile of rocks and multiple cow and pig skulls. Our host family told us this was an offering to the “sky god” and locals come from miles around and put a rock on the pile and make a wish after sacrificing an animal to this “god.” This was very fascinating, and I couldn’t help to think of the pagans in the Old Testament who made idols of wood and rocks and made sacrifices to make-believe gods.
Next, we drove back to the city of Hohhot and went to a hostel where we stayed for our last day and a half. We explored the city that afternoon, and chatted with other travelers at night. We also had traditional Mongolian hotpot for dinner. This tasted good, but didn’t sit so well with many of our stomachs. We were in and out of the bathroom multiple times during the next 24 hours drinking pepto like it was a juice box.
On our trip home, we took a sleeper bus instead of a sleeper train from 7:40pm to 5:30am. This mode of transportation was only slightly better than our train disaster. One problem was that the beds were not built for lengthy 6’2’’ people, but rather for 5’6’’ Chinamen. Consequently, my legs had to be continually bent to where my knees would hit the two metal guard rails on the side of the skinny bed. Other frustrations included constant bumpiness due to pot holes and poorly constructed roads making sleeping almost impossible, blinding lights due to other vehicles leaving on their high beams, toll booths every 20 minutes with multiple speed bumps further hindering my ability to sleep, people smoking on the bus, and 4 separate bathroom stops including one 15 minutes into the trip, and then one half hour stop at 1am at a restaurant for people to eat a “midnight snack.” Ridiculous.
A few lessons learned:
1) Never miss your train. Ever.
2) While the train ride was specifically taxing, it allowed us to empathize with the Chinese working class. It was humbling to think that millions of Chinese take trains like that every night.
3) Pack lightly. I lugged around my huge suitcase with bedding in it because I thought we would need it if we stayed in one hotel room with 5 people. Next time I’ll take the floor, or rocks, or sleeping sideways on a picket fence for that matter if it means I don’t have to haul that suitcase around.
4) Sometimes God ordains suffering so that we will appreciate His beauty and His grace more than we otherwise would. The desert and the grasslands were a sight for sore eyes after the miserable train ride.
Lastly, I’ll mention that our first session starts this coming Monday and I will be in Beijing at least through September because things have fallen through once again at the “new campus.” I’ll update at the end of the first week.
Kyle
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Shopping and Sightseeing
After two weeks of a regimented training schedule, the other facilitators and I finally had a weekend off. I spent some of my free time on Saturday going to the Silk market which is similar to the Pearl Market where you can buy almost anything from actual silk to electronics to tapestries to shoes. Most of it is obviously fake, but if you enjoy haggling, it is a great place to practice your skills. While it took about 45 minutes to get to the market including a bus ride and 3 subways, it literally cost 45 cents to get there! The transportation here is awesome. Seattle should take lessons.
So anyways, I personally had a lot of fun at the market because I have learned how to barter in Chinese and enjoy joking around with the vendors who tend to be small 5 foot 2, 100 pound Chinese women. In one encounter, the girl said "Do you need a belt? Very cheap price for you!" and I said, "mian fei?" which in Chinese means "free?," and in English she said, "I kill you!" Needless to say we scurried away from that stand pretty quickly. In the end I bought a pair of knock off Oakley's for myself for about $7.50 and then bartered for my Chinese friends (the Chinese staff) who were baffled by my ability to stand firm on the price they wanted. They were happy because I probably saved them $20-30 in all.
Apart from going to the market, we also checked out the Beijing International church this morning. It was in the lower level of a very fancy shopping mall, and has been sanctioned so that only International passport holders can attend. The sermon was pretty good, and was a little more "meaty" then the English service at the Chinese church, but my friend Dan and I have decided that our best option may be to videocast, Driscoll, Piper, etc. on the 10 foot projector in our lounge. This will provide deeper, more challenging sermons for us, and save us about 2 hours of our limited time off.
Finally, I think I will start to post my favorite "Chinglish" quotes of the week. The top two this week were.
Chinese Staff Connie: I want to be able to speak English better than Americans
Facilitator Geoffry: Not going to happen. (jokingly)
Chinese Staff Connie: It is happens!
(She meant to say "It is going to happen")
When walking through Yuan Ming Yuan park and looking at an old Chinese monument, my friend Dan had the following interaction:
Dan: What is this monument?
Student: Oh, uh, its a "China something."
The students are always so eloquent in their descriptions. :)
Alright, thats all I got.
Kyle
So anyways, I personally had a lot of fun at the market because I have learned how to barter in Chinese and enjoy joking around with the vendors who tend to be small 5 foot 2, 100 pound Chinese women. In one encounter, the girl said "Do you need a belt? Very cheap price for you!" and I said, "mian fei?" which in Chinese means "free?," and in English she said, "I kill you!" Needless to say we scurried away from that stand pretty quickly. In the end I bought a pair of knock off Oakley's for myself for about $7.50 and then bartered for my Chinese friends (the Chinese staff) who were baffled by my ability to stand firm on the price they wanted. They were happy because I probably saved them $20-30 in all.
Apart from going to the market, we also checked out the Beijing International church this morning. It was in the lower level of a very fancy shopping mall, and has been sanctioned so that only International passport holders can attend. The sermon was pretty good, and was a little more "meaty" then the English service at the Chinese church, but my friend Dan and I have decided that our best option may be to videocast, Driscoll, Piper, etc. on the 10 foot projector in our lounge. This will provide deeper, more challenging sermons for us, and save us about 2 hours of our limited time off.
Finally, I think I will start to post my favorite "Chinglish" quotes of the week. The top two this week were.
Chinese Staff Connie: I want to be able to speak English better than Americans
Facilitator Geoffry: Not going to happen. (jokingly)
Chinese Staff Connie: It is happens!
(She meant to say "It is going to happen")
When walking through Yuan Ming Yuan park and looking at an old Chinese monument, my friend Dan had the following interaction:
Dan: What is this monument?
Student: Oh, uh, its a "China something."
The students are always so eloquent in their descriptions. :)
Alright, thats all I got.
Kyle
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Ahhh! It is so great to be out of quarantine!
(Pictures coming soon)
Life in China is chaotic and constantly changing, and is beginning to redefine my idea of “flexibility.” These first few weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs as the program is continually evolving even as I write. There is currently a 20 day TIP session that is going on now with 350 students, and is being led by a short-term summer team. While this session is going on, the seven other new year-long facilitators and I have been undergoing extensive, intensive training that will last almost 3 weeks. It encompasses everything from how to teach in a small group or large group setting, to how to cope with culture shock and homesickness. We have also learned about the history of China and the history of “our religion” in China.
Furthermore, we have been able to participate in multiple 20-minute practicums where I have co-taught with another facilitator, and we were in charge of game time a few nights ago where we played a game called “Find the candy” and “Move if.” “Find the candy” is where one student is blindfolded and his teammates hide a piece of candy and then give the blindfolded student directions for finding the candy. The students’ practice giving directions and listening to directions and have a lot of fun doing it. “Move if” is a game that most people have probably played in school or at camp where there is a large circle of chairs which everyone sits in except for the person in the middle. This person’s job is to say “Move if you like ____” or “Move if you are wearing ____,” etc., and if the people sitting in the circle like or are wearing what was stated then they must make a mad dash across the room to find a new seat. Then, the person who can’t find a seat is stuck in the middle and says “Move if____.” While this game is very simple, the students have a blast and fight and push (similar to getting on a bus sometimes) for the last seat! It is hysterical to watch and play.
Of all the training we have done, practicum and the prep work that goes into it has been the most fun. While there has been great advice given from alumni facilitators who taught last year, nothing teaches better than hands-on experience. It is great to be slowly eased into the teaching process though, and so I am grateful for the long training.
There are a plethora of things that I have learned during my time here so far. Here are four:
1) When you think you are speaking English slow enough, you should probably s l o w d o w n to half that speed and then you may be close.
2) While this program is now in its 4th year, each 20-day session can be vastly different and therefore not only will every month or every week be an adventure, but every day! This, of course, forces me to trust and rely on God. It’s like He planned it this way or something!
3) The Chinese teachers we are teaching tend to be very respectful and easily loveable, and those who are in the lowest classes who know the least amount of English are childlike even if they are 50 years old. You could roll a crayon back and forth across the desk and they would love it.
4) God is faithful in providing other Christians for accountability and fellowship. I have been meeting with Dan, a fellow facilitator from Texas who is 43 years old, and is a genuine man of God and he has agreed to mentor me this year.
There are also a few very specific things I need prayer for. First of all, my friend Tracey, who
came to faith last year, is considering working here as an Administrative Assistant for one month. If she likes the environment and the Chinese staff likes her, she would be able to come on staff full-time. How providential would it for me to be able to work with a friend who I was able to help (in part) come to faith! Secondly, the administration is planning on starting a traveling TIP in about a month and a half, and they are asking for some facilitators to come with them. As of now, I have very few details regarding this because they simply don’t know where it will be except that it will probably be in the province of Yunnan (which is beautiful by the way). Please pray for God’s discernment as Dan and I consider this opportunity (if the program is better organized), and pray for Tracey and her decision for whether or not she will work here for a month and then potentially join the Chinese staff.
Thanks!
Kyle
Life in China is chaotic and constantly changing, and is beginning to redefine my idea of “flexibility.” These first few weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs as the program is continually evolving even as I write. There is currently a 20 day TIP session that is going on now with 350 students, and is being led by a short-term summer team. While this session is going on, the seven other new year-long facilitators and I have been undergoing extensive, intensive training that will last almost 3 weeks. It encompasses everything from how to teach in a small group or large group setting, to how to cope with culture shock and homesickness. We have also learned about the history of China and the history of “our religion” in China.
Furthermore, we have been able to participate in multiple 20-minute practicums where I have co-taught with another facilitator, and we were in charge of game time a few nights ago where we played a game called “Find the candy” and “Move if.” “Find the candy” is where one student is blindfolded and his teammates hide a piece of candy and then give the blindfolded student directions for finding the candy. The students’ practice giving directions and listening to directions and have a lot of fun doing it. “Move if” is a game that most people have probably played in school or at camp where there is a large circle of chairs which everyone sits in except for the person in the middle. This person’s job is to say “Move if you like ____” or “Move if you are wearing ____,” etc., and if the people sitting in the circle like or are wearing what was stated then they must make a mad dash across the room to find a new seat. Then, the person who can’t find a seat is stuck in the middle and says “Move if____.” While this game is very simple, the students have a blast and fight and push (similar to getting on a bus sometimes) for the last seat! It is hysterical to watch and play.
Of all the training we have done, practicum and the prep work that goes into it has been the most fun. While there has been great advice given from alumni facilitators who taught last year, nothing teaches better than hands-on experience. It is great to be slowly eased into the teaching process though, and so I am grateful for the long training.
There are a plethora of things that I have learned during my time here so far. Here are four:
1) When you think you are speaking English slow enough, you should probably s l o w d o w n to half that speed and then you may be close.
2) While this program is now in its 4th year, each 20-day session can be vastly different and therefore not only will every month or every week be an adventure, but every day! This, of course, forces me to trust and rely on God. It’s like He planned it this way or something!
3) The Chinese teachers we are teaching tend to be very respectful and easily loveable, and those who are in the lowest classes who know the least amount of English are childlike even if they are 50 years old. You could roll a crayon back and forth across the desk and they would love it.
4) God is faithful in providing other Christians for accountability and fellowship. I have been meeting with Dan, a fellow facilitator from Texas who is 43 years old, and is a genuine man of God and he has agreed to mentor me this year.
There are also a few very specific things I need prayer for. First of all, my friend Tracey, who
came to faith last year, is considering working here as an Administrative Assistant for one month. If she likes the environment and the Chinese staff likes her, she would be able to come on staff full-time. How providential would it for me to be able to work with a friend who I was able to help (in part) come to faith! Secondly, the administration is planning on starting a traveling TIP in about a month and a half, and they are asking for some facilitators to come with them. As of now, I have very few details regarding this because they simply don’t know where it will be except that it will probably be in the province of Yunnan (which is beautiful by the way). Please pray for God’s discernment as Dan and I consider this opportunity (if the program is better organized), and pray for Tracey and her decision for whether or not she will work here for a month and then potentially join the Chinese staff.
Thanks!
Kyle
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