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. :)

Class A

(more pictures to come)

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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!

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)