part 2

It isn't nice of me to get you all interested in an event and then not to tell you about what happened. So, I was not able to get sick. I couldn't even manage to learn "I don't know any songs in Chinese" in Chinese. So the party happened. We got there early so we could sit with the crazy teachers instead of with the old men and the principal. It was interesting. The two guys next to me kept filling up my bowl with food, so I didn't have to. There was constant karaoke blaring in the background. The DJ announced that "in the course of the meal the two beautiful English teachers would be singing." Well that put my heart to rest instantly. He wasn't even thinking about us, he was thinking about the two "beautiful" english teachers. I started feeling really bad for poor Jean and Amanda though, it really stinks to be forced to sing.

The principal kept walking by us and talking to Naomi about her song and once he brought her the Karaoke book so she could pick one..I was suddenly busy talking to a student so he didn't say anything to me. ;) Anyways Nomes diappeared for a while and I heard someone saying Naomi and Patricia were going to sing. I of course didn't "really" hear it because it was in Chinese. So I kept eating and someone else sang. Then Naomi came back and the principal wearing his pants unusually high (for back support, I guess) announced she'd be singing. The poor girl. She did sing, but she didn't sing for the principal she sang for her friend and I was so proud of her for doing it. She was amazing and she saved my life in the process. Since Naomi sang I didn't have to. Though, if they had had "yellow" by Coldplay I would have sang it, just for Jacob "And they were all yellow"...I love my racist brother. ;)

A lesson in humility (and the blockheadedness of some people)

I've talked a little bit about the principal at my school. Did I mention that he is now my Chinese teacher? Once a week I have an exclusive 40 minute Chinese lesson with him. I'm so lucky =(. I'm not going to lie, I cried when (after) he told me. It's just that I'm fine with the principal from a distance. It's really hard to show him Christian love when I'm around him. =/
(Hold that thought)
Tonight is a big dinner party because the president of the parents association is stepping down and new a person is taking his place. So there will be a lot of eating, drinking (not me), speaches (in Chinese) and karaoke. All in all it's one of those things that aren't any fun for anyone and no one would come if they didn't serve food. I personally do not enjoy these things. I get bored sitting still for two hours or longer eating food, being talked about by everyone and occasionally made to go up front and give a speech or sing a song. Anyways, the principal announced that we were going to be going to this particular dinner, he told us to dress beautifully and he asked/told Naomi to sing a song. I was happy. I think he's finally understanding that I don't like being in the public eye. I am terrified of giving speeches and I don't like to sing karaoke. YAY!

Well soon after this announcement was my Chinese class with the principal. I was in a somewhat apprehensive mood, afraid he'd change his mind, but it was okay. We reviewed our words from last week and then he said he had a new phrase for me to learn. "Wo yao chang y so gu gay hwey zang" Which means "I want to sing a song for the new president of the parents association." my heart sank. "He doesn't really expect me to use this phrase, does he? *gulp*...."

I hate politics!

Since, Chinese class I've been frantically trying to come up with ways not to go to the dinner. Why is it so easy to catch a cold when you want to go somewhere amazing and so hard to catch one when it would be really useful? Sigh...I might have to suck it up and sing. This might just be one of those lessons in humility.

What's happening

Naomi found to her chagrin that the expensive coffe beans she bought, were green. After some extensive research she discovered how to
roast them. Yummy coffee followed.

We borrowed a dog for the day. We tried to sneak him in without baba noticing...My distraction methods had some flaws in them and baba and the other men in the office all stared at Naomi as she tried to slide by with a furry creature in her arms. =( The dog was really sweet though. She was a bit crazy though. I'm still trying to get the dog smell out of my room. I had to wash all of my chewed up stuffed animals. =(

God's grace is greater than hog hair

Today I was eating the schools lunch, when I noticed the pork I was about to eat had skin and hair on it. It took all my concentration not to gag. Somehow I managed to consume all my other food without drawing attention to the fact that I was disgusted beyond belief.
oh and the week before that at another school there was a bug in my vegetables. GAG!

Besides that...here's what's been going on. =)


An amazing bug I watched fly into the office.


Naomi chilling with my fifth graders =)


Once a week we have a family from school come to our house and I get to torture the younguns. These two lasted pretty long, but they always talk in the end. ;)

They're Yours

Earlier I blogged about Ghost day. I think I failed to really understand it then. Apparently, that was only one day out of a month of celebrating "Our kind brothers" (ghosts). That was the biggest day, where they put out the most food and go indoors early. Now it is the end of "ghost month" and the air is filled with sounds of parading and fire works. There is a big parade of religious people who walk alongside big float like vehicles which look like temples on wheels. Naomi and I went on a bike ride yesterday and ran into the tail end of this parade. There were many, many people out. Mostly men in some sort of temple uniform and there were a lot of old people standing outside their homes waving incense, burning paper money or bowing in worship to these ghosts and to their gods. It was a sobering sight, but that didn't compare with the pain of realization I experienced when I saw my third grade student out there with his mom. MY student. This dark religion, this worship of ghosts isn't just something the old people do because of tradition. It is something they believe and they drag the younger generation into it. It shouldn't happen with my students, but the reality is...this is life without Jesus. I took this picture today through my window. It was placed outside of the car repair shop I live at. It is an offering of fruit to the ghosts. on the left side of the table are stacks of paper money. They burn this money to give to the ghosts. Shortly after taking this picture I saw what was maybe the saddest thing of my life. I saw my dear mama bowing and waving incense and then my dear sweet little Abby bowing in obeisance to WHAT? Demons? ghosts? darkness? God?
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." John 10:17-19

They're mine

What if you had mean students? And what if you loved them anyways, because they were yours? And what if after every class you went home emotionally exhausted because of how much they took from you? What if you continued to love them and to pour yourself into them even though it hurt? What if they graduated and left you? How would you feel? And what if you found them again? What if you found that they loved you too? What if?

The simple joys of maidenhood

I was afraid of boring people with too many posts so it's been too long since my last one. I have so many things to tell.

1. The single worst thing has happened to me. The principal, who I talked about in my last blog, has volunteered to teach me Chinese. So now once a week I have to sit down with him for a 40 minute Chinese lesson. Last week, I learned "The big tree is our good friend." So far in my conversations with Chinese squirrels it has been incredibly helpful.

2. I went fishing! Naomi and I stayed over at our students house and went fishing with them. We fished in some sort of outlet from the ocean. We stood on a bridge and watched Mr Lin cast a net into the water then we'd pull up a small fish or two and garbage. It was awesome. Mr Lin got the net stuck in the water. I volunteered to go into the water after it, but no one thinks the Americans can do anything =(. So a complete stranger came and stripped to his boxers so he could jump in and save the day. I was jealous. After getting our net back we caught 12 little fish all together. Then we went home and scaled and gutted them. They were very much still alive when we started to scale them. I had to tell myself over and over again "fish don't feel pain. Fish don't feel pain." (don't tell me if this isn't true, I don't want to know). After the fish were gutted (this was my first time gutting fish ) we fried them and salted them. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever tasted. I love fishing!

3. Today one of our students asked the principal if it was "true that all Americans only eat steak?" I wish!!!! =)