The Buddy System

No, I am not just going to be talking about Lars' need for organization and order at Camp Hope.  I want to talk about what it means to be a buddy for one another, and the importance of interdependence. 

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach, if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."-Romans 12: 4-7

Many humans, including myself, have a pretty intense independent streak.  Personally, I hate appearing weak in any way.  I want to be seen as a strong, independent woman.  However, it is a mistake of mine and of others to view interdependence as weakness.  In reality, interdependence shows an allowance of trust, and in the end, that will make you stronger, because you will make up a unified.  It is a strength to be able to allow yourself to lean on another person, because it has the potential to backfire.  Sin causes conflict, dishonesty, distrust, malice, and pain in relationships.  It only takes one seed to build up weeds that could choke a healthy relationship.  That is the weakness of humans.  When we are letting that one seed consume our lives and effect our purpose, we are losing sight of fellowship and the reason God has blessed us with interdependence.    

The Bible is filled with pairs, especially in the New Testament when it comes to people spreading the church.  How many times did we hear about Peter, James, and John kicking it together?  My Bible class is going through the book of Acts, and I am just blown away by how many times people are in pairs.  Paul and Barnabas go off as Missionaries to Cyprus.  Peter and John traveling together to help start the church by performing miracles.  They were accountability partners.  The relationship between the disciples and deacons was also very interdependent.  The disciples found it hard to help serve everyone and their God when the church started rapidly growing.  They allowed themselves to be humbled, and appointed deacons for help.

The only person who could truly make an impact by himself without depending on others was Jesus Christ.  Even He though, chose to have 12 companions to help him through his mission field.  Jesus was, is, and ever will be the most powerful man to have lived, but still relied on his friends for support during his hardest times.  That is something that we should model.  No one is above help and support.  No one is alone.  No one should have the power to judge and reject another group, especially if that group has the same goal. 

In closing, a prayer:  Dear Lord, I am weak here by myself.  My heart turns to sin and is filled with pride.  Please give me the strength to fully rely on my faculty for help. Let us all rely on each other and stand as unified body through you and for you.  Amen.


In other news, I am participating in a dodgeball tournament today at school.  I am very nervous, but excited to be playing in it.  My team is definitely the underdog.  We are the youngest, and I am the only team with a female as the teacher representative.  I pray that we all have fun though!  In the end, that is all that really matters!

Volleyball, Locals, and Dancing in the Rain

This past week has been filled with some great moments.  It has truly been blessed. 

One big highlight:  Volleyball.
I played volleyball three times this weekend!  I played with volleyball with some people from the church for indoor and outdoor volleyball, and I got to play 2 v 2 indoor with some of the faculty members.  I tell you, I am grinning right now just thinking about all of the fun I have had playing this week.  Volleyball is by far and away my favorite sport to play, and it has been nothing short of a blessing to be able to play competitively here.  God has opened a door for physical activity.  Volleyball is nothing short of a stress reliever, and I am beyond ecstatic to be able to be playing it.

Another big highlight:  Interaction with locals
My house is in a great location.  It is right next to a church.  This church has an active congregation, and they use their parking lot as a place to play sports.  This has led to my roommates and I playing volleyball with some of the local people.  Because of this, we were invited to attend their church on Sunday.  Their service was all in Dutch, but we had a translator.  Although he was sick, he was able to help deliver the message on fear and how we should rise about it.  I sang "My Redeemer Lives" in Dutch, and am starting to be able to pick out some words in Dutch.
The locals at this church are amazing!  I was able to make contact with two people I had met previously during an outing to a beach area.  God has put them into our lives to help us with the transition of living here.  They are truly a gift from God, and I very much look forward to strengthening that relationship with that church and its members.

Another highlight:  Suriname orchestra concerts. 
Think about every orchestra concert you have ever been to.  Did you just feel a little tired?  I appreciate orchestra concerts, but I know that for some people, the phrase itself makes you want to go nap in a corner.  Well, Suriname orchestra concerts are certainly not the same.  They consist of "celebrity" performers from Holland, a couple of well-placed confetti cannons, a very entertaining Bollywood-esque performer with a tendency to swivel his hips with one hand raised, and music that had you wanting to dance.  I felt huge pride for Suriname during this concert.  What made this concert perfect, was the typical Suriname rain that accompanied it, and the lack of umbrellas from everyone in our group.  Somehow, whenever it starts raining, you just kind of surrender to the fact that you are going to get wet and just stop caring and dance.

As you can see, this week has been pretty great.  In addition to this, we also had praise night, awesome Bible studies, and fried chicken.  Another perk was a gift from America.  One of the teachers went to a wedding back in America, and he brought back things for the faculty that they wanted.  The practical side of me should have said Flaxseed Oil and Fishoil vitamins, but the childish side of me won out, and I was presented on Monday with several rolls of Sweetarts.  I am very, very thankful.

Please continue to pray for the faculty and students at my school!  A lot of the teachers are very much looking forward to Christmas break and time spent with family!

The Greatest Weapon: Love

Quick update before I get to the point of my blog title:

October has just flown by!  This could be because we have had several weeks in a row that have not lasted five whole school days.  Either way, this has probably been the shortest month on record.  During this time I ran another 5K.  This one was for Breast Cancer, and I was able to run it in its entirety.  I have set a new goal to run at least 50k by Christmas, not at one time, but as a whole.  That is about 30 miles.  I know it might seem easy for some, but I was not even able to run 1 mile less than a year ago.  So it is kind of a big deal.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to play volleyball with my neighbors.  So far, it has been the most exposure I have had to the Dutch language.  I learned the words for "out" and "line" enough so I could argue my point in English or Dutch.  One additional thing that I learned was that my name does not really work with Dutch phonetics, or at least with Surinamers.  When they asked for my name, I told them Anne.  After numerous failed attempts to correctly say the first vowel sound, (Ian), they asked me if I had any other names.  I gave them my last name, and they were able to pronounce that without a problem, which is funny because if you say my last name, you are essentially greeting me. Anyways, I hope to play more volleyball with them in the future!

Our school is going through the process for accreditation.  We are in the final steps and are quickly preparing for the arrival of the committee to observe us.  This whole experience has taught me just how much additional work teachers need to do for their classroom to make everything run smoothly.  Keep praying that all the work will be able to get done!

Now on to the title.
During my time with God I have spent time reflecting on relationships and how to deal with conflict.  There are many relationships in life that we have.  We have relationships with students, with coworkers, with friends, with family, and with neighbors.  Sometimes these relationships go through a rough patch.  That is life, we are all human, and we are all sinners. 

One of the greatest gifts and weapons that we have to combat sin and doubt is love.  Think about it; we are going to heaven because of love.  It was the greatest weapon God could use to save us.  1 Corinthians 13 stresses love's importance even more by stating that without love, great physical amounts of power and abilities are absolutely nothing. 

Now I am not trying to go all hippie with this love and peace talk, but I think I often just forget that this is what I should be fighting sin with.  The Bible says to love your enemies, turn the other cheek, and do not judge.  I struggle with these three things very much.  It is human instinct and our sinful nature to try and fight back and hurt someone who has hurt us.  In honesty, it is one of the places my mind goes.  "You caused me pain?  Well now I am going to cause you pain!"

That is wrong!  If Jesus had thought that way, he would have reigned down a bunch of hurt on everyone who had beaten him and tried to kill him.  Instead, he chose to love his enemies and die for them.  If we could have a Christ-like attitude toward others, maybe we wouldn't have so much disagreement. 1 Thessalonians states that we should "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always be kind to each other and to everyone else.  Be joyful always, and pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances."

This has been my motto for the past week.  In fact, I made it my class memory verse.  I love all my relationships.  It is an actual physical effort sometimes to get past conflict or wrongs that have been inflicted on me, but God gave me love to fight sin.   I am glad for that gift, and for that weapon.  If anyone reads this, I hope that you will try and fight sin with love this week.  To me, that will show your true strength.  Pray continually to God.  God is good!

Rule 32: Enjoy the Little Things

A rule taken from a great movie. This list is certainly not made in order of importance, but just randomly collected from experiences down here so far.

• The Subway here not only has flatbread, but white chocolate macadamia nut cookies as well!
• Suriname Netflixs contains shows and movies that American Netflixs does not.
• I have more access to cottage cheese than I did in the past.
• You can drink the tap water!  You can drink the tap water!  You can drink the tap water!
• A dryer.
• My bike Silva
• Pampamoose is a delicious fruit that is select only to Suriname
• Competitive volleyball, and hitting drills
• Rediscovering goalie capabilities
• Living with and working with wonderful cooks
• More English speakers
• Reading a book in a hammock
• being able to run a 5K without stopping
• Having an air-conditioned bedroom
• Having access to American shampoo and conditioner
• Praise nights where we can all sing
• having a musically talented faculty
• starting every morning with God
• Christian Zumba on Fitness Fridays
• Being forced to learn how to cook
• Petting an iguana
• Knowing all of the students in Elementary
• Being able to play with kids during school and after
• Good conversations with high schoolers
• Every time it rains
• A nice breeze
• Mexican food whenever it is available
• Pizza that one of the faculty made
• Freely talk about my faith
• being surrounded by nature

This list could easily go on.  I am truly blessed.  God is good.

Reality Check: I am in South America

It has almost been three months since I woke up in South America, and I am still getting use to living on another continent.  Yes, this is the third continent I have lived on in 2013, but it is still uniquely different.  There is palm trees and scorching heat.  It rains a lot, causing the streets to flood as well.  My friends are right now experiencing fall, while I am experiencing 90 degree weather and a dry season.  Things here are just different.

I would like to say that I have completely adjusted to life here, but there are still unexpected surprises everyday.  For example, yesterday I saw the movie Captain Phillips with some of my housemates.  This movie talks about an American captain taken hostage during a Somalian pirate raid.  During this movie I realized a small thing.  My housemates and I are probably the only Americans in the theatre.  This movie has some American ideals that are talked about, and it shows the power of my home country.  I thought that it was interesting to observe other people's reactions when jokes about America were made.  It is always interesting to get other people's insights on the United States. 

I still get these moments where I tell myself, "Hey, guess what?  You are living in South America." 

It makes you think about God and His plan.

Last October I was student teaching in Wisconsin.  I spent my mornings and afternoons driving around gorgeous scenery of leaves changing color.  I would start out everyday with hot apple cider, and end it with food network.  My friends and I would play cards during the weekends, and people cared about who was playing the World Series.  I had my mind made up that I wanted to teach middle school math in the lovely state of Colorado. 

Then, around this time, I heard about a job opportunity to teach in China for six months.  After encouragement from my aunt and uncle, I sent in my application.  A month later, I would find out that got the job position.  A month after that, I would graduate college, and prepare to move to China.   Once in China, I would experience a pull to spread the gospel and to strengthen my relationship with God.  While there, I felt that I needed to stay international for a while, and ended up in South America.  All of this has happened in a year... one year, and my life has completely taken an unexpected turn. 

Not for the worse though.  I realize that I am following God's plan down here.  He had great plans for me, and they are still being revealed.  I never thought I would end up in South America, but God knew. 

I used to, and slightly still do, have a control issue.  I, like many people, like being the one who has the steering wheel.  I like to chose where I want to go and what I am going to do.  I like to be in charge and know what is happening.  However, since moving to South America, I have let God take the steering wheel.  I say that, when in reality, He had it all along, I just did not acknowledge it.  If I can be honest, since I have acknowledged God's control in my life, my shoulders have felt lighter.  There is a freedom in giving everything up to God.  My worries have lessened, and I can "go with the flow" a lot easier.  So, now I am sitting in shotgun waiting for what God has in store for my life.  He has already given me so much in life with family, friends, music, a career, and sports.  I get that daily reality check that His plan is in process.  Everyday is a new adventure filled with surprises!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18-"be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Beauty is Pain

That famous saying "Beauty is Pain," is something that I never thought I would experience.  I usually do not go out of the way to enhance my appearance.  I wear make-up almost everyday (Saturday excluded), and make it a habit to shower (as anyone should).  However, especially since my straightener died, my hair is simply brushed and air dried.  My nails are unpainted, and I have never experienced a facial, pedicure, or spa date of any kind. 

Yes, I have experienced pain before in steps to change my physical appearance.  I have had my hair pulled through a cap in order to get highlights, and have had my ears pierced (which is more anticipation nerves than actual pain).  I experienced five and a half years of braces in order to get my teeth straight and that horrible gap fixed in the middle of my teeth.  However, I have not regretted any of these actions. 

In order to get better in touch with my feminine side and spend some quality time with my female faculty members, I went with them to a salon to get our eyebrows done.  I have gotten my eyebrows waxed in the past, and did not find the experience completely painful.  The last time I had done that though was March of 2012, and have not really bothered to since then.  My eyebrows are on the thicker side as eyebrows are concerned, but I have not really had a problem with them being the way they are.  Anyways, when we got to the salon, and one of the ladies had sat down to get her eyebrows done, I noticed that they had just jumped in to plucking her brows.  I asked if they did waxing here, and my friend said no, only plucking and trimming. 

So, when it came to my turn, I was a little bit nervous.  I had my friend translate that I just wanted my brows cleaned up, and I still wanted them to be thick (I was getting memories of that episode of Friends where Joey gets his eyebrows done...).  The eyebrow lady then got straight to work plucking my eyebrows, and inflicting annoying pain on my face while plucking out individual hairs at one time.  I didn't physically cry, but my eyes were watering like crazy.  I don't like to sound like a wimp; but it very much hurt! The pain caused me to start to get really angry and annoyed.  I was peeved that this woman was hurting me, and a part of me wanted to yell at this innocent woman for causing pain.  I was already slightly cranky from low blood sugar, and this did not help.   Needless to say, I was so very excited when she was done, and I was freed from the torture.  My friends all told me that my eyebrows looked great, which they did look better, but I didn't think they had looked bad enough before to go under that kind of pain.  

The part of the night that I had the hardest time wrapping my head around was the fact that I paid the person for causing my face pain!  I went and paid her 10 USD for plucking out individual hairs on my face.  I paid for pain!...and nice eyebrows.

What I did enjoy however, was time spent with my fellow female faculty friends and the Snickers later enjoyed on the trip home.  I am hoping for more hang out time in the future, just maybe not around a beauty salon. 

To all women who regularly pluck eyebrows:  You are warriors, and I respect your pain tolerance. I do not think I will be joining your league in the future. 
Sincerely,
a wimp with unkempt eyebrows

 

I know how Jonah felt.

First,  due to my location, my blog instructions are all in Dutch, so hopefully this entry will in fact be published and not sent somewhere else. 

I arrived successfully in Suriname, and am in the process of setting up my first official, all to myself, classroom.  I thought I would do a quick update to the differences from Suriname to my hometown.

The Bible says that a Prophet is not known in his hometown, it also talks about a man named Jonah.  God told Jonah to go to this sketch city Ninevah, where shenanigans were going down.  Jonah did not want to go, but one huge fish later, there he was. 

Two days before I left for Suriname, I was freaking out.  I get weekly crime updates from the Embassy in Suriname telling me about the huge amounts of crime in my soon to be home.  Now that I am here, I can tell you there are differences, but God is here.

There are four padlocks that you need to unlock in order to get into my apartment.  It is like a high security vault.  I have yet to see an unbarred in Suriname as well, as even our porch has bars on it.  Unwanted male attention is also something that is common here.  I had a man dance for me the other day, and it was quite disturbing.  It is really not smart to walk alone, especially at night, because of the dangers that could happen here. 

But God is still here. 
I keep this list of Bible verses on my computer to serve as that reminder. 

Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you-Deut. 3:22

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid' do not be discouraged. Deut-31:8

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. -Joshua 1:9

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me-Psalm 23:4

Psalm 27:1-The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?Please pray for the people of Suriname.  Pray for my future students, and their future teacher.  Pray for my school, and the other teachers!

A time for....

A lot has happened in the past five months.  I saw more countries in Asia, saw God witness, and said goodbye to my class.  I also had to say goodbye to my first faculty, a group of God loving individuals that had become a second family for me.  I had to make adult choices concerning career, and there were some trying times and joyous times.  Currently, I am back in America spending some quality time with friends and family before I get ready to leave for Suriname.  Suriname is where I will be spending the next two years of my life teaching fourth grade to children at an international school.  God has certainly opened up doors for me internationally, and I am very thankful for that. 

After much prayer, I had decided that God was calling me to stay international for a time.  I took this opportunity to look for jobs at Christian schools where I could help be an ambassador for Christ.  In the end, I had narrowed down my choice to two schools.  I was very indecisive and prayed to God for a sign.  He sent me two.  The first, was a facebook message from my mother telling me that the head-of-school had contacted her and talked about my teaching in Suriname.  It had filled my father and mother with peace to hear that conversation.  The second was an email from a fellow teacher telling me about the witnessing opportunities she has had while at school.  Her letter was filled with the spirit, and I could tell that God was calling me to go to this school.  I am honored that in turn, this school hired me, and is willing to help a new teacher. 

I have had to say a lot of goodbyes over these past few weeks, which has been hard.  For reflection, I often go to Ecclesiastes during hard times:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

God places people into our lives for a reason.  We learn from each other through Him.  I am thankful for God for romancing me throughout my time in China.  I feel that I have a freedom now in my spirituality as opposed to a burden.  I am made free through Christ and his undying love and sacrifice.  I think we all need to remind ourselves of that sometimes :).

I meant to post this around Valentine's Day

Sorry about the lack of posting!  My VPN has been acting up at my apartment and I am only able to be on American internet for five minutes before getting kicked off.  That is just enough to post a status on Facebook, comment on a few others, and then check People.com for the top celebrity headlines.  It is certainly not enough time to construct the eloquent prose that makes up this blog...

But anyways....
Love has hit my classroom.  It hit a little over a month ago.  My third grade girls have discovered the complexity and mystery of the fourth grade boys in my classroom.  While their love is often unrequited, they still persist.  I have been hearing alot of high-pitched squeals whenever I tell them to pass something to a boy.  The other day I confiscated a note from one of my female students.  Of course this note was written in Chinese, so I had no idea what the context of the letter was.  The girl though, held on to this note for dear life, which made me think that it contained some not-so-nice information about another student.  I told her if she did not give it to me, she would have to give it to the head of school.  She reluctantly held the note out, but when I reached to grab it, she started to rip it up.  Eventually, I was able to retrieve the pieces, although I feel like she was going to eat them pretty soon rather than hand them over.  At my first break, I went to get the note translated by one of the Chinese faculty members.  This is what it roughly translated to:  (Names have been omitted to protect the hearts of my not-yet-even preteen students)

Dear Male Student,
It makes me sad to say I can no longer be your friend.  I like you alot.  I know that you like another girl, and that girl likes another boy.  I want to talk to you, but I am very upset.  This is the second time my heart has been broken.  But do not worry, I will not cry this time.  I can no longer talk to you.  I am ending our friendship.  Please do not talk to me, it is too hard.
Female Student

This third grader was very sad that the man of her dreams (the second time around) did not feel the same way.  Looking back, I do not think I remember this much drama in third grade.  Times have changed....

I have also gotten other notes (all in Chinese)
Dear Male Student:
I know who likes you!  If you want to know, write who you like on the piece of paper, and give back to me.
(No signature)
I received this note from a fourth grader who did not want to get in a relationship at all.  The girls really love him though.  Whenever his name comes up, at least one girl giggles.  He did not know who put this letter in his desk, making me wonder, Does the person that wrote this realize that in order to get the letter back, they need to sign their name?  But then again, not having a name on something is a very common occurence for my students, especially with homework.  I try to battle this with sarcasm, which they don't understand, when they hand me homework without a name on it.  I say, "This looks really great, I wonder who it belongs too?"  They reply, "Me!"  to which I say,"Well, I don't know that.  How would I know that?"  They get slightly confused, but now are picking up on the fact that it means their name is missing from their work.

SO....any tips on crushing the love bug in my classroom?  Unfortunately since my boys are so rowdy, I need to sandwich them in between the gentler gender in order to maintain calm in my classroom.  Funny that I said the gentler gender, because the girls in my classroom tend to show their affection by kicking and poking the boy they fancy.  I have lost track of who likes who and if anyone is dating anyone, because I am pretty sure that changes on a daily basis. 

I did not think that I would have to deal with this in third and fourth grade.  Oh to be young and in love...

If this is what Black Friday is like...

So, I have had a pretty crazy weekend.
On Friday night, a bunch of the faculty went to this place called the Galleon to celebrate some birthdays that had happened over break.  This place is a pirate ship bar/restaurant.  Literally.  It is an actual boat on top of a hotel.  I got to hang out on the deck and look out over Shenzhen.  It was pretty great.  I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. However, I do not think this will be my last time at this particular establishment, as the faculty likes to go there alot. 

While there, we got to demonstrate to the Chinese people what awkward white Americans dancing looks like.  I feel like they appreciated our lack of rhythm, and some even joined in with us.  The end of the night was topped off with everyone in the bar dancing enthusiastically to Gangyam style.  That made me feel like I had arrived in Asia. 

That was Friday night.  On Saturday, two of my faculty friends and I planned to spend the day in Hong Kong...

So, going to Hong Kong from China means you have to cross the border.  Hong Kong is not necessarily a part of China.  I am not quite sure of the particulars of that, but going to Hong Kong is like going to another country.  In order to get a full day of exploration in, we planned on leaving early.  We were going to hop on the metro, take a 45 minute train ride, and then hop on a ferry for an hour.  The ferry is the least complicated way to go to Hong Kong as it is not as crowded as other forms of public transportation.

I am going to pause the story temporarily in order to tell you some necessary information.  I have motion sickness.  It is not severe, but long car trips, boat rides, and turbulence on flights do not do great things to my stomach.  It has been kind of a struggle having motion sickness when it comes to public transportation.  Sometimes in order to get places, we will have to ride for a good 45 minutes.  I am usually fine if I have a seat or face forward.  However, that becomes difficult sometimes when the metro train is extremely crowded; which it can get.  The constant stop and go can really get to me.  I have started traveling with some saltine crackers and a can of sprite to help combat the sickness.  My friends have been really helpful here.  One of them got me some Chinese medicine to help me with traveling.  Its a strong smelling liquid that you put on the back of your neck.  It feels like icy hot, and I use it whenever I board the metro. 

Alright time in.  So, when I woke up yesterday, I was not feeling that great.  I also had slept in longer then I wanted to, so I was in quite a hurry.  Therefore, I did not have time to eat breakfast (mistake #1).   I took some ibprofen and my daily medications (without food?  mistake #2), got dressed, and walked to the metro with my roommate, the P.E teacher, so we could meet our other friends.  We then got on a very crowded metro.  I managed to squish myself into a spot where I could face forward and talk to my friend who is the teacher's aid/ teacher in another room.  Though I felt pretty miserable, things were going relatively okay.  However, all of a sudden, I got very cold.  I couldn't really see alot and had tunnel vision, and I was very light headed.  I felt like I was either going to pass out or throw up.  Unfortunately, there was no room to do both.  I was not really responsive, so my friend asked if I was okay.  I mumbled incoherently, that I needed to get off the metro asap, and proceeded to try and sit down on the moving train floor filled with people. 

The next thing I remember was my friend telling me to leave the metro.  I got up to walk through the people to the door, but unfortunately did not make it in time, leaving me trapped and pressed up against the door.  Also, not an ideal situation.  I think I looked like I was about to puke, because a nice Chinese lady gave my friend a barf bag.  After riding for what seemed to be three hours, we finally got off at the next stop, which happened to be a stop that we needed to get off at in order to change metro lines.  My friends help me sit down, and immediately started to try and eat saltines and sprite.  (I also had sour patch kids, a generous gift from the P.E teacher, as they do not exist in China and are a huge help with motion sickness.).  I was shaking alot (yes sister, my arm was shaking)  and just did not really feel that great, but I did not get sick. 

We were in a time crunch.  We had to get moving, otherwise we would miss the ferry.  There was still a 20 minute metro ride in my future.  However, my friends graciously voted on eating breakfast and riding a taxi to the border instead. So, after a trip to Starbucks, we were on our way again.

Overall it took us a little over an hour to get to the border.  Since we did not take the ferry, we now had to pass through the border in a more crowded area.  More crowded was putting it very nicely, as the place where we were was crazy busy and filled with loud pushing people.  We got in a line of people, and tried our best to stay together.  Even though I am a nonviolent person, I found that I had to resort to pushing and shoving in order to stay with the group.  The Chinese are very ruthless that way.  Being in this line was alot like driving in traffic.  There were moments of complete stand still, followed by movements of a huge rush of people forward.  Though I have never been in a Black Friday, I am sure that it what it would be like.  Large groups of people just pushing and shoving.  And one line led to another, and another, and another, and another....  Finally after leaving the apartment at 8:00 AM.  We arrived in Hong Kong at 11:43. 

That was by far the most stressful part of my day.  After that, traveling around Hong Kong was a piece of cake.  We had orginally traveled into the country with four people, one of them having lived in Hong Kong during the summer.  She soon left our group though, so we were left with three Hong Kong newbies.  This made the day a unique adventure.  We had three missions 1) get the P.E. teacher a laptop from the apple store, 2) Get the teacher aid and I some Bibles 3) visit the peak.  Despite valiant attempts on the first two missions, they proved to be unsuccesful.  We did manage to get to the peak though.  The peak is on a mountain in Hong Kong that looks out over the whole city.  It has a hiking trail and an amazing view.  This was by far my favorite part of the day. Something that I have missed in Shenzhen, and in China, is nature.  I really miss open fields, water, trees, and just being surrounded by it.  The peak's trail led us by mountain ledges, trees, and it was magnificient.  I enjoy seeing the delicacy of God's creation.  It shows us just how magnificent He is.   

I am getting use to being stared at.  I notice it the most, when I am not with my American faculty.  I usually say hello, and they respond back.  People enjoy practicing their English.  It is also slightly funny to travel with the teacher's aid.  Her and I have become really good friends.  She, like me, is American.  Unlike me, she is of Asian descent, and gets confused for a native all the time.  She does not know any Chinese, but that does not stop the people of China from trying to talk to her.  She knows how to say the phrase, I am an American, but people do not believe her.  They keep refering to her as a "liar" in Chinese.  To them, the concept of someone looking like my friend, or just the diversity of Americans in general, is a foreign concept.  There really is no melting pot here, not like the U.S anyways. 

We ended up being able to take the ferry back to China, and I braved the metro to make our travel time back to China around 1 hour and 45 minutes.  We are already making plans to travel back and work on our first two missions.

Chopstick Challenged

So, yesterday was technically a Friday.  Today, there is no school and is a teacher's work day.  That being said, last night I went out with a bunch of my faculty to have some authentic Chinese.

So, I have been in China for almost a week, and have avoided using chopsticks until last night.  In the past, I have always struggled with eating food with this particular eating utensil, and last night was no exception. 

The place we went to was called "Hot Pot."  The title is pretty self-explanatory.  Once you get to the restaurant, you order food items like corn, potatoes, meat, and mushrooms.  The waiter will bring you these items and a pot of water that has been seasoned with various vegetables like garlic, and in our case, an animal bone.  These pots get placed on the table in premade holes that are attached to a burner that will boil the water. You then take the food you ordered and cook them in the boiling pots.  In addition, there are sauce mixes that you can dip your cooked food in. 

Our table ordered alot of food.  Plates and plates of it.  However, I was not full.  This was because I only ate what I could manage to hold with the evil sticks of hunger.  This meant a small amount of noodles, potatoes, and lamb.  I eventually folded, and spent the most of my dinner eating pieces of corn that I would pick up by skewering them with my chopstick and eating them like a kabob. 

This picture shows me eating tofu noodles, that's right tofu.  I tried tofu last night in the forms of tofu skin and tofu noodles.  The tofu noodles honestly tasted like noodles.  It was interesting.

 

On a classroom note, today a student said:  "Teacher have big tummy.  Miss Heien is fat." ....Yep that just happened.  Chinese students have no filter.

Well Chinese child, Miss Heien basically had no dinner, so that should help.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord....

        Tomorrow I will be leaving for China for an educational internship teaching third and fourth grade at an international school.  To say that I am nervous is a definite understatement.  For the next six months I will be separated from my friends and family and be responsible for maintaining my own classroom.  This is a huge responsiblity for someone who graduated from college under a month ago.  Thankfully, besides being nervous, I am excited. 
         I am lucky to have such a great support system here in America and one waiting for me in China.  Already, my faculty have embraced me and have been willing to answer all of my numerous and tedious questions. My plane trip tomorrow will be filled with even more questions as I am flying out with two of my new faculty members. 
       On a side note, my father just got admitted to the hospital today with pneumonia.  Prayers for a quick recovery!   It certainly was very stressful on my whole family getting me to where I needed to be, while my father was very sick.
       God has great plans for you and for me.  Sometimes in all of the stress in our lives we lose sight of that promise.  God is with us, He is here; so why be afraid?

So,  here I go...