Surprise!

There were a lot of things about being a teacher that I didn't expect.

On Tuesday, I suddenly had a lot of messages on qq.

"Happy Teachers' Day," said my student Tmac.  One of the girls who I studied with sent me a similar message with a picture of a rose.  Chelsea, who I haven't heard from in ages, sent this:  "Hello, hannh, today is teachers' day.  Good luck to you." My student Emma sent me an e-card.

I felt a little overwhelmed.

Sometimes I miss them a lot.  Mostly though, I'm grateful to still be involved in parts of their lives, that so many of them are willing to take the time and effort to stay in touch and let me know what's happening with them.

Tmac... in our non "Titanic" pose picture.  Trust me.  It's better this way.  ^_^

Six weeks later...

I wouldn't say I'm in culture shock about coming back to America.

However, there are a few things that still throw me for a loop.

1. Toilet paper goes where?  (I don't know why, but it does.)
2. Water from the tap is potable? (Although now I'm living with uber-chlorinated water, so that isn't so much of an issue.)
3. Everything. Is. So. Far. Away.  (Okay, so maybe that is more shock of living off campus.)
4. There is so much space between things.  Aisles in the grocery store, houses, etc.
5. Riding the bus cost $2.25, not 18 cents.
6. I don't see any Asians.  Or hear any Chinese.
7. There's no one around to speak Chinglish with me.
8. Time zones.  My gracious.  It was simple in China: if I was talking to students or teammates, they were the same.  If I was talking to someone in America, they were most likely about 12 hours off.  But now I barely know which country I'm in, some students are in America, and some of my American friends are in America and some are in China.  Confusion....

In other news, I finally wrote my last newsletter today, and it should be in the mail soon, thanks to the phenomenal Comm Department.  :D

Kids

I hear bits and pieces from my students and China friends this summer.  I'm increasingly grateful for internet, that makes this keeping-in-touch possible.

Alicia is in Sri Lanka with many stories and promises to give me the full report once she's home.

Emma's mother has been diagnosed with cancer.

Simon tells me about what food his family has been making, about tutoring a kid in English, about all kinds of other pieces of his life.

Grant spent a while teaching and found that he loved it.

Victor is back at school already.

Bridge has been traveling.  When they arrived somewhere that her phone worked, I woke up to quite a few messages from her.

I miss them, and when I look at their class pictures, I miss even more of them!  In a few weeks, they should all be back at school, beginning their junior year.  Please keep them and their new teachers in mind.

Marketing -- my craziest (and probably most fun) class 

Charles, who has decided to go to grad school in two years 

Mom, Jill and me!

I need to write a last newsletter, but I'm not sure yet what to write about, how to wrap up a year full of so many stories in a way that honors it and still leaves space for how much is ongoing.  

Thoughts

I like being back in Pennsylvania.  I love how the sunlight filters through the trees and how the land rolls up and down.  I love that I can understand what's happening around me and I love running into friends at the store.

I'm not exactly sure what's next yet.  Moving in a few weeks and looking for a job... I'm curious to see where I end up (as is everyone who's asked me about plans, because I have very little answer for them.)  I want to work with people.  I want to learn new things.  I also want to make enough money, but what's "enough" is probably open for debate, or at least discussion.

I don't like having to skype my teammates or email them instead of just seeing them all the time.  I don't like trying to catch students and friends on qq and wechat instead of bumping into them in the dining hall, teasing them, teaching them, hanging out together.  There are pros and cons wherever I am in the world.

Tonight I miss my friend Dominic.  Mom and I ate dinner with him and one of my students, Cassie, and the meal went on for so long that they were turning out the lights in the dining hall and had locked some of the doors by the time we left.  (It reminded me of my first semester at Geneva.)  We talked about many many things, especially his volunteer work in Cambodia.

His heart is broken for the poverty of the people he was serving.

And listening to him, my heart was broken for the poverty that he's living in.  He can see ways that the world is wrong and broken, but doesn't yet know how it will one day be made right.

Anything But Congee

This spoof has been building in me for a while.

Because...

Well, you'll see.

Congee, for the record, is commonly translated as "gruel".  It's extra watery rice, often eaten for breakfast.  Except not by me if I can help it.

My brother helped me with the lyrics.

More random notes:

"I really think I love you all" is a shout-out to the other team at HuaQiao, who really did love good food.

Zhen hao chi = really delicious.

Di san xian is an awesome vegetable dish.  One recipe can be found here:  http://cookingsimplechinesefoodathome.com/2011/04/1-di-san-xian-three-fresh-vegetables.html

(to the tune of Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me)

Although Chinese food has always been my favorite kind
I'd trade it for eggs and ham
People say I'm missing out on culture and food
But I'll pass anyway
How you guys eat this is a mystery
I don't ever want to try it
My taste buds say that they do agree
I just can't stand congee

Just give me some omelettes
Whole-wheat bagels
Nice fresh oatmeal
Anything but congee
Cereal
Danishes
Yogurt's fine
Anything but congee

Every kind of food is zhen hao chi
I really think I love you all
Di san xian or spaghetti
As long as it ain't congee

Just give me some omelettes
Whole-wheat bagels
Nice fresh oatmeal
Anything but congee
Cereal
Danishes
Yogurt's fine
Anything but congee

I've tried to hide it so that no one knows
But I guess it shows when you look into 
My bowl...

On Being Song-ed

The last Sunday night at HuaQiao, before I left for good, to take the train to Shenyang and then fly to Xiamen with my mom -- that was a hard night.  I said goodbye to my friend Peter, and my student Savis pressed last gifts into my hands -- a necklace for me and a fan for my mother -- and claimed a hug (which is uncharacteristic for Chinese guys); my dear friend Alicia at dinner with Mom and me, and Bridge and Caston came by to say goodbye.  I think I shoved Bridge out the door after I hugged her because I didn't want to sob in the middle of cooking.  Or with so many people.

After dinner, Mom and Alicia and I walked to the store inside the stadium to get some kind of icecream on a stick and met up with a few of my students, who had put together a photo album for me.  Then I gave the key to Simon and walked Alicia back to her dorm.

It was a night filled with giggling and thank yous and goodbyes and tears.  But then there were things that needed to be done, because no matter how important and emotional goodbyes are, backpacks still must be packed and the bunny's room ought to be cleaned up.  It was a beautiful night because it was full of so many of the students who are really dear to me.

Alarms were set and we went to sleep, planning to leave around 6 the next morning and get ourselves to the train station.

It was a few minutes after my alarm went off the next morning that there was a knock on the door.

I opened the door and found no one there.  Which made me think that it was either Bridge or Alicia.

I looked around the door.  Alicia!  And Peter!

They came in and sat with us while we ate breakfast and finished getting ready to leave.

Then they walked us to the metro.

Then they rode with us to the train station.

Then they sat with us in the train station until it was time for us to board our train.

In China, it is a very honored tradition to song people who you are close to.  To see them off.

And while, as an American, it is not nearly as strong as a tradition for me, I felt incredibly loved by these two dear sibs waking up so early and going out of their way to take us as far on our journey as they could.

And I still totally cry when I read Alicia's goodbye to me...

But as she told me when I cried, "We're all in His hands."

I delight in knowing of the dear friends who I will absolutely see again.  When we won't have to see anyone off, because there won't be goodbyes.

Same Same... But Different

So a lot of people have done posts about things that are strange about being back in the US.  However... here are a few things that are weird to me.

Drinking water from the tap.
Flushing paper in the toilet.
How clean everything is... especially the floors at the grocery store... I bet you could eat off of it.
Traffic.  There's so little of it... and I'm pretty sure drivers would freak out if I meandered halfway across the road.
Everything is in English.
There are so many people who I know!  It's kinda crazy....

I miss my students and friends from China and my teammates.  I skyped with Hilary and G and called Danielle and keep sending ridiculous messages to Simon on wechat.

It's awesome to see my family again and to run into friends and get to hear about what they've been up to this past year.

One thing I don't have to miss is the quotes.  ^_^

Ib, flipping through my notebook:  "Hannah, I've been trying to crack your code for months."
me:  "Ib, that isn't a code.  It's Hebrew."
Ib:  "I KNOW THAT.  I meant the Elvish."

Naptime

On the last day in China, I finally took Mom to see the Great Wall.  ^_^  I was very proud of myself and my navigation skills... they've definitely improved as I learn to read more characters!  Haha.

Anyway, on the way back, we decided to head to Tiananmen Square, which meant a trip in a bus.

Please note:  buses in China are often crowded.  That's normal.  Even to the extent that a lot of people are standing and you may not have much room to maneuver and have to shove a little bit.

However sometimes the buses are beyond crowded.  I don't even know how to describe it, besides that you have people's elbows in your ears and it really isn't the most enjoyable experience, unless you want to have more sympathy for sardines.

This bus was in that state.

A family got on -- two kids in high school, a little boy who was about seven, and a mom.  They ended up pretty close to where Mom and I were sitting on the wheel well (and couldn't budge from) and we exchanged smiles and shrugs as the bus continued to have yet more people jammed into it.  After a few minutes, there was a sluggish flurry of motion (trust me, it happens on these buses) as the high school aged girl tried shoving the little boy (probably her cousin) towards me.

My reaction:  Oh, she's trying to get him close to me so that he'll have a little more space to stand.  Even on the most crowded of buses, typically foreigners are given a tiny bit more space.  I didn't have any problem with this so I smiled and tried shoving other people with my knee so that the little boy would have somewhere to stand.

And he did stand for a minute, holding onto my knee and looking not entirely sure of his surroundings.

And then he sat down on my knee, which was a little strange but not a bad idea.

And then he fell asleep.

Okay, for the record, I have not ever had a stranger-child climb up on my lap in a Chinese bus before and conk out.  It was funny, but I wasn't entirely sure about it.  His family was all very entertained, as were all of the rest of the people who were stuck at such angles that they could see us.

My main fear was that the kid would wake up, realize he was on a stranger's lap, and freak out.

He did wake up at one point.

But he didn't freak out; he just rearranged positions to be more comfortable (and to cuddle closer to me) and fell back asleep.

So this arrangement continued until we arrived at Tiananmen Square, where I picked him up and shoved him at the older boy with a sorry, we're getting off now, and we exited the bus.

China never disappoints.

In the words of Samwise Gamgee: "Well, I'm back."

Back from China, through Canada (and immigration there was not exactly a cakewalk... who knew the officers get really jumpy if you bring back chicken feet?) and in America.

America is strange.  I can get on facebook without a vpn, toilet paper gets flushed rather than thrown in a trash can, and I can drink water straight out of the tap.  Also, there is cheese in the refrigerator.

My stuff is mostly unpacked and put away.  I love having my books back, because it's so much easier to write and to study when many of the resources that I want are readily available.

And I still have a ton of stories to tell, and many pictures, so there will probably be most posts for a while yet.

Mystery: Solved

We were waiting for a bus in Xiamen and talking about shoes for some reason.

"What are those shoes with little holes called?" Alex asked.

"Tennis shoes?" I suggested.

He didn't look convinced, but this led to a lengthy-ish discussion between Mom and me about evolving terms for different types of shoes.

As Alex hadn't been throughly satisfied with "tennis shoes," he and I went on trying to hash out what term he wanted.  

Shoes with little holes.

And then... it dawned on me.

Crocs.

They're very popular in China.  

^_^

Passport Face

"You have a passport face," my friend Alex informed me (and my mother).  It's true in a lot of situations -- clearly I'm not Chinese, and so sometimes guards don't really bother checking my ID.  It's fairly plausible that I'm a wai jiao, a foreign teacher.

Another advantage of having a passport face is the great reactions from people that happen when I'm least expecting them.  

Yesterday, for example, Mom and I were walking back to our hostel when I noticed a young man dodging through traffic with a plastic bottle of tea in his hand.  He noticed us too.  As he got to the sidewalk and began chugging his tea, he stared... and stared... and stared... and then started coughing.

My sympathies for any of the guys who half-drown themselves on tea because they're so busy gawking at the foreigners are, well, limited.  

Story number two is even better.

So one afternoon in Xiamen (which, you should note, is a pretty hopping metropolis, not a rural village somewhere in western China), Mom and I went into KFC to get lunch.  In restaurants that have picture menus, I almost always get what I was trying to order, because it is fairly fool proof.  So I went to the counter, looked at the menu there, and began pointing to it, telling the cashier (in Chinese, mind you...) how many of each thing I wanted.

He.  Freaked.  Out.  

He took one look at me and instantly began hollering for one of his coworkers to come over and help him, because his coworker's English was better.  His coworker was busy with something and he continued yelling as if I was a bank robber and they should all be instantly dropping to the floor.  After a minute, his coworker finished up what he was doing and came over.  

His English was up to the task of taking my order (two sandwiches, a bowl of soup, and two cokes) and telling us to sit down and wait for tswo minutes.  We got our food and went upstairs.  

As we went up the stairs, I glanced back, and he was standing by the cash registers, hands on his head, clearly in a state of distress and feeling that he had been taxed near to the limit of human endurance.

Sometimes...

I really just don't understand.

I've certainly been in situations where that response would be merited from whoever I was trying to talk with.  (Particularly in taxis.)  

But in KFC... really... that was not one of them.  I can order food.

I hope that he's getting as much mileage out of talking about the terrifying foreigners who came to KFC as I am about the cashiers who freaked out the moment they saw foreign faces.

Learning new idioms

As you might expect, Chinese has some idioms that English doesn't, so sometimes even if my friends are "speaking English" I really have no clue what they're saying and it takes some explanation.

Example #1)

me:  "Hey, who is that girl that J. is with?"

Caston:  "I don't know."  *laughing*  "He's a flower flower boy."

me:  "...um... what?"

Caston:  "He's a flower flower boy."

me:  "I don't know what that means."

There was a great deal of back and forth (and Dan backing me up on the fact that we had no clue what this meant) before Caston sort of explained it... that he's a good looking guy who all the girls like, and so he's always with a girl, but it's always a different girl.

Turns out it's a Korean term.

However, the difficulties in idioms are not always so easily resolved.

Example #2)

My friend Simon was telling me how he doesn't look like his siblings and is also a good bit younger as we were walking through the mall one day.

Simon:  "I was a pig in the dustbin."

me:  *confused*

Simon:  "Do you know what that means?"

me:  *picturing pigs-in-a-blanket*  *deciding that this is maybe an idiom for a surprise baby?*  "No...."

Simon:  "Pig in a dustbin.... hmm... it means that maybe I wasn't really from that family, just they found me somewhere.  But it's just a joke, not really."

me:  "Oh, okay."

And so I accepted this pig-in-a-dustbin idiom.

Only to realize several weeks later, when he was trying to explain this to my mom, that he hadn't said pig in a dustbin, or pig anything at all.  He said picked up in a dustbin.

...facepalm.

My Heart Is Full...

Danielle has a few signs in her apartment that say My Heart Is Full.

And that is how my heart feels right now.

It has been great to be back in Xiamen, where I spent a semester studying, to revisit streets and see some old friends, to eat some of the same foods, and to have time to hang out and catch up and keep up on relationships.  Also, it is fun to share these things with my mom.

My heart is also full with all the conversations that are still happening and that I've been a part of in these past few weeks, conversations that sometimes take very different turns from what I was expecting.

The class monitor -- who is one of the best class monitors I know -- who talks about stress and how he gets his ear pierced every time there is too much stress to handle.

The student at EC who tells us he is halfway.  He still has a lot of questions and wants to be sure before he commits his life to something.

Another student who is very shy at the beginning of English Corner.  He just finished his freshman year of university and came home for the summer and his mom told him to go practice his English, but he said he had never talked with a foreigner before.  And then we found a connection:  he goes to school across the street from where I've been teaching all year, yet we meet here in Xiamen.  Instant friends.  

Brothers and sisters... everywhere...

And I am so blessed to have been here.  To have gotten to become friends with so many students, to have loved and to have been loved, to have learned about teaching and about talking and how to cross space to communicate what I care about most.

Yep... my heart is full.

Let's go to Gulangyu first.

We text each other with these plans like it's a normal thing, as if we haven't been separated by more than a year and a half, by thousands of miles of distance. Like this is any vacation and of course we'll meet up and hang out.

It just amazes me to be able to say it: I'm waiting for Jill's bus. Waiting for the little sister I said goodbye to in December 2011, both of us crying so hard, not knowing if we'd see each other again.

And then I couldn't get China out of my head, couldn't get her out of my heart, and came back.

So now I'm waiting for her bus.

And thanking the Giver of all good gifts.

Happy Fourth of July!!

I looked at the screen that was alerting me to a new message.

Hannah ~ Happy Independent Day~

followed by a second message five minutes later

sorry... it's Independence Day.

I looked at the calendar; yep, it is indeed July 4.  In a country that sets off firecrackers every day (really, just ask my mother... she's been here a short enough time that she still notices the sound!), somehow I hadn't thought much about the biggest day of fireworks in America.

What I find a little interesting is that I've been in at least 5 very different locations for the fourth of July so far in my life.

Indiana PA

Beaver Falls/Beaver PA

Orlando Florida

Stillwater Oklahoma

and now...

Changchun, China

^_^

ALL THE TRANSITION!!!

My team has left China; most of them are back in America.

My mom is in China.  (Crazy, right?  She is very bold to come here... and then to entrust herself to me...  I think she will be able to say, "Sorry to bug you, but can you tell me where this is?" in Chinese before she leaves, since I spend a lot of time being lost and asking for directions.)

I am very excited to leave Beijing (which is crowded, expensive, and dirty) and go back to Changchun (my home!!)

Two random notes:

1)  The headline didn't say, "Tibetian carpet explosion opens in Xinjiang," it said "Tibetian carpet exposition opens in Xinjiang," which makes way more sense.  I had an awesome mental image of a carpet explosion though.  Very colorful.

2)  Often in China, when guys (at least the college-aged ones that I've interacted with) drastically change their hairstyle, it means that something big is going on in their life.  Such as, they just broke up with their girlfriend. Or they have made a new resolution and the haircut is to remind them of that.  Anyway, it has happened with enough regularity that when a guy I'm friends with suddenly gets a new haircut, I generally ask him what's up.

Picture of my hang out crew the last day at HuaQiao

>
> Alicia, me, Joanna and Simon
>
> (taken by Simon, who tells me this is only the tip of the iceberg!)

We're in Beijing

It's hard to believe a year has gone by.  And while all of us are happy to see each other again, everyone is also overwhelmed and really sad.

So I appreciate things that make me laugh in the midst of that.

And one of those things is my friend Joson.

Every time he messages me, he calls me "bro."

His English is great.

But I haven't had the heart to tell him that he probably shouldn't call girls bro.

Partly just because it entertains me way too much.

^_^

At last, in a backpack...

It's strange that I'm basically packed.  Maybe because I still have two classes to teach tomorrow morning, but we are leaving tomorrow evening, it hasn't really sunk in yet...

But everything is off of my walls except my schedule for today, which I scribbled in the kitchen, the word surrender in my living room, pilgrim in my bedroom, rest is a weapon against the oppression of man's obsession to control things on my bedroom door, and the notecard on my living room door:  and I will love with urgency, but not with haste.

It's weird.  It seems like I've been here forever but it also seems like yesterday that I got here.  It's weird saying goodbyes to my students, knowing that I won't be seeing them in class any more, but also knowing that I'm going to be back on campus for about a week and a half more with my mom...

It's weird that I'm going to see her soon, and also Jill in less than a month.  ^_^  

It's weird to think, We are out of time; Mel and I won't cook more experimental dinners together; we won't plan more lessons.  There are students I won't run into in the next week and a half and then I will still leave.

I know that more doors will open, but right now...

Right now it just feels like too many goodbyes.

Punk Classes

Some of my classes and I have had a pretty awesome relationship.  Some of my classes... well, there are reasons that the adjective "punk" usually gets used when I'm explaining them.  There are good students in every class, and I love my students... but sometimes the class itself is just not very enjoyable.  

It's interesting to see how the goodbyes progress.  The classes that I was closer with have been less emotional goodbyes than the punk classes.  Why this is, I don't know.

Today I had the last class with the Tourism majors.  It's a large class (45-ish), and they are always pretty rowdy and pretty impossible to get to focus and have given me more than their share of both headaches and laughter.

For the last ten minutes of class, we went outside to take pictures.  They began pretty normally -- the whole class together -- and then branched off into smaller groups, which is also normal...

..and then the guys decided to pick me up.

...and then they decided to throw me in the air.

...and then David decided to spin with me.

I'm curious to see those pictures, but Phoenix has all of them, so I'm not sure how they came out yet.

David (who loves me; I don't really know why) and Lloary (class monitor) came over to hug me and say goodbye, which was astonishing, because Chinese guys as a rule do not give out hugs.  

The girlsall took their pictures and headed off for their next class and I looked up, David and Grant were still waiting for me.  David handed me my bag and the three of us stood there a bit awkwardly, probably with David's hand on my shoulder.  

"My English is so poor," he said, looking like he was going to cry, and then switched to Chinese... which I didn't follow all of, but was basically My English isn't very good, but you understand me anyway, thanks.

"Happy every day," Grant told me, not looking particularly happy himself.  "Even in this moment, which is a little sad."

"It's okay to be sad, I think," I said.  I love them too and I'm not sure why.  Maybe it all started last semester when I scolded them after their final exam.

"Please don't cry," Grant said, quite seriously.  "If you cry, we will also cry, and we are men, and men should not cry."

We stood around talking for a few more minutes.

"If you need anything, call us," Grant instructed me.  "And I will work everywhere in China, so I think in the future we will meet again.  We must."

They walked me back toward my apartment and headed to class.

My students confuse me... really all the time...

Last class

Teaching the last class is hard. Some things about it don't surprise me too much -- that Jane brings a small gift, that Hope wants a hug -- but some things do. A few who want to take more pictures, who want a hug, who want to really say goodbye are not who I would have expected. 

And there are also things that don't surprise me, but do catch my heart in ways I wouldn't have predicted. In this afternoon's class, it was Jack Black, who, despite the name, has incredible English. He also has a compassionate heart and is one of the students who it is a pleasure to teach (usually... Unless he has recently eaten sugar).  

After we all took some pictures together outside, everyone was dispersing. 

"Hannah!" he said, and I looked over. He put his hands together, stood up straight, and bowed. Which caught me a bit off guard, but not as much as the fact that he looked ready to start crying. 

Have I mentioned that I hate saying goodbyes??

Full Circle

You may remember that in the fall, I ended up hosting a birthday party, which was a great experience.  Partly because it was so... typical? of my life in China -- not extremely planned, a lot of people, a lot of craziness, and very memorable.

Right now we are in crunch season.  We finished giving exams on Friday, grades are due on Tuesday, we leave the school next Friday, and are teaching classes this next week.  Add to that mix all of the insanity of packing, cleaning, saying goodbyes and trying to keep investing in relationships, and that is kind of what our lives look like.

Anyway, yesterday my team was doing some stuff in the morning, and in the evening, I was planning that a few girls (read: between 2 and 10) were going to come over and hang out or play games outside.  In the afternoon, I was going to work like crazy on grading and other stuff.  

It was about 4 o'clock and my phone buzzed... and I was a little startled.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, pulling my phone out from the stack of scribbled-on rubrics.

"Hey, Hannah!  M and G and me want to cook with you tonight, okay?  We'll go to the market in a while to get food."

"Um.... What?  Tonight?  Where are you now?"  I was trying to figure out how this would work with all of the things that I needed to get done and the girls who were already planning to come over.  

"We're playing frisbee outside!"

Right outside of my apartment, in other words.

"Hmm.  Okay, I'm working on some things, but when I finish I will come meet you, okay?"

She called me back about an hour later.  "Come on, we need to go to the market!"

So I went outside, put my stuff in her backpack, and we set off for the market.  It turned out they wanted to make coke chicken and rice, which was a great plan... except that I didn't have coke or chicken or rice.  So we did a good bit of shopping...

Meanwhile I was texting my girls to find out who was planning to come.  (Turned out that it was only two of them...)

Also, meanwhile...

Gr:  *on the phone* "Hello?  E?  Oh, okay!"  *to me*  "E is going to bring two of his classmates too."

We came back to campus with a lot of food and everyone hung out or helped cook (or drafted someone else to help them cook), and then we ate... sat around and talked... there was a lot of joking about different dialects/accents in China.  It was fun...

And definitely not what I had planned for yesterday.  

Hospitality in China looks very different than what it does in America.  I wouldn't really expect six people to essentially invite themselves over to cook.  I wouldn't expect two of them to be girls who I had never met before.  I still don't exactly expect it in China... but it doesn't surprise me the same way that it did at the beginning of the year.

I love living here...

Translation Cooking Quotes

Tonight some of my translation students came over to cook for me.  It was awesome.  There were also some awesome quotes.

Tempestt gave our one student, Will, a poster, and he was bragging over it: Will: "My precious....." 

Tuzki:  "Precious?" 

Larry:  "压力!!" (pressure)

all of us:  "NO!"

Will:  "Oh no, you're his oral English teacher, he's such a bad student... you must be very ashamed of him."

me:  "Larry, you... just failed the class."

Quinton:  "Hey, Hannah, I have a question for you!  What year did you study at XiaDa?"

me:  "Quinton, you should save that question for Monday [in our last class], because that is basically the same as asking me how old I am."

Quinton:  "Oh.  Hahaha.  Well, on Monday, I am going to ask you much more sharp questions."

me:  "Like...."

Quinton:  "Like, when are you planning to get married?  What about children?"

Tuzki:  "Do you have a boyfriend?"

me:  "That would probably be the better question to start with."

Deep Waters

Some interaction with one of my students this morning has made me think of Prov 20:5, how the purpose in a man's heart is like deep water.  There's a lot that goes on in their hearts that I don't understand at all.  

Here's how it started:  I posted a picture of my very messy room, which is messy because of all the stuff I need to pack.  He and one of his classmates both started commenting on it, which somehow devolved extremely rapidly into him swearing at her in Chinese.  

I told him to quit being so rude, in English or in Chinese, and he said not to worry, they were just playing around.  Which may or may not have been true, but I still didn't like it, so I sent him a message and told him that whether she was okay with it or not, his attitude was bad for his heart.  So then we talked for a minute or two about maturity.  He could be a great leader, but he doesn't take responsibility very seriously.  

And now his status says, "Faced enough leaving, kind of gloomy, and also fair you well since never meet again."

...I have no idea what is going on in his heart...

...or really any of theirs...

A few gems from finals

"I think the football team is like globalization." ~ Kai, providing a segue from what his partner was talking about to what they were supposed to be discussing.

"And you will be unsleepy.  You won't fall asleep in your class." ~ Vampire, I think explaining benefits of exercise.

Snow, questioning the wisdom of his partner's problem-solving methodology of searching online:  "So if you're fighting with roommates, search online a?"

"Communication is bu good!" ~ Sky... maybe proving his point and certainly mixing languages nicely.  

--
overcome evil with good

Dry erase marker graffiti

Sometimes I think China can't surprise me too much more.

And then when my friend Simon and I are hanging out, he says, "Hey, let's go to the cosplay festival."

The end.

Say What?

My friend Simon and I haven't seen much of each other recently, so yesterday when our paths crossed we stopped to chat, him with his huge professional camera and me with my bag full of a computer and finals-related stuff.

It was a pretty normal conversation for about the first three minutes and then, out of nowhere (as far as I could tell), Simon said, "Hannah, you're thinner."

I did something like stare at him looking befuddled.

"Your face," he clarified. "Are you tired? Are you stressed about something?"

"Um, it is finals, so I'm pretty busy..." I said, still at a loss.

He remonstrated me that I should get rest, we said goodbye, and he chased after his buddy with another camera.

And me? I called Danielle to warn her that apparently one of her students still hasn't quite gotten the hang of a normal topic of conversation.

Sometimes I just don't understand.

Today involved a two-hour lunch with a lot of awesome conversation.  It also involved a lot of things that made me scratch my head.

The point at which I decided I was just going to get a headache and there wasn't much I could do about it... when my student said that 1) he wants to live a simple life in a small city.  A few minutes later, he said that 2) he wants to be a billionaire.  Not long after, life goal 3) ...to be a monk.

Anyone else seeing some potential difficulties?

After lunch, he walked me back to my apartment, apparently not in any more of a rush for our conversation to end than he was for his final to end the day before.  "Can I come up?" he asked.  "I've never seen a western home before."

Well, okay, although I really don't think that my apartment is exactly a typical "western home".  So he followed me up three flights of stairs and stopped outside the threshhold of my door.  

"Come in, come in," I said.  I mean, basically what you can see from where he was standing is that I have a lot of post-its on the walls.

"Oh no no no," he responded.  "There is a saying in China."

I probably stopped whatever I was doing and looked at him, not sure what this saying was or how it was related to him not coming into my apartment.  If you're a man, you shouldn't go into a woman's house when it's just the two of you?  

"If you don't tell someone your name, then you don't really believe [trust] them," he said, and stopped again.  That happens a lot.  

"Um...." I said, or something similarly confused.  That also happens a lot.

"My name is --" he said, and went on to tell me his Chinese name, with a promise to explain its meaning later.

"Oh... thanks," I said, not sure what the proper way to respond was.  

"Yes," he told me.  "Have a happy life!"  He turned and began skipping down the steps.

"Um... see you next week."

He stopped.  "Hmm?"

"Next week, we have the exam.  So I will see you then..." I said, hoping that he remembered that.

"Oh, yes, of course," he said, looking perplexed about why I felt it necessary to tell him that.

I refrained from saying happy everyday, then! and we parted with something like bye.

...I love my students. 

Finals

I was a little bit wary when Victor began the video project that his group had made for their final exam, because it said, "This video is not only for our homework, but also for a memory," because I was afraid that it was going to be something sweet and sappy and awesome that would make me cry.

But then it was the five of them, Victor and Andy and Banana and Cherry and Only, giving a tour of our gym on campus.  So I relaxed.  And thought, That's kind of funny that they think I will have fond memories of the gym.

And then about two minutes from the end, the music started.

And the text on the screen said, This has been your home for a while too...

And I could feel myself starting to cry THEN.

And since the last two minutes were the five of them all saying goodbye, I just cried more.

But I was also laughing, because I love them and it seems a little silly to sob about saying goodbye to kids who I'm still in the same room as and we still have one more class together, and their goodbyes were typically incredibly dramatic and over the top.  (Banana, when given the question "Who would you want to be stuck on a desert island with?" for her impromptu speech last semester, said her oral English teacher.  And I should have seen it coming.)  

So there I am, crying and not really able to stop, and also cracking up, which made it sound like I was crying way, way harder than I was.  

Victor, who was sitting right in front of me:  "Don't cry!  Hannah, don't cry!!"

Cherry:  *bopping Banana to tell her that their video was making me cry*

Banana:  *turning around to look at me*

Will, who was sitting next to me:  *clueless*  *finally gets a pack of tissues*

me:  *feeling very un-teachery*

Why do I get the feeling this is probably going to be my life for the next... two weeks... or month...

aaaaaiya.

Finals thus far

Stories from finals so far:

Victory: "I want to be a daughter."

me: "A daughter?"

Victory: "Dui, yeah, a daughter."

me: "...."

Victory: "I want to be a daughter!!"

me: "Victory! You already are a daughter!"

Victory: "...a DOCTOR!!!!"

"My mother told me that studying is not the only way to success, but maybe it is the most reliable way."

"In the global warming, English is very important..." (I'm pretty certain that she meant to say globalization.)

The student – a very quiet girl – who came in wearing a t-shirt that said, Drink Drank Drunk.

me: "Hey Alex, how are you?"

Alex: "I'm going fine."

me: "Um... what?"

Alex: "I'm going fine."

me: "Alex... I don't think you can say that. That doesn't really make sense."

Alex: "Oh? Oh. I'm good."

in answer to a question about the biggest change in college: "Before, in the high school, we were like brothers and sisters. But now, everyone just wants to take care of themselves and get the best thing for their own."

student: "In some circulations..."

me: "Circumstances?"

Carter: introducing Roger and messes up his name

Roger: punches Carter in the stomach

Those are my students.

Random-ish note:  Please keep Wisdom in mind.  I'm not sure what's going on in his heart, but there seems to be a lot.  

Now they're graduating!!

We had a lot of trouble getting this bro to smile for the camera, even though we can't get him to quit in real life!! Anyway, look at how awesome our campus is now that it isn't covered in snow and ice!!

Long Time No Blog

Or hao jiu bu boke, as we'd say in Chinese... maybe... I'm not really certain about that word "boke".  I don't talk about blogging much in Chinese.  

Anyway, I haven't blogged in what feels like a really long time to me, which is not because I hate writing, but is because life has been in.sane.ly. busy and even when I do have some time, either the internet is being funky or I can't conjure up the mental energy to try to put words together coherently.

Why is it so busy, you might ask?  Great question.  We're now giving finals, which is is busy at best and is even busier when a lot of classes need to be rescheduled due to the Dragon Boat Festival which is happening Monday-Wednesday next week.  I've discovered that when it comes to finals, teachers and students have some conflicting goals... Teachers want them to be done as early as possible, so that we can get grading done sooner rather than later.  Students would like them to be done sooner rather than later, but they don't really want to take them sooner rather than later.  They want more time to prepare.  Which is quite fair.  But it makes everything complicated, especially when you don't all speak the same language to start with.

Aiya. 

There's a lot of time hanging out with family on campus, because awesome things are happening.  And they are all pretty fun.  ^_^

A few random stories:

me:  "So Marcus, how did you get your English name?"

Marcus:  "Because I like the man, the German man, the... philosopher..."

me:  "...Marx?  ...I'm glad your name is Marcus..."

*during a class presentation*

"My mother is not my mother... not only my mother!"

"We human beings are sometimes self-contradictory."

"How did you find out our class qq number?" -- question from my monitor... not sure how thrilled he was that I had that number...

from my text message archives:

"Two best answers for ways to describe food:  Unforbelievable and verjuiced."

ALERT: one of my students' goals is to "Run 8 hundred miles once a week" so if you see a female Forest Gump, it's probably her!!

Also, one of Simon's goals is to teach English to children in the countryside :) melt my heart!  P.S. Accidentally wrote "wart" instead of heart the first time.  Yikes!

hey, Hannah, the final exam will come!  the daily grades include what?  [this one made me laugh primarily because he asked this after the final review class... not at the beginning of the semester...]

And that is life.  :)

--
overcome evil with good

That's how study rolls...

Two of my girls were missing this week because last week they were suddenly summoned home to take an exam.

Another one of the girls has something with her classmates.

And one is studying for a test.

So it was four of us tonight.

The first one to arrive and I chatted for a while while I worked on straightening up my apartment, which is in a pretty constant state of being a wreck these days.  She drank some hot water.  After all, it's only 70+ degrees here...

Number two came, and we also chatted about various stuff.  Then:  "Did you finish reading my paper??" she said.  

I had forgotten.  So I pulled out my computer to finish editing her thesis.  While I did that, she called number three, who of course knocked before she got the message.

We read Jas 4.

Discussed things that take first priority in our life and shouldn't.

Number three had a lot to say, which was awesome.  Huge change from the beginning of this semester... she may have had a lot to say, but she wasn't as keen on sharing it.

We watched a video about Hosea.

And then we looked at one of the girls' pictures from her recent trip to Dalian, which included a sea lion dancing to Gungnam Style.

I really enjoy my life.

About values:

Recently some of my students had the homework of having a conversation about values with someone, and then writing a short summary.

Favorite pieces from their summaries... with some edits...:

"We talked about love and marriage. In my opinion, college students can find a girlfriend or a boyfriend. But we can't spend too much time and energy on it, because the most important thing in college is study. Dave agreed with me. What amazed me was that Dave said he should find a girlfriend who is good in his mother's eyes. I told to him we aren't children now and we should do choice by ourselves."

"As a college students, should study hard, filial piety parents. Make a contribution to society. Love the motherland."

"Beliefs are important that it can change one's fate. Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. I think it's right that we should have belief in our life. Obviously, the latter mouse is the one who has his own beliefs. There are always hope in his eyes that encourage him to fight and fight and fight. He never gives up when he is in some difficulty situations. Because the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty, while the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity."

...the entire essay of the student who discussed with her Italian "friend" about the meaning of marriage. Apparently they hotly disagreed. I'm curious to see how that works out for the two of them...

"if I can do good on my job, my life's value is realization I think."

"My parents gave me live, friends give I care about. If one day, someone asked me to sell them, I can't do absolutely. Maybe in the future, I don't have any achievement, not a lot of money, but I have them is enough."

"As to me, I thanks for my parents gave me a birth and I treasure my life as a priceless jewelry."

"we have many dreams that we work hard for it just wanna see our dreams come true. It's a gift that the god give us, so we should keep beautiful eyes to see anything we can see, to feel them, to appreciate them."

"We shouldn't be mammonish."

[in response to why did you enter this college?] "I want to play computer games." (sometimes... I really hope that they DID cheat and not have this conversation.)

"So, I think different people have different values. And I want to know your values."

"I said I agreed Rusue's [Rousseau?] word – why we live – the mercy for difficulty, the wants for knowledge, the wants for loves."

It's been a long time since I was in America...

Yesterday Mel and I were on bus 160 coming back to the school and saw a huge, huge open paved space, in the middle of the city.  (And by "huge" I mean, you know, like a Wal*Mart parking log.) Both of us thought, Why is there so much empty space?  Why isn't there a mall or apartment complex there?

Then Mel realized that it's a training center for new drivers.

Also, the other night I had a dream which I remember basically nothing about except that I was in America (or maybe Thailand? haha) and had been there for a while... right before I woke up, I thought to myself, Oh my goodness, I can get on facebook.  Without going through a vpn.  I should do that!

And then I woke up.

:)

Answers

Remember how once upon a time I asked the Father for a hard semester?

[...before I go further, I want to give the disclaimer that it has been an incredible semester, and we're right in the middle of a lot of amazingness.  There are so many good and exciting and deep conversations happening that it's overwhelming.]

Anyway... right now I'm also in the middle of a lot of answers.  And answers never seem to feel like exactly what I was envisioning.  They're always more uncomfortable and complicated.  I don't know what I thought "a hard semester" would look like... a dragon showing up on campus that I could fight?  getting mono and heroically continuing to teach?  blizzards that last until June?

Okay, well, none of those happened.  (Not even the blizzards, though I was afraid it would...)

Instead, sometimes it looks more like the messiness of human relationships and trying to be wise with what conversations happen when, trying to listen to and pour into students, trying not to cry every time they ask me, "So next term, you will be our teacher?", generally being tired, and getting a text from my sister that my dad is in the ER.  And trying to love people in America well while I'm in China.  And trying not to be distracted from being engaged here.  And...

And I don't know if I should laugh or cry.  It is what I asked for.  I know that He works through all of the insanity to make me more like Him.

I know it's a good thing in the end.

But in the meantime... if you wouldn't mind lifting that I'd have patience and endurance and wisdom and joy in the midst of all the ma fan/trials...

I would DEFINITELY appreciate it!

Guest post...

This past week, my students had the assignment of talking with someone about their values.  I'm not sure that this particular student talked with someone, but his reflection was interesting.  I've edited formatting/spelling slightly but left the grammar alone; I think it's comprehensible.  :) 

Do you think honest is right forever?

Last Sunday I had a talk with a of my old friends, he asked if I enjoy the novel that he had sent it to me before.  A book?  Really?  So I remember it, in fact I haven't read it.  It was a long time that I got it, as a answer to his kindness I have forgotten to read it.  I realized that I have done a wrong thing so I saided, "Yes I like it.  Very wonderful!

From that I began to think that is it to be honest always right.  Sometimes, we have to tell a lie for someone for their happiness, for example I have to tell my mama that I live well I am happily everyday all I do this just for her love to me.

Because love we have to make a white lie.

Strong contender for my favorite Monday moment:

Emily and I had just finished teaching our final classes and were walking out of the building together, past the classroom of my HR students.  There is a transparent window part on the classroom doors, and looking in I saw Ansel. 

Then I did a double take.

"Excuse me," I said to Emily, and turned around and went into their classroom.  Ansel had moved away from the door.

"Hi!" they said.  They're very friendly.  And I had already walked into their room by mistake earlier (I was supposed to be going to the one next door).

"Hi!"  I said.  "Um, Ansel, were you checking your hair in the glass?"

He turned red.

I. Love. My. Students.

Hard to say what the craziest, most China-rific part of lunch was...

1.  Me trying to pay for my own lunch and my student Mike grabbing my arm and wrenching me away from the card swiper, going, "No no no no no no!  NO!"  I decided that he was way more dedicated to paying for my lunch than I was.  So I let him.

2.  Talking about girlfriends (it was me and four of my male students.)

me:  "What's important to you in a girlfriend?"

Tommy:  "Well, first of all, she should be not very ugly --"

me:  "...not... very... ugly?"

Tommy:  "You know, there are more men in China than women, so..."

3.  I asked David what his pin was.  So he gave it to me.  He told me he has lots of extras.  So now I have a Communist Youth League pin.

All this in 40 minutes.

--
overcome evil with good

I know it's been a crazy week...

When the fact that my window broke off its hinges is more of a footnote in my mind than an important event.

Classroom disruption!

His departure last semester was abrupt, unexpected.

"Our monitor, you know? Talent? He has stopped school to get a job," several of my students mentioned to me over dinner one night. And that was about the extent of their commentary, even though it's a pretty shocking thing in China and threw the entire class into some confusion.

So this semester there is a blank line in my roster.

And the monitor of the class is another student named Sky, one of my loudest students, although his English is no better than Talent's was.

And the class has gone on, pretty much as normal. They're the marketing class; my loudest, craziest, most energetic class. I love them. Each week they seem a little bit crazier than they were the previous week, and yesterday was no exception.

They were all extremely worked up because of the Eighth Annual International Culture and Arts Festival (how's that for a mouthful?) that was happening in the afternoon. All class long, the door been opening and closing with students going in and out – some had to leave early to prepare their things for the festival, one got sent home because he was sick. We were about ten or fifteen minutes from the end of a rather intense lesson about values, and the door opened to let another student in. I really didn't think anything of it.

Until the clapping began.

Until the loud talking turned into excited screaming.

And there was Talent... walking in as if he was still in the class and had just stepped out for a minute.

Had he told me that he was coming? No.

Had he told any of his classmates that he was coming? No.

Was it more disruptive to class than Gang Woo kicking Ansel was last semester? Probably yes.

Did I nearly cry? Yes.

Was it one of my favorite things that has happened this week?

You bet.

I love my students and am so blessed and so HAPPY to have such crazy classes!

Never have I ever gotten a quiz back talking about Marx.

At least, until today.  

The question was about why creativity was important.

The answer?  

Because.  It can change the world.  More is a word take about Marx.  When everyone want to explain the world, he was change the world.

Of course, before Wisdom, no student had ever told me that they were studying philosophy so that we could have a better conversation.

"Is this my life right now?"

Sometimes it's the small things.

Mel and I had just gotten back to our apartments after walking around campus, talking with the Father and each other about a lot of things that are on our hearts.... you know, like students.

My keys were not in my pocket, nor were they attached to my wallet, nor were they in my bag.  

I was not thrilled.

The idea of my keys being "somewhere on campus" was not exactly my favorite idea ever.

"Try my key," Mel said, holding it out to me.  We've tried it before.  It would be convenient if our keys worked in each other's locks.  They don't.  

Mostly because I didn't feel like arguing and because I was being preoccupied with trying not to be annoyed, I stuck her key in my lock.

And the door opened as smoothly as it ever does with my own key.

I don't think that my face has looked so shocked since acupunture worked on Josh's ankle when we were in Xiamen.  Mel looked stunned too.  "I'm just gonna set my stuff down upstairs... and I'll be back..." she said.  I walked into my apartment and realized that Danielle had borrowed my key earlier and I hadn't reclaimed it.  

I called Danielle, who had actually left it in my apartment... which was perfect.  

Then when Mel came back down, we tried her key again...

And of course, it didn't work.

Which is where I decided that it was appropriate to quote Depreena:  "Is this my life right now?"  Southern drawl and all.  

:)

Look at the sky!

Reasons I love my life right now!!

1.  The weather was gorgeous today.

2.  Isaiah 25-27.

3.  Getting to celebrate Alicia's birthday with her and Jonathan.  If you haven't eaten Indian food or been bowling before, 23 is the perfect age to experience those things.

4.  We can get delicious Indian food in Changchun.

5.  The air was so clean.

6.  Being able to talk with people online... and that Savannah is talking with me right now.

7.  My lesson plans for next week are done.

8.  Hanging out with Mel in my apartment, laughing, and corrupting her by pointing out that Baa Baa Black Sheep fits to the tune of Somebody That I Used to Know.

9.  Watermelon.

10.  Hillsong and Pentatonix.

11.  I'm not afraid that I will freeze to death while waiting for the bus or a taxi.

12.  Because I know that this is exactly where I want to be right now.

Life is Beautiful

What all of us girls found today... :)

It's hard to love well.

It's hard to watch people who I love when they're hurting.

It's hard to be there.

It's hard when I don't know what to do to fix it, cannot in fact fix it.

Last night we listened to a message on Job, talking about how to suffer in community... learning both from some of the positives of how his friends handled it (I mean, really, when was the last time you sat in silence with someone for a week?) and some of the negatives.

Last night after that I was texting a friend of mine about how to deal with (and not to deal with) being overwhelmed with pain.

This afternoon a brother and I were talking about how our natural inclination is to want to be comfortable, but we don't grow when we're comfortable; we grow when we face things that we don't want to.

This evening, when I was walking back from my office, I walked past one of my students sitting on a curb.  She had skipped class today and I sat down on the curb beside her.  We talked for a few minutes, she hugged me, said she'd call if she needed me, and then I left.

I don't know.  There isn't enough time to be all the places that I want to be, to have all the conversations that I want to have, or to just sit and be there enough.

Words from the Word on my heart right now:

For His love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died.  And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again...

All this is from the Father, who reconciled us to Himself through the Son and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that the Father was reconciling the world to Himself in the Son, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore His ambassadors, as though He were making His appeal through us. We implore you on His behalf: Be reconciled to Him.  The Father made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Words from a song on my heart right now:

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior 

[Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) ~ Hillsong]

More pics... Because I hit send accidentally...

Camping pictures

Adventure!

This May Holiday I went camping with quite a bunch of friends and students.

It would take me a very long time write out the full version of what happened, so here are some highlights.  

Climbing THROUGH a barbed wire fence.  Nine of us, and all of our abundant gear.  On the other side of this fence was a steep muddy hill.  Getting up it was a huge team effort.

The break wherein Bridge began blasting Aaron Shust music and Caston opened his backpack... I assumed to get out water, but what he actually pulled out was a set of numchucns.  

us:  "Caston????  WHAT????  What are those for?"

Caston:  *nonchalantly flipping them around*  "You know, when you go into the woods around my hometown, you should take something to protect yourself.  So I brought these!!"

all of us:  "...and we brought you."

At the top of the hill we got to climb a firetower and had an incredible view of Changchun.  We could see the whole way back to our school.  

Awesome food... because the guys brought a grill and meat to cook!  AND we had s'mores... the first time for any of our Chinese pengyous.  

 Playing "hot seat" for probably about four hours.  This is a game where you take turns answering whatever questions the other people feel like asking.  Great game to get to know people, and easy to adjust the level of intensity.

Incredible beauty of His creation.  "We could be in Colorado," Jonathan said.  "We could be in Eastern Tennessee," Emily said.  "We could be in Alabama," Sydney said.  "We could be in Western Pennsylvania," I said.  It's awesome how nautre can feel so similar anywhere, and refreshing...

It was cold during the night.  Really cold.  So most people didn't get much sleep... we got back to campus around 8:30 this morning and most of us promptly went home and slept for about four hours.   Around 4:30 or 5, when most people had come out of their tents to huddle around the campfire again, we took turns reading Psalms.

It was great.

Top quotes:

"It's getting dark already??  What time is it?" ~ an hour and a half after we went to see the sun set... and had been sitting around the campfire for quite a long time...

"Get. In. The. Tent."

"WHOEVER YOU ARE, JUST GET IN  THE TENT!!"

"Why?  Why?  WHY??????" ~ Caston at 3 in the morning, being freezing in his tent

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about missing the sunrise!" ~ Alicia, being incredibly optimistic about being awake super early.

"Oh my word, is this my life right now?"

It is my life... and it's pretty awesome.  There were a lot of moments of the trip that weren't the most fun moments in and of themselves, but the experience was one that I'm glad to have been a part of with such great friends.  

Life application?

We were on an extremely bumpy and loud bus driving through the city, across the aisle from each other.

"Hey, Hannah!"

"Yeah?"

"This morning I was reading in Psalm 68 or 69 and it was talking about how the rebellious live in a dry land... but He makes it rain on the land where His people live."

"Oh?"  I wasn't sure where this was going or if it was just a report.  We both had pulled out devices at this point and were looking through the Psalms trying to find exactly what he was talking about.

...the rebellious dwell in a parched land...

Rain in abundance You shed abroad,

You restored Your inheritance as it languished,

Your flock found a dwelling in it.

(Ps 68:6, 9, 10)

"And I was thinking," he said, "how that's like today.  We were going to go camping but instead it's raining and the ground is all wet.  But we're His people.  It's like that."

I was still scanning the passage around those verses.  

"Hopefully Psalm 69 isn't for tomorrow.  Save me! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, wehre there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me."

Today we're going camping, hopefully without swimming lessons.  

:)

Reasons I love my HR class...

1.  They are so easy to scandalize.  The first time they came over, I fed them raw broccoli (which I still hear about sometimes when we eat in the dining hall...)  Tonight, it was being barefoot outside.

2.  They all tell me how cold it is.  ARE YOU KIDDING??  It's 54 degrees!!  That's about eighty degrees warmer than it is two thirds of the year here!

3.  When my dvd player would only play movies in Chinese with Chinese subtitles, they decided that we should do something else.  Like play games outside.

4.  They are the only class that I trust to leave in my apartment while I over a stairwell and up six flights of stairs to get a frisbee...  with just the instructions, "Lock the door when you come out!  I'll see you outside!"

I'm pretty fond of them.  ^_^

Still not sure how to feel...

Last semester I blogged about how my classes make me think of the song Seven Things, especially the line, You make me laugh/You make me cry/I don't know which/Side to buy and it is still true.  Tonight a bunch of students from one class came over and set a record for how soon I said, "Okay, thanks for coming, goodbye!" (about an hour.)  

On the one hand... there were a LOT of them.   Twenty six or so, I think.  They're rowdy in the best of circumstances.  Several of the guys have good English with a surprisingly extensive vocabulary, which includes a lot of swear words.  The students in one room were playing a version of truth or dare which is really just dare, and the dares were getting out of hand.  The other room was playing a slapping game, which is okay in some settings but not the best in an apartment where other teachers may not appreciate that much noise.  

On the other hand, after I left, I found that they had written notes on my kitchen walls with the whiteboard markers -- "I love you!" and "你最美" (you're beautiful).  And they are the first class to decide to use the post-it notes and sharpies hanging in my hallway.  So now, on the wall along with all of the notes of things that I'm thankful for, there are notes from some of my students.  Good health, hood cheer, best wishes for you and The first time I have a good time with my classmates and foreign teacher together, really... thanks and of course, from the girls, I love you.

So they make me bananas sometimes, but they're also the same students who wrote some of the best deepest fear poems.  They can be punks, but they're also my punks this year.  

And that, my friends, is life.