The Long Overdue Update

Ni hao (hello) everyone this is the long overdue update on how I am doing in China as many of you have been asking me to make a post. I am sorry for taking so long, but luckily now I have tons to write about. So get out those reading glasses. The photo to the left was taken just after we got out of the airport in Wuhan, China; it was really exciting to know I had finally made it here after months of planning and thinking. I will never forget my first drive through China; to say the least it was definitely an adventure. I have heard it said, "there are tons of laws in communist countries, except for on the roads." I had no idea how true this statement was until we pulled a u-turn on a road due to a major traffic jam and started driving THE WRONG WAY on a one way road. After an hour of wide eyed amazement at the maneuvers our driver was pulling and thinking we were surely going to have an accident of some kind, we stopped to my infinite pleasure to have lunch.
My first meal in China, as I entered the restaurant I was taking it all in. The differences between our cultures: the flexible plastic hangings that you walk through in the door way, the men eating their meal at the table with their shirts off, smoking, the amount of people helping us, our plates and bowls wrapped in plastic, and my worst fear chopsticks laying on the table. Dustin and Teresa I know what you two are reminiscing about right now. Let me tell you they eat some freakin' spicy food compared to most Americans (a glass of milk has never sounded so good to me). I suddenly understood why so many men eat with their shirts off in China and it was not just because of the 100% humidity in Wuhan. At the table I had to face the decision I had made to try everything put in front of me at least once, and make sure that somehow I get it down into my stomach somehow. They did order a couple bottles of Coca-Cola, which was helpful, but I noticed some taste differences like they may have added a tiny bit of alcohol to the drink (probably to make sure it stays good, but not every Coke and Pepsi tastes like this so I don't really know) and it was a lot less carbonated (as remained true).
The living conditions and apartment have been a little tough at times, but not anything totally unbearable. My apartment is located in a group of apartments dedicated to people and families of people who work at the school. I live on the fourth floor and it normally takes about ten minutes to walk to class. My washer leaked water for about two weeks and one of my drapes fell off the wall after a few short days. As for cooking, I have yet to make anything besides sandwiches, but this was mostly because I did not have anything to cook on until last week. Most of the furniture in my apartment is wood. On the plus side the toilet is set almost directly under the shower head so if I was ever in a hurry... The walls are concrete so hanging anything can be very difficult, also the apartment does not hold its temperature very well so that can be a little frustrating when running the air conditioning. Also, I only have a washer and all my clothes must be hung to dry outside my bedroom window. I know this sounds like a lot of complaining, but for the most part everything works pretty well and it is a very quiet area since it is out of the city a little ways. I hope this helps to give you an idea of my apartment.
After telling you I had nothing to cook on for two and half weeks some of you may be wondering what in the world I have been eating. If it is a school day I have a pretty regular diet of yogurt and a piece of fruit in the morning for breakfast. At lunch I normally I have some type of sandwich or I eat at the teachers lounge for around 5 yuan (a little less than a dollar). Dinner normally involves going out to eat somewhere, and depends on where I am. I am seldom at home during those hours, but that may change as the year moves on. We do have some regular places that we go to a Chinese restaurant about a quarter mile walk away which is pretty good. There is also a restaurant which serves good American food that we go to every Saturday when we attend our foreign fellowship group; a burger never tastes as good after eating so many unfamiliar foods. For the most part though Taylor and Stasi have been taking us to different places they enjoyed eating at last year which has been a lot of fun.
One place in particular stands out in my memory it was a restaurant in a street market, but most would probably not call it a restaurant it is more like an abnormally wide hallway with a barbecue in front of the door that just happened to have tables and plastic stools. The barbecue itself was an oddball creation itself with a large fan over the grill keeping the smoke from entering their hallway. If you have ever wondered where the glass bottle of Coca-Cola or Pepsi went well I found it in this restaurant. The food was served on metal and wood skewers, and you had to remove the food with your chopsticks which could be a pretty difficult task with meat on a wood skewer. One might ask how in the world they found this place, and I really have no idea. But yet here we were eating and sweating from some of the spiciest food we have all ever eaten. After the damage had been done between Taylor, Ernesto, and me we had all consumed four sodas and a water a piece. We had all ultimately found our limit with spicy food; my mouth burns just thinking about that place.
As for teaching an oral communication focused English class I have found it to be quite a challenge since my smallest class is forty-eight students making any activity we might do
extremely difficult. The students' abilities vary quite a bit, some can keep up with me while I am speaking at a normal speed while other students could use a lot more one on one time then is possible. Most of my classes I only see once a week (these are called general classes) which makes improving their English extremely difficult, but still I try my best. I only have three classes (these are called international classes) that I get to see twice a week. So for the most part I teach the same lesson all week with small variations. On Mondays we have something called English corner where the students get a chance to speak English and practice those skills with us. These students are typically the better English speakers in our class as well. Most students can do the box conversation, but when they get beyond they seem to struggle. For now I have tried to keep my self distant and strict so the classroom keeps a more teachable environment. About twice a week I go out to play sports with the students one day I play soccer and the other I play basketball. I have found this to be an alright way of meeting students, but I still have a lot of work to do. I should also say that when I tell people that I work at this school it invokes in them an instant amount of respect for me, since this is the no. 1 school in central China. If you would like to see some pictures of the school here is the link to the school's English website: http://www.hzsdyfz.com.cn/english/Overview.php?lanmu=School%20Overview

One of my favorite activities as been to go to this coffee shop, Mr. Mai's, it is place where Chinese people can come to practice their English, and meet and ask questions of foreigners like myself. The people who come here are mostly college age to young adult. I have found this place to be a great chance to meet and talk with people about whatever they want. I have even had the opportunity to hang out with some of them out of the coffee shop as well which as been very exciting. The conversations I have with people here are always encouraging, and seem to keep me motivated through out the week at times.
When I speak with people I notice a real lack of hope at times, and an acknowledgment that something is missing from their lives. Many feel a sense of doubt about life and of religion, and I think rightfully so. Life in China involves a lot of pressure to succeed and to be what is desired by structures bigger than themselves; these pressures create nothing in people, but just leave emptiness and darkness. While religion is terribly damaging at times to these people as well especially when people admit to having doubts about their own beliefs. To these people I say the questions we ask do not always have satisfactory answers or solutions that we can or want to understand, but I have or have had some of those same doubts at times and maybe we should pray anyway not because we will get answers but because God sent His son.

Well I hope this update was a little bit helpful I have yet to cover transportation, construction, what I do when I go explore, and where I go to buy groceries. All topics I look forward to telling you all about. I hope that we can live in a way that tells people our kingdom is not of this world. Good bye for now. Shalom.