Today has been a long day. It’s naturally my longest day with classes but so much has happened I’ve got to give you a quick rundown of good news and interesting things.
During class I was recapping what we had talked about last week (foods and restaurants) and we had discussed weird/strange foods they’ve eaten. (Donkey, locusts, grasshoppers, dog, frog legs, and pig skin/face were all answers.) This week we were discussing chores and common chores in America. #6 on the list was “feed the dog.” I introduced it to them this way: “Here’s a cultural point. In America, we feed the dog; in China, you eat the dog.” The class erupted into laughter as I give some of them a hard time about eating dog (not all do.)
12:15pm I’m sitting in my office trying to refix and replan my lesson plan…again after the first two run through of it. Next thing I know my officemate Claire is telling me about her time in junior high school studying. How hard it is to be a teacher. She flips the switch out of the blue and starts encouraging me telling me that I’m a good teacher and she really enjoyed watching my class. (last week 8 Chinese teachers, professors, deans and assistant deans observed my class – nervous? YEP!) “Do you think living in China has changed your view and goals for life?”(I’ll abbreviate the rest of the convo since much more happened today) “I can’t live the same. Before I lived ignorantly of so many things. I had heard stories but I hadn’t met the people, seen it for myself, been part of the stories. There’s just so many things that aren’t right. I’ve got to learn a lot about The Father lately and as I see how good He is, then I turn and look at the world He created – I know this isn’t the way He created it to be. So the more time I spend with Him, the more I want to go to these places that I know aren’t the way He created them to be and help fix them to be better.” “Wow, you really have thought about this,” she replied. We went on to talk about many other things until I was nearly late for class. She said she would look up some more words then we could finish the conversation later. J
3:52pm finished classes and met up with my old teammate Jesse who teaches independently at a training school an hour away. We got to talk and honestly share where we were about going home. We went out to our patented Monday night Korean place to get the same thing each time and on our way back found a cotton candy vendor alongside the road. Yes please. After deciding to get 2 for our girls (other teammates) back at school we gallantly walked off to find a taxi with a giant pink and white ball on a stick. Our taxi driver started laughing before we got within 15 feet of the car. “I hope you can enjoy the Chinese Specialty” he told us. (After a previous debate with students, we confirmed that Americans started cotton candy in 1897 but we just let it go.)
8:15pm the moon lit up the sky wonderfully with Venus and Jupiter hanging on either side of it. If you read this on Monday, check the sky tonight.
To close I’ll leave you with a picture outside our apartments on campus of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.
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