One Month Update!

Hello everyone! It has been one month and two days since we arrived in China and it is very hard to believe. Time has been flying and we have been pretty busy getting settled in our apartment, settled at school, and figuring out things like how to buy food, go shopping, etc. We hope that things will start settling down now that we have gotten our bearings a bit.

The "LQ" (Living, Quarters) where are apt. is. Our apt. is second from the top, in one of the stacks to the right of this pic.

We are enjoying a three day weekend thanks to "Mid-Autumn Day," and boy did it come at a good time! We are taking the opportunity to rest, do some cleaning, and be ready for the second week of school with kids. Our first week with kids was fun and challenging. Stephanie has some pretty rowdy kindergartners in a few of her classes, and so this week has been one of strategizing how to get them settled and comfortable in their English class. At least the little ones (2 to 2 1/2 year olds) have stopped crying when they get to school!

The view from our apt. deck. Looking to the right

My level two students (which is a class made up of first, second, third, and fifth graders, though the majority is second graders) are pretty rowdy too but they are settling down. I just discovered the magic of using puppets to help us speak English and they are loving it. I don't think I ever thought I'd do the puppet thing.......

The view from the deck of our apt. Looking to the left.

What has been most meaningful to our transition here is the welcome we have received from the teachers and administrators at the school. In general, it can be said that the people here are so welcoming, and are very giving of their time and resources to help us foreigners. Our fellow teachers have been very patient with us as we try to work our way through the language barriers. It seems the doors are very open for Stephanie and me to get to know some of them outside of school, and we look forward to this opportunity. There is hope to set up a language partner program, which would see each English teacher pair with a Chinese teacher, with each one assisting the other in language growth. This can no doubt result in out side of school hangouts. Excited for this. The leaders of our school are also very welcoming and understanding of the transition we are going through. Incredible examples of leadership that I will remember for years to come.

Our foreign friends! L-R: Luke, Cody, Brynn, Emily, Jesse. Cody and Brynn are new teachers from Mississippi. Jesse and Emily have been in Wuhan for around 6 years and Emily teaches at the school (only until the end of Sept. though).

Stephanie cleaning the shower!

Relationship are highly valued here. It seems like where I want to have life revolve around schedules, organization, and what I can control, the reality is that life here revolves around relationships. Very cool, and challenging for me at times, but it is routine to have folks dropping their work at the opportunity to help others, for the sake of relationship. Pretty cool, and results in much reflection on my part. Again, an open door for stretching us, and building bridges relationally.



Until next time,

L and S

Some funny things...

The other day, Luke and I went to WalMart, the nearest store where you can buy anything you need! Oh WalMart. We went to buy some groceries and other random things we needed. The experience was an adventure in itself--there were ladies who worked there, following us around and trying to help us find what we needed, but then getting us and them even more confused...and then someone who speaks a bit of English would show up and try to translate a bit--we were a circus!

And then we got to the meat section, which was like no meat section I've ever seen. Whole frozen chickens (and I mean whole, beak, claws, yep) just laying in frozen cases, with no packaging. What do people do, just grab one by the leg and take it home? Ah, but that is even tame. What do we come to next, but a refrigerated case with no lid full of huge bullfrogs. Just piled in there. Oh yeah, and they were alive! EW! It was so nasty. But this just scratches the surface.

Finally we got what we needed, and I picked up some frozen rolls on our way out. There's a section of frozen rolls stuffed with things like meat, veggies, etc. And then, I found some that were plain, that I figured we could just stick in the oven and eat with some jam. One issue, was that there was no English on this package at all, but I was fairly certain of what I was getting. So anyway, we go home and decide to eat the rolls that night. I pop them in the oven, wait until they brown a little, and say, hurrah, they're done, let's eat! I grab one of them (ooh, hot!), pull it apart to spread some jam on, and what do I find, but a big pile of poo inside! Smeary, brown, gooey, poo. I shrieked in laughter at something so surprising, and then decided to inspect it. I discovered it was some sort of bean paste (like mashed beans, kind of) and it was sweet! Maybe not much better than poo. It was nasty tasting. I scooped it out and still did the jam thing, but there was still enough remnant to taste. Yes, I am still wanting to adventure with food, but next time I'm going to steer clear of the poo roll case.

Arrival!

Hey Team, this is El at the blog. We finally got access to our blog and so I'm doing a quick update for those interested. We have arrived! We are settling into our apartment, which is owned by the company that owns the school (for those of you who don't know, the school we are working at is for students who are children of employees of a massive semi-conductor manufacturing plant down the road). Our apartment is on the 11th floor of a 12 floor tall building and has some neat views of the the high-rises of the city of Wuhan. Where our LQ (living quarters) is, is out on the edge of the busy city areas.

Lunch on our flight to Shanghai (or maybe it was breakfast)

So far we have seen much of the city, as some wonderful friends have taken us under their wing to show us around. It is hard to describe what it is like here in China. Often it helps to compare one place to another, but the one word that comes to mind when I compare China to the US is: Different! From the way people drive, to how food is cooked, to how blood is drawn (we had to get our blood drawn. The experience was like nothing I've ever encountered before) Stephanie and I are constantly astounded at the lifestyle here. We really look forward to getting to know the people and culture more as we start working at the school.

Yesterday (the 15th) was our first day at the school, getting prepared for when the students arrive on the first of September. Both Stephanie and I are experiencing the challenge of working amongst the obvious blockade of language. There are a number of other english speaking teachers at the school, as well as employees who speak both Mandarin and English, but there is much clarification and experimentation still! We look forward to settling in at the school.

Based on our apparent enthusiasm,
this picture was probably taken early
on into our  25 hour journey.

The temperature seems to be getting hotter each day, which is insane because we thought it unbearable the day we arrived one week ago. Routinely over 90 degrees with 80-100 percent humidity has us perpetually sweaty and thirsty. Nothing relieves us more than a cold shower before bed and getting lullaby-ed to sleep by the hum of the AC. However, it is literally a rude awakening in the morning when we walk out of our cool bedroom and into the 80 degree and sticky living room.

Thank you for your thoughts! We definitely feel watched over and provided for.

Until next time,


El

Preparing!

Hi everyone! This is L taking a turn at updating the blog. This past month has seen us doing a lot of preparation. The picture below is of our spare bedroom in our apartment. We are slowly going through books, clothes, and random things, trying to keep the piles of what we want to bring to China smallish. 

We are less than a month from leaving and are getting more and more excited! Yesterday we mailed our passports off to Washington DC for a necessary step in the visa attaining process. Hopefully all goes well! It seems like the paperwork never ends. I know our blogposts have been few and far in between (if you could say that about two posts in all) but we are going to start updating regularly as we get closer to leaving, and after we have left. Love to you all!

L and S

Here We Go!

Hello Friends,

We are excited to keep sharing life with you even as we go to China! We're thankful for you, and will miss you very much. We'll update a bit as we get ready to go, and then come August, we'll be reporting from the other side of the world!

Love to you,

L&S

P.S. We just got back from a great trip visiting family and having all kinds of fun! We went to Disneyland, which was great fun and we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Yippee!