Snow Snow Snow!

This morning, as I was teaching my post graduates, snow began to fall outside the classroom window! How magical. I was like the dog on the movie "Up"! In the middle of discussing casual language, I looked outside the window and was completely distracted by the pretty white stuff falling from the sky. :)

Once I got back to my apartment, I took a photo so you could see the magic. :) Although, some magic is gone after thousands of students walk on it. :(

Snow always makes me think of the song from White Christmas:

Thanksgiving Text Messages from Students

The first time I received masses of texts from students was when I was sick and had to cancel class. I got dozens of messages, all with some form of "oh no, Miss Sarah, are you ok?!?!" or "you should wear more clothing" or "or should drink more hot water" or "you should eat more apples", etc.

Yesterday, for Thanksgiving, I received another barrage of texts. I thought you might enjoy reading some of them.

"Dear Sarah, I am Joy. I think you are my friend and my teacher. We can play basketball when you are free? Happy Thanksgiving. May you have a nice day." 
I love the random basketball invitation in the Happy Thanksgiving message.

"Thank you, Sarah. Thanks for teaching me English. Wish you be happy every day! Mars"
"Wish you be happy every day" is the most common note I receive from students.

"Sarah, Happy Thanksgiving. I have you to be thankful for. It is a time when I tell you that I like you. Wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving! Abigale."
So sweet!

"Happy Thansgiving Day Sarah. By the way, I am happy to meet you in the basketball court! I am Clara."
Another basketball invitation. Apparently, in my classes, I have mentioned that basketball is my favorite sport. :)

"May your life be blessed with joy, love, and miracles. Just dig into the roast turkey. Wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!"
So hilarious. Where do they come up with this stuff? And, in case you are curious, I did not get to 'dig into' any roast turkey. :(

"Miss Sarah, thank you for teaching us spoken English so conscientiously. Your class is definitely my favorite, it is so cool and we have really learned a lot. Thank you, thank you very much! From Clay. To my favorite teacher for Thanksgiving Day."
He is so trying to score brownie points including the "conscientiously". :)

Happy Thankgiving from the Middle Kingdom!

one of my post-grad classes says "hi"

Wow

Today, I walked into my 8am post-graduate oral class just like it was any other day. The class is full of chemistry majors taking English as an elective. The weather is getting colder, and so I was wearing a new warm headband that my Dad sent me from home, a coat, and gloves. As I opened the door, my students looked up and, in unison, said, "Wow."

Um, what?

Then, they started clapping.

I started laughing.

Apparently, seeing your foreign teacher in winter clothing is a big deal. Then, I took off my coat to begin class. Another chorus of "wow". Apparently my green sweater is awesome too.

During the break, two students asked if they could take pictures with me.

Oh, life in China.

Me with a couple of my post-grads:

Watching an Election from the Other Side of the World

I have kept an eye on the election as I have been living here, not a super close eye, but an eye nonetheless. My absentee ballot finally arrived, so I can vote. I won't go into the details of who I am voting for and why, for my opinion is very insignificant in the big scheme of things.

I will say that I don't have faith in politics to somehow save America, to solve our problems, to fix everything. I have faith in the Father. A president is just a man. America isn't the hope of the world; our Rescuer is.

No matter who is elected, the Sovereign King will still be reigning. No matter who leads the nation, He is leading me. No matter who holds the highest office of the land, His office is higher, and He has final authority. 

So, what am I to do? Make my best judgement call, act faithfully, and trust the Father with the results. Some trust in princes, but I will trust in Him. I'm proud to be an American, but that isn't my most important citizenship. There are unseen things vastly more important than this world.

I'll Never Let Go, Jack

I have a theory that if you ask most Chinese people what their top five favorite movies are, most of them will include Titanic in one of those slots, most often at #1 or #2.

Seriously.


Want to know what would also be included in the top five? Forrest Gump. Because of ping pong.

Seriously.


When I ask my students what their favorite movie is, they sigh and say, "Titanic," quickly followed by "Oh, it's so romantic."

When I have students tell me that I look like Rose from Titanic, I know it is a HUGE compliment in their eyes. (I personally don't see the resemblance)

So, when my students were given the opportunity to participate in an English Drama Competition, what else would they do but recreate Titanic? Here is the basic story:

1. Rose and Jack meet and fall in love.

2. Rose and Jack share a special moment on the bow of the boat. (While narrator, future Rose, and her granddaughter look on)

3. Suddenly, Jack is in the icy water, hanging onto Rose as she floats on a desk.

4. Then, Jack dies.

The End.

That is basically the story, with a few details left out here or there for time sake.

Happy Reformation Day

Today, I had a note put on my door. Now, I know I don't live in Wittenberg, Germany... or in a church for that matter. The note wasn't nailed to the door, nor was it the 95 Theses, and it didn't even mention indulgences. And, we are far removed from October 31st, 1517

But, I still got a note on my door on today, because my teammie Theresa is awesome.

I dub this the 1 Thesis.

Happy Reformation Day everyone!

I think I'll watch Luther tonight. Fun times.

Visiting Student's Dorms

I had it so good!

Living in Owen at WBU, my freshman and sophomore years of college, I had it so good: two girls to a room, and just four girls sharing a bathroom and shower. Davis was even better. I had my own room, my own bathroom, and just shared a living room.

At ZhengDa, things are different. There are eight girls to a room, and they share a bathroom with at least 50.

Showers? They have to walk across campus for those, to the shower building, and pay every time they take one. But, there is no complaining. This is just normal for them, normal for all universities in China.

I have it so good here. I have a cozy little apartment with a bathroom and a shower! What a huge blessing. It is amazing how perspectives can change.

I have visited several of my students dorms. Here are a couple of pics:

Thank You, Dad

I will always remember the day. It was a day that forever changed my life. My dad, without any reason or pretext, brought me a most wonderful gift: my first jazz cd. It was the greatest hits of one Mel Torme. This was my first introduction to the genre. I fell in love with the music of Mel Torme, his smooth vocals and wonderful lyrics. It pulled me away from other bands like NSYNC. Thank you, Dad! After Torme, many other greats were soon to follow. The cds were given without any fanfare. I would often be sitting in the living room, reading a book, and a jazz cd would show up at my side. Among the treasures were Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, and Frank Sinatra. 

Sitting in my cozy apartment in China tonight, I put on that first Mel Torme cd, and it brought such sweet memories. Thank you, Dad, for giving me such wonderful music, and such wonderful memories.

This is one of the infinity of reasons that I love my Dad. He's the best in the world.

And now, for your listening pleasure:

Mel Torme

Bobby Darin

Maybe I'm such a hopeless romantic because I grew up listening to songs like this. :)

View From My Classroom

Yesterday was Mid-Autumn Day. Today is National Day. And, my campus is looking beautiful.

This is the view from one of the classrooms I teach in.

 This week, I haven't had to teach any classes, and most students have gone home. I walked to my classroom building and snapped a few pics. This is my classroom building:

What is missing from this picture? A few hundred bikes. On a normal class day, you can't see the building for the bikes. :)

This next one is the staircase leading up to classrooms. I teach half the time on the second floor, and half the time on the third floor.

This is what all of my classrooms look like. No technology, but the blackboards slide up and down!

I love the fall colors in the trees. This view is on the way back to my apartment (which is receiving a good scrubbing this week)

Happy Fall!

You Are Invited to a Provincial Banquet

Last night, I went to a fancy banquet. Zhengzhou is the capital of the Henan Province, and this was a provincial (Henan-level) banquet in honor of the 63rd founding of the People's Republic of China. It was kind of a big deal.

It was held in this beautiful building. The inside was as gorgeous as the outside. I felt very special attending.

With my teammie, Theresa!

Before the banquet, we got to walk around the grounds of the Yellow River Guest House. Think Camp David. It was beautiful. 

I was seated at table 6. On my left was the head of the Foreign Affairs Office of Henan Province, and on my right was a member of the Henan People's Congress Standing Committee, who was also Chairman of the Board of some important investment group. Let's just say I felt a little out of place, surrounded by such important officials. This would have been a night where Chinese would have come in very handy. But, I just smiled and toasted with my orange juice. There were many speeches, a performance by an orchestra, and lots and lots and lots of food.

What an experience.

Life Here is Splendid

Oh, what a wonderful day I've had today.

1. Class was great. My post-grad students are showing improvement.

2. I GOT A PACKAGE FROM HOME!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I have the best dad in the world. :) Included in the package: pants that fit. Since coming to China, I have lost quite a bit of weight, and my pants were getting to the point of being unwearable. Now, I have pants that fit!

Lovely, lovely, package!

3. Our MCS (member care specialist) is here! She has been staying in my apartment, and that has been very nice. She took Erika and I to town today, and we had such a nice day. First, we walked for a bit around downtown.

Hanging out on a random city street. And, new pants! (well, old pants, but new to China!)

4. We went to the DIY Baking Store. What a happy, magical place. :) I got chocolate chips, a whisk, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cupcake holders, parchment paper, brown sugar, and some coconut. Oh, and I got a muffin pan that can fit in my oven. My oven is teeny-tiny. This muffin pan is for six small muffins/cupcakes. :) So exciting! Now, I have everything I need to make some cupcakes and cookies!!!!! Oh, happy day!

Erika with some chocolate chips!! (FYI, chocolate chips are IMPOSSIBLE to find in China, so our finding them was absolutely amazing!

5. Then, we went to Starbucks, had a drink, and knitted for a while. What? Did I just say that I sat at Starbucks in China and knitted? Yes, I did. Winter is coming, and I need a scarf! Also, it's relaxing. This was my first trip to Starbucks in China, and I must say that it was great. It felt like I had walked through a door into America for a couple of hours.

6. After Starbucks, the rest of our team (Vince, Mark, and Theresa) came to join us in town. We tried to go to a jiaozi restaurant, but found that it had been torn down. So, we ended up at a hot pot place. We had a night full of stories and laughter. I thought this sign on the stairway at the restaurant was hilarious:

7. Last, but certainly not least, I am currently rereading my absolute favorite book: the biography of Oswald Chambers. Tonight, I read one of the quotes from his journal, and it echos my sentiments:

"Life here is splendid, so that I feel very grateful indeed. I can never doubt after this that the Father rules in the minutest affairs of the everyday life of the individual."

Hot Pot and a Walk

Mmmmm... That, my friends, is delicious hot pot. Yummy!

Last night, I went with my friend to go have some hot pot, and then go for a nice long (really long) walk. Hot pot is a very popular dish from the city of Chongqing, and this restaurant was run by a man from there. First, they brought out the pot, full of delicious chicken. We had to eat the chicken first. Then, they came and poured a broth over the rest of the pot, added spices, and then added many other items. I think we had four different kinds of tofu in there. It was delicious!

After dinner, we went for a walk around the campus. Now, I believe that I have told you that ZZU is the largest college campus in China. We probably walked at least 5 miles total. It was a beautiful walk; the campus is full of flowers, willow trees, ponds, fountains, and even a lake-type thing they call the eyebrow.

My friend and I were able talk about many things. She emailed me later and said this:

"Tonight we discovered so many things in common between us. That's so exciting! There are always a lot of such magic things in this beautiful world made by the Father.
U are from America , I'm living in China. But the Father let us meet each other and be friends.This is serendipity, isn't it? We call this 缘分（yuan fen) in Chinese. Good night!"

I'm so blessed. :)

Toilet Tree Squirrel

I wish I could read Chinese, so that I would know what this is an advertisement for...

Erika and I saw this while riding the bus into downtown Zhengzhou. Do you have any guesses? What are they selling?

Finished a Book: Bloodlands

Throughout the past several years, I have tried to cultivate the habit of reading at least one book per week. Now, I have not always succeeded in this, but I try. I usually read for at least an hour each night before bed, sometimes more. I try to carry a book (or my kindle) with me wherever I go, so that I can read in spare moments.

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder was different. I didn't read this book straight through; I couldn't. This book has taken me many months to read, and I have read many other books alongside it. I had to take breaks from it and come back. But, come back I did, again and again. The reason I had to take so many breaks was two-fold: 1) the book is incredibly depressing, because the history is incredibly depressing. At least 22 million people were killed by the two regimes. 2) the book was very long and had so much information. I needed to read it in chunks, so that I could appreciate the full weight of what was being said.

Alas, I have now finished. I don't even know where to begin to describe how I feel about the book, for it is so intertwined with I feel about what happened those 70 years ago. It was deplorable and unimaginable. How could men do this to other men? Why was it allowed to continue? Why were certain treaties signed by certain nations at the end? Why, why, why?

This book challenged my faith. I know that the Father is good and sovereign, but those character qualities are harder to see when faced with these facts. I think this challenge is good; I have to trust Him and love Him amid harsh realities, not just pleasant valleys. Life is full of harsh realities, but He is still good, still all-knowing, still standing sovereign over all. There will be an account for what was done. He is just. We can entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly. And, one day we'll be with Him, and there will be no more pain or sorrow or death, for the former things will have passed away. We are living in "the former things" now. Especially after reading this book, I long for my King, for all the sad things to be made untrue.

I encourage you to read this book. It is so valuable to know history. As the saying goes, "You must know history or you are doomed to repeat it." And, as my dad says, "You may still be doomed to repeat it, but at least you'll know what's going on when it happens."

I will leave you with some quotes:

"Since life gives meaning to death, rather than the other way around, the important question is not: what political, intellectual, literary, or psychological closure can be drawn from the fact of mass killing? Closure is a false harmony, a siren song masquerading as a swan song. The important question is: how could (how can) so many human lives be brought to a violent end?"

"Stalin and HItler both claimed throughout their political careers to be victims. They persuaded millions of other people that they, too, were victims... No major war or act of mass killing in the twentieth century began without the aggressors or perpetrators first claiming innocence and victimhood. In the twenty-first century, we see a second wave of aggressive wars with victim claims, in which leaders not only present their peoples as victims but make explicit reference to the mass murders of the twentieth century. The human capacity for subjective victimhood is apparently limitless, and people who believe that they are victims can be motivated to perform acts of great violence."

"To deny a human being his human character is to render ethics impossible."

"Victims left behind mourners. Killers left behind numbers. To join in a large number after death is to be dissolved into a stream of anonymity. To be enlisted posthumously into competing national memories, bolstered by the numbers of which your life has become a part, is to sacrifice individuality. It is to be abandoned by history, which begins from the assumption that each person is irreducible."

"Each record of death suggests, but cannot supply, a unique life. We must be able not only to reckon the number of deaths but to reckon with each victim as an individual."

"The Nazi and Soviet regimes turned people into numbers, some of which we can only estimate, some of which we can reconstruct with fair precision. It is for us as scholars to seek these numbers and to put them into perspective. It is for us as humanists to turn the numbers back into people. If we cannot do that, then Hitler and Stalin have shaped not only our world, but our humanity."

My Past Week

Many exciting things have happened this last week.

1. I had a great dinner with my students on teacher's day. At the restaurant, the owner came out to meet me, and gave us four free dishes because I was there. It is a really weird thing to get special treatment so often (in this case maybe because of my foreignness or because of me being a teacher).

2. I got a bicycle! This is so wonderful, and such a huge blessing. The vegetable, fruit, and meat markets are about 2 miles away. It will be nice to have a bike to make the trip. What a blessing!

3. Erika and I went into town by ourselves! We took a couple buses and found our way around. This gave me a lot of confidence.

4. Today, we went to an international fellowship in downtown Zhengzhou. There were about 100 like-minded people from all over the world, singing to the father together. It was wonderful. I made some new friends as well.

5. Classes were great. My students are engaged and learning.

Homemade Tortillas in China

Earlier this week, my teammate Theresa asked me to make some homemade tortillas for a taco night. Yes, tonight we had a taco night. Be jealous. It was amazing, and the tortillas turned out great. I even had one with just honey in honor of Rosa's. Comfort food: check.

I photographed the tortilla making process, and thought I'd share.

Basic Ingredients:
5&1/2 cup of flour
10 tbsp shortening
1&1/2 cup very warm water
1&1/2 tsp salt

First, you combine the flour and shortening into a big bowl. Mix by hand until the flour and shortening are completely combined. It will look like breadcrumbs.

Then, dissolve the salt in the water. Easy peasy.

However, if you happen to have a sink that only has a single temperature, and that is scalding hot, you have to wait for a while for it to cool down to be just warm. If the water is too hot, it will turn the dough into an ooey gooey mess. So, while you are waiting, you can do something productive like plan lessons or clean your apartment...

I don't have pictures of me mixing the dough together, mainly because my hands were all messy, and I didn't want to get flour all over my camera. The basics: pour about 3/4 of the water over your flour mixture, and mix this with a fork first, and then use your hands. After that is mixed, slowly add the rest of the water. I ended up not needing the last tbsp of water.

After it is mixed, dump it on your counter or table, and knead it. If it is really sticky, add a tiny bit of flour. I kneaded about two minutes before it was nice and smooth.

Then, you must let the dough rest a while, because it is tired after all of that kneading.  Just kidding, it will be easier to roll out if you let it rest at least half an hour.

After both you and the dough rest, take small segments and roll them into a ball. Then, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out very thin. I like thinner tortillas, so I made the dough very thin.

Place the dough in a medium-heat pan (no oil!), and wait till one side gets the slow-building big bubbles. Then, flip it over, and let it cook another 30-45 seconds. I have no idea how to tell what heat my stove is on, since all the buttons are in Chinese, but I figured it out. If you see lots of little bubbles when you place the dough in the pan, it means it is too hot. If it is too cold, the tortilla will not cook. Try for something in between. :)

Voila! The finished product. These were pretty tasty, and I have a few leftover in my fridge right now. :) Can you say breakfast burrito??? If only China had bacon or sausage... or cheese.

The View From My Balcony

I've been in Zhengzhou for two weeks now. Forgive my lack of a blog update. Those two weeks have been very busy. I've already taught one week of classes. I'm trying to get my apartment in order. I wanted to show you a small glimpse of Zhengzhou. This is the view from my apartment:

 

 As soon as I get things in my apartment how I want them, I will post some photos. I also hope to post photos of ZZU campus soon. It is a beautiful campus, almost like one massive park.

Happy Chinese Valentine's Day

Today, I finished my last class for my TEFL certification in Beijing. I've loved being in Beijing. I learned so much in classes, and had some fun cultural experiences on my days off. I have one more day in Beijing, and then I'll take a train ride and be in Zhengzhou by Saturday night! I'll have about a week before classes start.

In honor of our last day of class, some friends and I went out for dinner.

Want to know where we went for Chinese Valentine's Day?

Here:

Yep, The Modern Toilet. It is inside what we like the call the Three Canned Hams:

In the modern toilet, everything is decorated like a bathroom. The seats at most tables are toilets with a cushion on top. Dishes come out in plates and bowls shaped like toilets or bathtubs or sinks. The drinks come in cups shaped like urinals. It's crazy. I split an order of spaghetti with my friend Andrea and had a coke, and my whole meal was less than $4 US! It was a fun experience. Here are some more photos:

Michelle, Sunny, and Erika in the entrance of the restaurant.

The group!

Haha!!! Since we were a big group, they didn't set us at one of the tables with toilets. But, we took pictures with one anyway. If you can see, they are sitting on toilets. In the middle of the table are sinks with fake 'poo' in the middle. Kind of gross, but whimsical.

Our drinks were in 'urinals'

Sunny with a sink for a plate (and smiling 'poo' on the wall behind her

My spaghetti came in a bathtub. :)

Non-Twin Twins at the Great Wall

I need to introduce all of you to Erika:

She is on my team in Zhengzhou, and has been with me at orientation. She is great, and we are getting along very well. She is from the beautiful state of North Dakota I'm very thankful that we'll be in the same city this year. We have been dubbed the "non-twin twins" by one of her friends. We have many things in common, and I know it was the Father's grace to put us together. We've both lost our moms to cancer. And, our dads got remarried within one week of each other this summer. We both love reading and writing. We're both ambiverts (both introverted and extroverted).

Erika and I decided to make videos every once in a while, and we made our first one today. Warning: it is very silly. Also, the video at the beginning is a little blurry, due to camera problems. Without further ado, here is the first installment of the Non-Twin Twins in China:

Great Wall

We had a break from classes and climbed the Great Wall, and then had a picnic at the top! The end was amazing. The getting there was hard, harder physically than most challenges I have had in my life. Imagine 5 miles of stairs and inclines and declines, and more stairs, and more stairs, and even more stairs. I hope to write more in my coming newsletter about the climb, and the lessons I learned along the way. For now, here are some pictures from the journey:

With friends in the lobby before we left. See how pretty we all look? We did not look this pretty after. :)

With friends before we started

More friends with our entrance tickets!

On a cable car

At the beginning. Hair is still down. Reppin' Texas Tech!

With my lovely friend and encourager, Emily. I wouldn't have made it to the top without her.

On the way.

Getting close. Going step by step.

Just a little more to go!!!!!

After finishing the challenge. I'm finally at the top, at the highest point tourists can go.

After all of that climbing, I was thrilled to take an Alpine Shoot down the Mountain. It was SO MUCH FUN!