Korean Adventures Part 2

Today was the last day of the conference. After lunch we could sign up for cultural activities. Erin and I signed up to go to a market and fort in a nearby suburb. We walked through and open market, and tried some traditional Korean snacks. Then, we went to the fort and rode a "train" around. When the trip was finished, we weren't ready to head back, so decided to find our own way home! We asked the tour guide what bus we could take to the train station, but soon realized that by the time we were finished shopping we would no longer be near those bus stops. We checked the sign, and realized that the stations were marked in English, so we decided we would be fine on our own. We did some shopping and walking through the town and then decided it was time to find our way back to the hotel. Erin voiced her opinion that we should take a taxi, but I was determined to use public transportation. I had just about given up, when we came to a bus stop. However, there was no English! I asked the other people waiting if they spoke English, and everyone shook their heads no. I continued asking anyway, if anyone knew how to get to Suwon Station. One lady pointed on the sign to all the buses we could take, and we were trying to figure out how many stops we would need to count, when she pointed at one, and made it known that we should get on. I decided it was so nice of her to help us that we had to follow her advice. We got on, and started looking, trying to figure out where we were, and when we needed to get off. We found the station, which was very large, and thought we were home free. (After all, we did the trains on Wednesday, and it had turned out fine.) I bought our tickets, and we started following the signs to the tracks. When we got there, there were two sets of tracks. All of the people were waiting on one side, so we waited there too. Then when a train came, it was on the other side. All of the people just moved to that side, so we followed. We knew that the town we needed was 3 stops away, so we started counting. When the train stopped, all the people started getting off...they told us we had to switch trains. So, we followed them. Just as the doors closed, I asked the man next to me where we were. He pointed to the stop we wanted and said there. I thought, oh well, we'll just get off at the next stop, but the man, who luckily spoke some English, told us it was an express train, and we would not be stopping for 3 more towns! I was feeling really bad by this point, because Erin had wanted to take a taxi from the start! We got off at Osan, three towns later, and got on the train heading back where we had come from. We managed to find our town, and get off! We walked to the bus stop that we had taken on Wednesday, and thought we needed a 20 something or 40 something bus. However, there weren't any listed! We decided we could go for a taxi, but taxi driver wouldn't take us to our hotel. So, we were standing there trying to figure out what to do when a 27 bus pulled up. We decided that sounded good and got on! We knew that assuming it was the right bus, it would be 15 stops to our hotel. I started counting, and got to 2, and decided if Erin was counting, I didn't need to. The only problem was, Erin wasn't counting either! We had to pay close attention, but eventually found our way back to our neighborhood. After all that adventuring, we decided we were not going to have an adventure for dinner, and ate at Annie's burgers. Overall, it was a fun day!

Korean adventures

My friend Erin and I are in Korea for an international educators' conference. We spent most of the day on Wednesday traveling. We left Singapore at 12:05 am, and arrived in Korea around noon. We took an hour and a half bus ride to our hotel, and then an hour train ride back to Seoul to meet my friend Shinhye. After doing some sight seeing and eating delicious food, we took a cable car to see the city skyline. It was about 10:18, when we decided we should probably head back to the train station. When we got to the station, our train was there, so we very quickly said goodbye to Shinhye and slipped onto the train as the doors were closing. We were very careful to keep track of where the train was, so we wouldn't miss our stop. When we were approaching our stop, they started making an announcement, which of course we couldn't understand since it was in Korean. The lights went out, and we realized, we were on the last train, and we had ridden it to the last stop! God was definitely looking out for us.

God's Grace

I'm not sure why this year is starting out so tiring....I have great students (although they have a LOT of energy) and have less planning to do than last year because I sort of know what I'm doing. :) Nonetheless, I cannot seem to get out of bed in the mornings or make my brain focus on much of anything before or after school. By God's grace, He enables my brain to work from the hours of 8-3. Today started off as "one of those days." I really don't like my schedule on Wednesday, plus, today was my day to teach chapel, and even though I was ready, I didn't feel prepared. I got to school with a bad attitude, really felt like my brain was full of cotton instead of whatever is supposed to be up there! We were supposed to meet our students early today for see you at the pole, so I headed downstairs at 7:30. I couldn't even call my students by the right name! One little girl looked at me kinda confused and said "Um, that's not my name." I apologized and told her (truthfully I might add) that it wasn't 8:00 yet, my brain wasn't working. After we prayed I did some last minute prep, and came to get my kids at 8:10. By that time, by God's grace, my brain had at least kicked in, and I put a smile on my face. I walked over to pick up my kids, and they said to me "Miss Chaplin, you look really happy today!" I was shocked, and asked why. She replied "Because today is a day that God made special for us!" What a great reminder. And as always, God's grace was enough. I made it through the day, and probably had the best Wednesday so far this year!

Jess' last week in Singapore

We were able to get tickets to volleyball. We weren't exactly sure what we were going to see, but we made it actually ended up seeing the USA girls play. :)We also made it to the zoo. Jess really wanted to ride the cow! She was not that impressed with the birds. Almost as much as she liked the fish! But I think she did like the lemurs! Jess and Hannah on Arab Street. One of the last nights she was in Singapore, we took Jess to Arab street for dinner. It was delicious! On her last day in Singapore, we took Jess to East Coast Park. It was a beautiful day, and we decided it would be a great time to randomly interview people at the beach. The first person we interviewed was Henry. He is a pastor from Uganda studying in Singapore. He said one of his favorite things to do in Singapore is sit at the beach, read, and enjoy the beauty that God created. The next person we were interviewing was flying a kite. (I think the picture is on Jess' camera.) It looked like so much fun, that we went and bought one. However, our kite flying adventures were not nearly as successful! Our kite spent more time in the sand than in the air. Only Hannah could even get it off the ground! We also walked along the beach. I love the sound of the ocean, and the feel of sand beneath my toes....why don't I go there more often?

Open House

Tonight was open house for elementary students. It was a lot of fun to meet my students parents and have a chance to talk to them. It was also great to be able to explain my procedures and homework policy....hopefully it will make more sense now. :) My favorite part of the night was when one of my students came up and asked if they could sing their memory verse to their parents. Of course I said yes. They ended up giving a mini concert. Since our door was open, they attracted additional guests to our already crowded room! But it was nice to show the parents some of the things they have been learning.

5K

My coworkers are on an exercise kick right now...every night after school they do a Bob or Jillian (from The Biggest Loser) workout in the science room. Now, before summer, it was me on an exercise kick, and I decided this week I need to get back on track. Last week I went a couple of days, and I went and did Jillian yesterday.....very painful, and I didn't even make it all the way through. The only problem is that I can't go on Tuesday and Thursday because I tutor after school....so in the spirit of getting back into exercise, I decided to tackle the 5K tonight. About 1.5K in I decided this was a bad decision, but since I'm also working on being more decisive, and I had made a decision, I stuck to it. 36 minutes after starting this hairbrained idea I finished! I wasn't the most happy about the time, but I was very excited to finish....now I have a little less than a month to get a little faster before my first race!

Sentosa and YGO

Today was a fun packed and exciting day. We slept in this morning, (yes, that was fun!) and then headed to Sentosa, an island connected to the main island by a bridge and monorail. When we got to Sentosa we bought luge tickets and rode down the trail (2 times, because once is never enough!) After the luge we had lunch on the beach and then headed back to the "mainland" for coffee before heading to the youth Olympics. We had tickets to the semi-final games tonight. The first game was between Chile and Turkey. It was very exciting and very close. The final score was 3-2 in favor of Chile. The second game was between Iran and Equatorial Guinea. The final score of that game was 1-4 in favor of Guinea! It was a lot of fun. I never knew that I enjoyed soccer, but I was very excited during the game. At half time they had a crowd participation time, seeing who would cheer the loudest and dance the hardest. My section (9 of us went together) was of course the most energetic....for real.... on our side of the field. The guy throwing the prizes was terrible though, and they never made them up to us...he even said that he was trying to throw them to us, but no such luck. So, finally, he said he would deliver the prizes in person to make sure they made it to the right people! I got a lanyard and a pin. :) Never though I'd be the winner of a dancing contest. The pin I won for dancing/singing My official youth Olympics ticket....proof of my adventure. The lanyard I won for singing/dancing. Equatorial Guinea and Iran before the semi-final game.

.Turkey and Chile before their semi-final game.

Heidi, Katie, and Heather on the sky lift to the luge....we'll have to get Heidi's pictures to see us!

1st Week of School

So, I survived the first week of school. This morning I realized that I hadn't had a first day of school for about a year and half. It gave me a good perspective on why I'm so tired! (Last year didn't really count because I had the same kids, so it wasn't really starting over.) It was hard work for them to be serious for a picture, so I promised them a silly one. I think silly comes very naturally! We used the clocks the church got for us today. They were a huge success. I gave them my speech about taking care of them and being responsible, and they got very excited when they found out that no one else had ever used them before. Not quite sure what made that so great, but ya know. Yesterday my students asked me how much older I was than Jessica. I told them to guess. They guessed between 1 and 13 years. (The one who guessed 13 was trying to be smart alec, but it didn't work. ) When I told them that she was 12 years younger one of them said "Miss Chaplin, your sister is 18, so that means YOU'RE 30?!? I didn't think you were THAT old."

Fish Spa

Jess and me at the fish spa at IMM. Doesn't she look happy to be there?

Jess' feet getting attacked by the killer (and tiny) flesh eating fishes.

My feet getting eating by the lovely and beautiful fish spa fishes.

Today Jess and I went to the mall to pick up some last minute things for my classroom. While we were wandering around, I noticed there was a fish spa. I asked Jess if she wanted to try, and since she was in the mood for an adventure, she said yes. However, after our last fish encounter I should have know it would not be Jess' favorite thing to do! We stuck our feet in and Jess started to squeal. The fish started sucking, and it was very ticklish on the toes. There was another family sharing our fish pool, and when their time was up, the fish all moved to our side. Jess asked the lady to put her feet back in because she didn't want the extra fish! The lady just laughed. It was a long 10 minutes, as Jess asked about every 30 seconds if we were done yet. I told her she could be a wimp and take her feet out, but she persevered and made it the whole time. When I asked her if she wanted to go back tomorrow, it was a definite NO. On a "happier" note, we had kaya waffles for breakfast, and adventure was a success...Jess' verdict..."yummy." We also finally got our McDonald's, but decided delivery was overrated. It was much quicker to walk across the street and pick it up ourselves.

A World Where Students LOVE School

So, today was our secondary open house at ICS. As an elementary teacher, my job was to direct traffic at the bottom of the stairs so any lost looking students and their parents could find the classrooms where their teachers were anxiously waiting to meet them and explain the joys of the upcoming year. I dragged Jess along to meet some of my students from last year who had older siblings who would be attending. First, I must say that I was given the perfect job for the day. I got to sit and chat and offer a friendly "Good morning" to just about everyone on campus, and I got to chat with parents, students, and of course Jess. The morning started off slow as families trickled in. Jess commented that she had never attended an open house at her school, and I tried to explain to her that our students love it. I don't think she was convinced until more students started arriving. First I got the greatest greetings from some of my past students with hugs that just about knocked me down (I'm being serious....a 4th grader running at full speed packs a lot of punch.) Then, as the secondary students came, there were lots of hugs and hellos. Not really sure how to convey the atmosphere in words, but by the end, Jess was convinced that there really is a world where everyone loves coming back to school. (And I'm very thankful that I get to teach in it!)

McFrustration

Last night a group of teachers decided to spend the night at school because our building is locked between 7PM and 7AM and we needed extra working time. Our plan was to work most of the night (which we did) sleep in our classrooms/library (which we did) and order McDonald's for breakfast. A little after 7 I called and ordered 6 set meals, which were supposed to be delivered before 8. (Yes, in Singapore, McDonald's delivers!) At 8:00, when it was time for our first meeting of the day, still no McDonald's. We gave Jess the money and asked her to sit outside and wait for the delivery man, and we all sat in the back of the meeting so Jess could "sneak" us in food when it finally came. At 8:25 we were dismissed to small groups to pray around the school, and still no breakfast. At about a quarter to 9 I finally called, and they told me that our order had been delivered. That's funny, we didn't have any food, and Jess still had all the money. The lady said she would call the manager and call me back. I told her it would have to be quick because I was at work and had another meeting starting at 8:50. After a few minutes she called back to say that the order had been canceled, would we like to resubmit. I checked with the other girls, all of whom agreed we were still quite hungry and would like our food. The lady asked when we would like it delivered, and I said "As soon as possible, we're very hungry." She said how about 9:10, and then she said she had to call her manager. She called back to tell me that they could not have the food delivered until 10:30 was that okay. Of course not! Here is the dialogue of what happened next. M(Me) We ordered our food two hours ago, we don't want to wait another hour and a half. FL (Food lady): Okay ma'am, when you want it? M: 9:10 FL: Cannot. They are very busy. I will deliver food at 10:30? M: No. If we can't have it by 9:30 we don't want it. FL: Oh, you want food at 10:00? M: No. FL: Oh, you want me deliver 10:30? M: No, I want it by 9:30 or I don't want it. FL: Cannot. I tell them bring you food by 10:30. M: Please just cancel the order. FL: Okay, you want me bring food at 10:00? M: No, that's lunch time and we're hungry now. FL: Okay, I bring it to you at 10:00 M: No, just cancel the order, we don't want it. FL: Oh, you no want food? M: Right. Cancel the order. FL: Okay ma'am. Three minutes later my phone rings and a man is on it. FM (Food Man): I talk to Miss Mandy M: This is Mandy FM: My manager tell me you want food by 9:00. Cannot. It is 9:00 now. M: I know, that's why I canceled the order. FM: You want me bring food 10:30? M: No! I don't want it anymore. FM: Cannot bring at 9/9:30. You want me bring 10:00? M: No! I wanted it two hours ago when I ordered it! I don't want it anymore! FM: I bring it at 10:30? M: I canceled the order. I don't want it. (Awkward silence) FM: Okay ma'am you no want it? M: That's right cancel the order. Thank you. Ahhhhh! Luckily Jess was kind enough to run to the grocery store and buy us some orange juice and bread. Not what we had hoped for, but better than nothing.

Singapore Happy League

This weekend we decided to form the Singapore Happy League....which basically included Jess, Gretchen, and me buying masks for a dollar from a flea market and wearing them around town. We got lots of funny looks, and made lots of people smile! It was a great (and fairly cheap way) to entertain ourselves and others as well. :)

I decided to take Jess on a proper holiday while she was here, so Monday morning we got up bright and early to head to Tioman Island in Malaysia. we packed Sunday night, filled out immigration papers, and were all ready to go, or so we thought. Me, being cheap, decided that if we were at the bus stop at 5:45 we could catch a bus and make it there by 6:30 and save $10, so that's what we did...or at least tried to do. We were out the door in time, but when we got to the bus stop, I realized that even though the bus going the other direction came to the stop right across the street, the bus we needed didn't come to the stop we were at. No problem, I had a plan B. We walked to a different bus stop to catch a different bus. This wouldn't be a direct bus, but would require transferring a couple of times...which would cost us time, but I reasoned that at least if we had to end up taking a taxi, we would be closer. We caught the first bus, but by the time we where we needed to transfer, I could see that it was taking way too much time, so we got off the bus, and walked a few blocks to where we hoped we could catch a taxi. It took longer than I liked to catch a taxi, but eventually we got one and were headed to our bus. on the way, I was running through the checklist of needed items with Jess one last time, even though we'd already gone through it a hundred times. However, this time I realized I'd failed to ask her about her departure card. Not thinking this was a big deal (why wouldn't her departure card still be in her passport?) I very calmly asked, "And the card they gave you to put in your passport." "In your room" was not the reply I was hoping for, but it was the reply I got. by this time we were way too late to turn around and go get it, but I had no idea what would happen when we got to the border without a departure card. I just started praying that we would be shown grace at the border, not something you normally expect at immigration. When the bus finally got to immigration I told Jess to go first. She did, and of course the lady asked where the card was. Jess explained to her that she had put it up for safe keeping, and it was back at the house. the lady kept saying, "you need that card." Finally she told Jess she would have to go to the office. I came through next and explained that I was with her, and asked if I could go to the office with her as well. The lady was nice enough to give me permission, so I followed Jess through the maze of glass doors to the immigration office. When we got there, they told us to sit down, and took our passports. We sat for awhile, all the while wondering if we were going to miss our tour bus on the other side. They finally handed our passports back, and then walked us back through the maze of glass doors and told us to have a nice day! God is very good! :) The rest of the day was much less eventful, other than getting carsick on the bus and seasick on the ferry. We made it to Tioman was was a beautiful island. the first night we swam at the beach and turned in early. The second day we booked a snorkeling trip to five different locations. We took a speed boat from place to place where we were able to see up close and personal some of God's amazing underwater creation. When we got to the first stop, Jess looked at the water and said "I hate fish, I hate fish!" She eventually got over her fear of touching the little fish, and ended up enjoying the adventure. However, when we went to a new location with big fish, she was not as thrilled. by the fifth stop, most people in our group were getting tired, so we didn't stay as long, even though it was my favorite! I even saw a shark swimming near the rocks. (I must admit, I was a little scared and decided to look at other things instead!) On the way home we made friends with a lady and her son who were travelling back on the same boat/bus. We ended up having supper together and sharing a cab home. Overall, it was a great trip, but I must admit I'm glad to be back and ready to get back to work.

Tiamon Island

I just typed a long narrative about our vacation in Tiamon, and it was here...but I dont' know what happened to it. I guess I'll have to retype it later. :(

Envelope Game

Today we took the new staff around the island to explore and learn some practical things. My group started off at Clark Quay, looking for statues, buildings, and random people to interview. We were supposed to ask 5 random people what they thought the Esplanade was modeled after. The Esplanade is a performing arts center that is spiky. Emily went first and asked someone who said "ehh?" looked at the next person who said "ehh?" and on down the line through 4 people. The fourth person signaled for someone else to come and help, and that person also eventually needed help as well. In the end, they thought it looked like a durian: the king of fruits. We also got the answer of a hedgehog, ball, microphone, and "I can't say." From Clark Quay we headed to Vivo City (a very LARGE mall) where they had to pay a bill, top up their bus cards, find out what movies were showing, and buy a symbol to represent our team. We also stopped for lunch, inclusive of ice katang which is shaved ice covered in red beans, corn, and some colored sauces. From there we headed to Chinatown for dumplings. In Chinatown we bought another symbol of our team (another elephant), asked for directions for durian (still the stinky fruit) and took our picture in front of the Chinese Heritage Center. Our final destination was the Botanical Gardens where we met another team and headed for supper at Chili's. Overall it was a good day, but very exhausting. It's 8:08 and we are headed to bed!

Back in Singapore

Jess and I arrived safe and sound in Singapore. Our flight from Tokyo was delayed, so we didn't land until 1:30, and by the time we got to my flat it was 3am. Needless to say, after traveling 10,000 miles were both exhausted and headed right to bed. I slept until about 7 and Jess managed to sleep until 8 or so. We spent the morning unpacking and sorting through all of the stuff that I brought back with me before heading to school to find the school stuff a new home. We took a taxi, as we were carrying a large suitcase, a carry on, and a backpack of school stuff, and on the way, the driver told us that next time we should take the mrt and walk...that it would be good exercise! Then he did say it was okay that we took a taxi this time since we had so much stuff! It was great to get back to school and catch up with some of the staff that is already back. After getting keys we headed to the mall for my chiropractor appointment, which was canceled. We met Kendra and Erin for lunch (but not until after we enjoyed a coffee from Starbucks first) and then headed back to the school. I put Jess to work in my room cutting and laminating and I worked on cleaning out my filing cabinet. We left around 4 and then when I asked Jess what she wanted to do, she said go to the Merlion, so we did. We walked around by Clarke Quay for awhile and then headed to Merlion Park. After that we had Korean beef for supper and headed to the mall to get me a cell phone that doesn't die after 10 minutes of use. Overall, it was a great day. We made it home at 9 and Jess (who wasn't tired) was sleeping on the couch by 10. Jess on the bus. She's already decided she likes buses better than the MRT.

Eating Korean beef! YUMMY!

At Merlion Park.

In front of the Fullerton Hotel.

At Clark Quay. The building in the background that looks like it has a ship on the top is the new Casino. The "ship" is a pool that goes between the three towers.

Vacation

Last week was a lot of fun, but very busy. Day camp was great! So glad I was able to make it back to South Dakota. It was amazing to see the kids finally starting to get it. The comments of "God is looking out for us," or "God really made a great day for us," did my heart good. It was hard to say goodbye and leave again, but I know that God has special plans for them, as well as for me. Friday the kids and I loaded up the car and headed to Eastern Iowa for a family reunion. It was a LONG day of driving, and at one point I decided that I needed a break, so I pulled into a rest area and told the kids to stay in the car watching their movies so I could take a short nap. It was a great idea, but it lasted for a total of about 2 minutes. Then they decided that they needed to go to the bathroom. We made a quick trip inside, and then I decided that it would be a great idea to move the nap to under a tree at the rest area. We unloaded our beach towels, found some shade, and settled in for a second try at nap time. This time it lasted a few more moments, but then Destiny decided that I was a human trampoline. After about 40 minutes of trying to sleep, I finally gave up and decided that it wasn't worth the effort. We loaded back in the car and got back on the road. Luckily, even though I didn't sleep, I was able to rest my eyes, and it was a little easier to stay awake for the rest of the trip. We made it to Newton, and stopped for supper. My parents caught up with us there, and dad took over driving my car so I could rest. Now we are back home...one week to go until I head back to Singapore with Jess. I'm excited to see Singapore through her eyes, and to get to show her around where I live. Also getting excited about meeting my new students and getting started with another year of school.

Day Camp

This week we are having day camp in Lake Andes. It has been a lot of fun to get to see so many kids from here again. Monday night Yam and Steven asked to come to praise and worship, and of course I said yes! By the time I picked them up, our group had grown to 11 people (including my family, AK, and me.) When I dropped them off, they asked if they could come again, and of course I said yes...how can you tell a kid they can't come to church? So, last night I headed back to housing to load up the kids and head back. When I got to the first house, Steven hopped in the van and said "Mandy, I didn't go to my baseball game because I chose Jesus over baseball." It made me want to cry! He also brought two friends with him. We tracked down a parent and got permission for them to come, and by that time, I had a whole group of kids wanting to come. Unfortunately, I couldn't find parents to give permission, so I left with a group of 10 and headed back to Platte. The service was very good, talking about letting God have and use the pain in your life, and it was such a blessing to watch the kids worshiping together. After the service they got spoiled by Kenny (big surprise!) with some ice-cream before we headed to the gym to hang out just a little bit longer. On our way back from the gym, I asked them what their favorite part was, and what they had learned. Trin gave me an entire summary of the message, and some of the kids told me that they liked certain songs about how big God is. As we were talking, Cam said "I like going to Platte. When I grow up, I want to be a Christian like them!" This of course was followed by a conversation that you don't have to grow up to be a Christian like them, that God wants you to be a Christian now. What an amazing night of watching God work in the hearts of these kids! Can't wait to see what He has in store for today!

The Things Kids Say

This week we studying Extreme Faith. Here is an exert from a conversation we had after reading Hebrews 11. Student: Miss Chaplin, what's a prostitute? Me: Um, a woman who sells her body to men? S: Yuck! You mean, she like cuts off her body parts and sells them? M: No, that's not what I meant at all. S: Then what do you mean? M: Hum, a prostitute is a woman who has men pay her to sleep with her. S2: Miss Chaplin, you mean, they sleep TOGETHER? The next day the students had to give reports on one of the people from Hebrews 11. One group was assigned Rahab. On the way to the front of the room I overhead another student make this comment. "I have to say the disgusting part, or my partner is going to make me pay him $5." There report started like this: "Rahab was a prostitute. That means she sells her body to men. That means she lets them pay to sleep with her. (audible sigh)"

China Day 3

On our third day in China we went to the Summer Palace. We did not explore it as completely because we didn't have as much time, and it was HUGE! The Summer Palace had a lot more open areas. We somehow missed the middle, where the actual palaces and temples were, but walked around the outside. Towards the end of the day we got back on the right path, and ended up at one of the Empresses palaces by the water. One of the Empresses got this car, but she didn't like it because the driver was higher than she was. She made him sit on knees to drive, but as you can guess, that didn't work very well either. In the end, she decided she didn't like cars!

The summer palace is built on a lake. This is from one side of the lake looking back. It is built around, so we were still at the palace looking back at the palace.

One thing I liked about the Summer Palace was that they reenacted parts of imperial life. This was a traditional show of dancing and music that was performed on the stage where the imperial family would have been entertained. It was very interesting to watch.

This is a marble boat. Well, it's not really a boat, because it wouldn't float, but it was built to look like one. The story goes that an important battle/campaign was lost because the army ran out of money. Where was all the money? Being used to make this boat for the Emperor to have tea in!

There were lots of passageways leading between the different palaces areas. Lots of them were locked, but some of them were open so we could explore.

What was I thinking?

I will come back to China, but first, I need to ask, "What was I thinking?" This month my students are supposed to be learning about the economy, so I decided it would be fun to create companies, make products, and have stores. Somehow, my ideas always get a little out of hand! I introduced the idea to my students last week. Needless to say, they are very excited about it. They brainstormed ideas for companies and got to work preparing. Each company had a budget, based on the number of members and had to fill out a company plan. Since then, they have learned to write checks, keep a ledger, order raw materials, decide on and pay wages, and advertise. Today was the first day to put it all together. We took the last hour of the day for them to shop. I invited a few other adults to shop as well. When Gretchen (our principal) showed up, she decided that she would rather run her own store than shop at theirs, so she did! She set up a booth selling pictures of aardvarks and turned my orderly shops into an open air market! It was a noisy lesson, but the kids had a blast. Now on Thursday we have to make sense of it all. There will be a lesson on making a deposit, and then evaluating the success of their companies. Hopefully they will learn something and the next time we have store it will be a little less hectic. :)

China Part 2

The second day we were in China we went to the Great Wall! There are a lot of different sections you can go to, but we went to one where you could luge down the mountain when you were finished. It was about a 2 hour van ride from the city to the wall, which gave us time for a quick nap since it was an early morning. When we got there, they said you could either climb stairs up the mountain to the wall, or take a lift...before we arrived we had decided we would climb, after all, we wanted to have the full experience. When we got there, our brains came back, and we realized there were lifts for a reason!This picture is actually towards the end of the day. I started off with a short sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a winter coat, hat, gloves, and scarf. As you can see, but the end, I was thankful for the short sleeves! At the top of the lift, you could go left or right. Left was older and steeper, right had been redone and had more towers. Of course, I chose left. Why wouldn't I take the hardest way possible? This picture is looking down at the steps we had to climb....do you see how they just kinda disappear? I was tempted to take the path on the right, which was actually also steep and go to the roof. The inside stairs weren't as steep, but I chickened out at the last minute. It was amazing to think that the wall we were standing on had so much history. We didn't have a guide with us as we walked, but I overheard other guides saying that as people were working on the wall, many died. They just buried them right inside. This is the beginning of the day, all bundled up! The wall went on and on and on. After we did the part to the left, we hiked back to the middle and decided to tackle the right. We could see a tower way in the distance on the top of the mountain, and decided that was the end. It was a struggle to climb there, but we kept thinking, if we get there, we can say we walked this whole section. After struggling up the wall, we finally reached the tower, only to see that it went on and on and on and on behind the mountain! It was a good thing we ran out of time, because I don't think my legs could have made it another tower. However, we did have to turn around and walk back to the middle again! While I was walking at the wall, I just kept being reminded that the works of the hands of men are futile. Thousands and thousands of lives were given in making this wall. The touristy sections have been rebuilt and restored, but beyond the signs at the end of a "section" the wall is crumbling proof of how short life really is. Things of this world will pass away, and we will be left with the things of God.

China Part 1

This is the gate leading to the section of the city where we stayed. At the Forbidden City In the Imperial Gardens at the Forbidden City Sorry I haven't been very good at blogging lately! For awhile, it seemed like nothing exciting was happening, and then life got really busy. So, here's the "quick" update. Two weeks ago we had spring break. I really needed it, as did my students. I took off for China early Sunday morning and stayed for a week! It was WONDERFUL!!!! SUNDAY: It took us most of the day to get there. Had to be at the airport at 6:00ish, so another $30 taxi ride. When we got there, they weren't checking people in yet, apparently Chinese airlines don't think you need to be there two hours in advance. Played banana grams during our 5 hour lay over in a random airport in China. The best part were the stares. The airport was fairly deserted, and we transferred to the domestic terminal, so there weren't a lot of AngMo (white people) there. A few people came up and stood behind us and watched and talked in Chinese while we played. Somehow, our arrival hadn't been confirmed early enough, and there was no one at the airport to meet us. The problem was, we don't speak Chinese, and most taxi drivers don't speak English...and it wasn't like we could hand them the paper and ask them to go there, it was English also. We went to the VIP counter, figuring they might speak English there, and had them write down the name of our hotel in Chinese characters. Then, we went to the "taxi stand." At the airport in Singapore, there are taxi spots, and someone has the job of directing you to which taxi you are supposed to get into, because there is a line and an order. However, in China, it was a free for all! People just started running into the street and getting into whichever taxi was free. Well, when in Rome. (or in this case China) do as the Romans...we also ran to a free taxi, handing the driver our Chinese paper. He started asking us something in Chinese, which of course we could not answer. He started driving, which we took as a good sign, but soon he was asking us more questions in Chinese. Finally, he asked for a phone number (all through charades of course) and we handed him that. The people at the hotel were able to give him directions, and we made it there safely! We didn't actually stay in a hotel, we stayed in a hostel, but had a private room. The staff was very friendly, and it had a great location. Once we arrived, we headed to our room for some sleep. We knew we had a big day ahead of us! MONDAY: On Monday morning we headed to Tiananmen square. It was within walking distance from our hostel, although the tuktuk drivers did not agree. They followed us all the way there, telling us it was so far, we needed to ride. When we made it to the square (which was less than a 15 minute walk, we started walking around and looking at the monuments. There were a LOT of guards there, standing very stoically and seriously at their posts. As we walked by one guard, he stood very still and serious like everyone else, until just after we passed him. Then he started calling out to us in English saying "hello!" We weren't sure what was going on, or what we'd done wrong, but decided we'd better stop and turn around. He pointed to Kristin's guide book and there, on the page we had been reading, was a picture of that very guard! We asked him if we could take a real picture of him, but he said no. It was crazy! There were also a lot of people lined up to see Mao's body, but we decided that wasn't a top priority. Instead, we left the square in search of some good food. And we found it! The amazing thing was, that Chinese food in China is much more like Chinese food in America than Chinese food in Singapore. It was amazing. The English descriptions weren't always that helpful, we ended up ordering "diced chicken with paste." We asked what the paste was, but again, they didn't speak much English, so we gave it a try. After lunch we headed to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was where the Emperor lived along with the imperial family. There were a lot of different palaces and each one had different stories to go with it. It was actually a pretty depressing place. Everything was stone, even the gardens. (Although they were definitely my favorite part.) It told about how the concubines didn't really have anything to do, and so they would fight amongst themselves, sometimes even killing each other to try to gain a better position. So sad! It was interesting though, I kept trying to imagine what it must have been like for the women and children living there, knowing that you couldn't leave. We walked for over 5 hours that day, and were exhausted when we made it back to the hostel. We ended up eating supper there and playing Canasta until we called it a night. It was a great way to start our trip to Beijing!

Amazing Day

Wow! What a day. It was field trip day, so we loaded up and headed to the East Coast. We toured the NEWater plant, where they reclaim water (aka...purify used water and make it drinkable/usable again.) It was an interesting day to be sure. When we got there, I realized that an English speaking tour guide means different things to different people! Our guide spoke English, but he was very hard to understand. Just as he started talking, the doors opened and a group of high school/college age students walked in. He looked a little confused and asked them where they were from....their reply....CHINA! Yikes. So, the tour switched from an English tour to an English/Mandarin tour. It was kinda funny, except that even I couldn't follow. Sometimes he would switch from Mandarin to English, and it would take me a few sentences to realize I needed to be paying attention again. The kids seemed to enjoy it though, and even managed to learn a few things. One of my favorite parts of the day was when one of my students raised his hand to ask a question. We had been talking about the filtration system, and Lawrence asked "You mean, its kinda like a blue whale, how they let water go through their teeth, and ya know, the krill stay?" The tour guide looked baffled, clearly not understanding the great analogy that Lawrence had made. His response was "I'll talk to you later boy." I whispered to Lawrence that he was right, and the guide thought somehow that we said their water was blue. He said "Oh no, that's just in the picture. Our water is clear, we take all the bad stuff out of it!" I wanted to laugh out loud! After the tour, we went to East Coast Park for a picnic. Who would have thought that I would ever have a picnic with my students at the beach with the ocean in the background? It was a lot of fun. After lunch, the boys found a mango had an impromptu American football game before heading back to school. When we got back to school, we had about 10 minutes before we had a Mandarin assembly for Mandarin appreciation week. It was great! An ensemble that plays traditional Chinese instruments came and played for the kids. They did a great job of explaining the instruments and the sounds they could make. The kids had a great time. The best part for me was, no grading today! After work we had movie night at school...someone even brought Milk Duds! Yummy! Then, I came home had a nice 20 lap swim, and am now ready to head for bed. It's been an amazing day, and I'm feeling very blessed. God is good!