I realize that I have not posted in a long time, and there are many things I keep thinking of to write about. So that's all about my failure as a blogger, however, this post is all about something else (Thank you Max Casella from Newsies for teaching me the subtle art of introducing one topic and then veering straight into a completely unrelated topic in the very next sentence That really does make you the King of New York). My roommate made a video of the new apartment we moved into over the summer, and I'm posting it here for all those interested. I may pop up in the video here and there to add a touch of whimsy and intrigue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIQ2qiQazNQ&feature=youtu.be
In the event that my masterful technology skills have failed me and that link doesn't work, she also posted it on my facebook home page, so if you go there you can see it too.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
.......and there goes the first year of teaching.......OY.....
.............Warning...........this is a long one.........you may need some coffee.........
I have avoided posting for the last few months-mostly because I didn't really know what to write, or how to explain my last few months of life. I will try to recap the last semester of school; however, that will probably take more than one post. Perhaps I will begin a retrospective series at some point when I remember/feel like writing about good things that happened. Right now I think I'm just distracted by all of the challenges.
I would have to say that the 3rd quarter was probably the most difficult. I have the delightful personality trait of being extremely critical of myself and whatever I'm doing. I also tend to only look at all of the ways I'm failing rather than the things I do well. The third quarter was spent comparing myself to other teachers and wondering why they won at life while I managed to fail at everything. This, of course, was not true (either of them or me), but that was where my thinking was stuck.
In addition to teaching being a bit of a mess, my personal life wasn't faring much better. First, there's figuring out living in China which is.......you know......foreign (pun fully intended there:). My spiritual life/quiet times were not effective. Eventually I was quite depressed and basically at an all time low. I couldn't reconcile all of the Truths I knew about Him with what I was experiencing in life. I sincerely felt like He had removed from everything/everyone I had ever known and placed me so far away from my comfort zone I couldn't even see it. That all would have been fine if He was there, but at that point I felt like He put me in this place and then left me alone to figure it out. Again, I knew the truth that He had not left me alone, but that's how it felt. And it made me angry.
Things continued like that for awhile. I can't pinpoint the exact reason or time that things changed, but there was one moment that sticks out to me. I was preparing for my ESL class (which currently has only 2 girls that are not excessively talkative), and the principal was going to come observe my class. I was, of course, nervous the night before. I remember talking with Him and asking, "ok, I want to look like a competent teacher so please help the girls talk and participate so that the lesson looks effective." After this, I stopped and realized how completely self focused I had become. I tried to think about the last time I had asked Him to help me figure out lessons and things that would help the students learn effectively and be comfortable trying out their English skills in my class. The fact that I couldn't remember the last time I had been more student centered in my requests disturbed me.
I believe that moment was a bit of a turning point. I won't say that my challenges disappeared and I suddenly became super teacher, but it removed the pressure when I put the focus back on the students, where it should have been all along. And so the year ended on a much better note than that semester began. I am still working through the same things, and probably will continue to work through them, but I realized that it's something I need to face and figure out rather than getting angry and ignoring it.
This might be slightly cliche, but I enjoy music and there is a song by Tenth Avenue North that I think kind of captures some of the stuff I was thinking about over these past few months. Plus, I'm kind of impressed that I actually figured out how to put a video link on here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAVHeVDML5k
Now I just need to figure out how to post pictures!
I have avoided posting for the last few months-mostly because I didn't really know what to write, or how to explain my last few months of life. I will try to recap the last semester of school; however, that will probably take more than one post. Perhaps I will begin a retrospective series at some point when I remember/feel like writing about good things that happened. Right now I think I'm just distracted by all of the challenges.
I would have to say that the 3rd quarter was probably the most difficult. I have the delightful personality trait of being extremely critical of myself and whatever I'm doing. I also tend to only look at all of the ways I'm failing rather than the things I do well. The third quarter was spent comparing myself to other teachers and wondering why they won at life while I managed to fail at everything. This, of course, was not true (either of them or me), but that was where my thinking was stuck.
In addition to teaching being a bit of a mess, my personal life wasn't faring much better. First, there's figuring out living in China which is.......you know......foreign (pun fully intended there:). My spiritual life/quiet times were not effective. Eventually I was quite depressed and basically at an all time low. I couldn't reconcile all of the Truths I knew about Him with what I was experiencing in life. I sincerely felt like He had removed from everything/everyone I had ever known and placed me so far away from my comfort zone I couldn't even see it. That all would have been fine if He was there, but at that point I felt like He put me in this place and then left me alone to figure it out. Again, I knew the truth that He had not left me alone, but that's how it felt. And it made me angry.
Things continued like that for awhile. I can't pinpoint the exact reason or time that things changed, but there was one moment that sticks out to me. I was preparing for my ESL class (which currently has only 2 girls that are not excessively talkative), and the principal was going to come observe my class. I was, of course, nervous the night before. I remember talking with Him and asking, "ok, I want to look like a competent teacher so please help the girls talk and participate so that the lesson looks effective." After this, I stopped and realized how completely self focused I had become. I tried to think about the last time I had asked Him to help me figure out lessons and things that would help the students learn effectively and be comfortable trying out their English skills in my class. The fact that I couldn't remember the last time I had been more student centered in my requests disturbed me.
I believe that moment was a bit of a turning point. I won't say that my challenges disappeared and I suddenly became super teacher, but it removed the pressure when I put the focus back on the students, where it should have been all along. And so the year ended on a much better note than that semester began. I am still working through the same things, and probably will continue to work through them, but I realized that it's something I need to face and figure out rather than getting angry and ignoring it.
This might be slightly cliche, but I enjoy music and there is a song by Tenth Avenue North that I think kind of captures some of the stuff I was thinking about over these past few months. Plus, I'm kind of impressed that I actually figured out how to put a video link on here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAVHeVDML5k
Now I just need to figure out how to post pictures!
Monday, February 6, 2012
........on my way home........
I thoroughly enjoy my daily strolls to and from school. Even though it's currently winter outside, there's just something about having those few minutes at the beginning and end of the work day (.....um..... I feel slightly old referring to "work days." I still find it slightly amusing that I'm actually considered an adult by mainstream society) to meander on my way whilst listening to music.
I had a new friend join me on my working walks a couple of days ago. There is a dog that I usually see sniffing around Walking Street (the main street that runs through my apartment complex) that I have termed "the old-new dog." Unlike most animals here, this one is actually quite cute. I have named him the old-new dog because his face and body looks very much like a puppy, but he's a full-grown dog. He is a bit oddly shaped-he actually kind of looks like a labrador/dachshund mix, and he's about the size of a beagle. However, he does look a bit mangy, and he has small patches of hair missing so I would never actually pet him. My face must look pretty friendly though, because he doesn't have any problem accosting me whenever he sees me. Such was the case a few days ago as I was walking through the gate, and he decided it would be fun to jump all over me. He then proceeded to follow me all the way to school where I had to close the gate to the stairs so he couldn't actually come into the school. I have seen him a few other mornings as well, but he gets distracted by chasing the trash cats (names I have given them because of their affinity for rooting around in the garbage cans and startling unsuspecting passersby when they spring out of the cans without any warning) and forgets to follow me.
Along with various furry friends, there are a number of different shops and restaurants along Walking Street, and one of my favorites is a piano studio. I don't actually know the real name, but it's a building that consists of a bunch of small rooms for giving piano lessons. The outside of the building is one large window, and it's fun to walk past in the afternoon and see small children having piano lessons.
Of course, the other great part about Walking Street (and China in general) are all of the food options. There are always small stands that set up outside of the restaurants to sell breakfast in the mornings. My roommate actually just introduced me to a really tasty tofu dish this morning, and it will probably become a pretty consistent breakfast food for me. I never thought I would actually enjoy eating tofu, but that has become one of my favorite dishes-they do amazing things with tofu over here. Then again, I never thought I ever would have ended up in China either. Life certainly is intriguing.
I had a new friend join me on my working walks a couple of days ago. There is a dog that I usually see sniffing around Walking Street (the main street that runs through my apartment complex) that I have termed "the old-new dog." Unlike most animals here, this one is actually quite cute. I have named him the old-new dog because his face and body looks very much like a puppy, but he's a full-grown dog. He is a bit oddly shaped-he actually kind of looks like a labrador/dachshund mix, and he's about the size of a beagle. However, he does look a bit mangy, and he has small patches of hair missing so I would never actually pet him. My face must look pretty friendly though, because he doesn't have any problem accosting me whenever he sees me. Such was the case a few days ago as I was walking through the gate, and he decided it would be fun to jump all over me. He then proceeded to follow me all the way to school where I had to close the gate to the stairs so he couldn't actually come into the school. I have seen him a few other mornings as well, but he gets distracted by chasing the trash cats (names I have given them because of their affinity for rooting around in the garbage cans and startling unsuspecting passersby when they spring out of the cans without any warning) and forgets to follow me.
Along with various furry friends, there are a number of different shops and restaurants along Walking Street, and one of my favorites is a piano studio. I don't actually know the real name, but it's a building that consists of a bunch of small rooms for giving piano lessons. The outside of the building is one large window, and it's fun to walk past in the afternoon and see small children having piano lessons.
Of course, the other great part about Walking Street (and China in general) are all of the food options. There are always small stands that set up outside of the restaurants to sell breakfast in the mornings. My roommate actually just introduced me to a really tasty tofu dish this morning, and it will probably become a pretty consistent breakfast food for me. I never thought I would actually enjoy eating tofu, but that has become one of my favorite dishes-they do amazing things with tofu over here. Then again, I never thought I ever would have ended up in China either. Life certainly is intriguing.
Friday, January 27, 2012
......my first attempt at getting myself home from the airport.............fail..........
It's rather strange to already be back in China after my nice, long Christmas break at home. It actually kind of feels like I never left- breaks always go way too fast. I have discovered that the more I take international flights, the less I enjoy them. My first few times were exciting-and slightly terrifying since I'd never been out of the country before. Between the excitement and the adrenaline, the flights seemed to go pretty fast. Now, I kind of know what to expect..........lots of sitting...........and lots of layovers.
This particular trip back seemed to be especially bad in that department. My trip home took me from Kansas City to Denver, and then to L.A. where I got to sit and wait for 11 hours. This would not have been so bad, except I had to collect my bags, check in, and get my boarding pass for my international flights in L.A. So after collecting my 100 lbs. of luggage and carting them through a number of terminals, I reached the Air China desk only to find that they were not open. This shouldn't have been too surprising since the only flight they had that day didn't leave until 12:40 a.m., but I still didn't expect that no one would be there. So, I sat on the cold tile floor for the next 7 hours waiting for the counter to open. Then came the always exciting security ordeal. And then more sitting. At least there were chairs this time.
After my 12 hour flight to Beijing, I got to sit in that airport for another 6 hours before finally getting to Wuhan. At this point I was getting rather nervous because I knew that once I got to Wuhan I had to get a taxi and tell him where to take me to get home. I was all ready to prove to myself that I could do this. I again collected my 100 lbs. of baggage and drug it all out to the taxi line. My bags decided they wanted to fall all over each other and the curb so right away I looked like a completely incompetent foreigner.
I finally got all of my stuff in the taxi and then proceeded to tell the driver where to go. He began asking me questions to which my almost zero Chinese had no answer. Using my awesome context clues skills, I gathered that he was trying to tell me that there were two universities so he needed to know which one I wanted to go to. He said a few areas that I recognized, so I told him it was that one. He continued to try to make polite conversation as we drove along, but I generally had no idea what he was saying. It was really frustrating because he was nice, and I wanted to have a conversation with him, but I had no communication skills.
At one point along the way, I began to feel like we were definitely going in the wrong direction. This was confirmed when he stopped in front of the wrong university. Again, he started explaining something and I think he was trying to teach me the difference between the two so that I would know for next time. I still couldn't understand anything he was saying, and I really just wanted him to keep driving to the next one. We finally got to the right place, and after I paid him lots of money it took me a while to understand that I had to pay for the toll gate that we went through as well. By the time this was all over I was feeling really stupid and sad that I had failed so miserably at getting myself home. But at least he was nice, though I'm sure he was also frustrated and probably would have be happy to never see another foreigner again.
After this joyous end to my vacation, I got to drag my 100 1bs. of bags up four flights of stairs to my apartment. This was a delightful exercise for my heart after sitting on airplanes for 2 days straight. I had to stop at least twice on the way up because I was pretty sure that my heart was going to explode.
Well, my life is nothing if not exciting-here's to hoping my next taxi attempt is more successful:)
This particular trip back seemed to be especially bad in that department. My trip home took me from Kansas City to Denver, and then to L.A. where I got to sit and wait for 11 hours. This would not have been so bad, except I had to collect my bags, check in, and get my boarding pass for my international flights in L.A. So after collecting my 100 lbs. of luggage and carting them through a number of terminals, I reached the Air China desk only to find that they were not open. This shouldn't have been too surprising since the only flight they had that day didn't leave until 12:40 a.m., but I still didn't expect that no one would be there. So, I sat on the cold tile floor for the next 7 hours waiting for the counter to open. Then came the always exciting security ordeal. And then more sitting. At least there were chairs this time.
After my 12 hour flight to Beijing, I got to sit in that airport for another 6 hours before finally getting to Wuhan. At this point I was getting rather nervous because I knew that once I got to Wuhan I had to get a taxi and tell him where to take me to get home. I was all ready to prove to myself that I could do this. I again collected my 100 lbs. of baggage and drug it all out to the taxi line. My bags decided they wanted to fall all over each other and the curb so right away I looked like a completely incompetent foreigner.
I finally got all of my stuff in the taxi and then proceeded to tell the driver where to go. He began asking me questions to which my almost zero Chinese had no answer. Using my awesome context clues skills, I gathered that he was trying to tell me that there were two universities so he needed to know which one I wanted to go to. He said a few areas that I recognized, so I told him it was that one. He continued to try to make polite conversation as we drove along, but I generally had no idea what he was saying. It was really frustrating because he was nice, and I wanted to have a conversation with him, but I had no communication skills.
At one point along the way, I began to feel like we were definitely going in the wrong direction. This was confirmed when he stopped in front of the wrong university. Again, he started explaining something and I think he was trying to teach me the difference between the two so that I would know for next time. I still couldn't understand anything he was saying, and I really just wanted him to keep driving to the next one. We finally got to the right place, and after I paid him lots of money it took me a while to understand that I had to pay for the toll gate that we went through as well. By the time this was all over I was feeling really stupid and sad that I had failed so miserably at getting myself home. But at least he was nice, though I'm sure he was also frustrated and probably would have be happy to never see another foreigner again.
After this joyous end to my vacation, I got to drag my 100 1bs. of bags up four flights of stairs to my apartment. This was a delightful exercise for my heart after sitting on airplanes for 2 days straight. I had to stop at least twice on the way up because I was pretty sure that my heart was going to explode.
Well, my life is nothing if not exciting-here's to hoping my next taxi attempt is more successful:)
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