It's All in a Days work:)

Hello! Not much is new around here, that's why I haven't written in a few days. This past weekend, we had off, so I got to go with others to do some sightseeing. We went to the Forbidden City, Tian'amen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. The Forbidden City was the place were all of the Chinese royals used to live, and so it was forbidden to the common people. Tian'amen Square is the place of the massacre in 1989. Thousands of university students protested here because they didn't like the new communist ways. The communists didn't like their protests, and therefore killed them all. It's pretty hard to believe that things like that really happen. And we went to the Temple of Heaven. I'm actually still not sure what that is! :)
Yesterday, one of my students asked me if I was a Christian! She asked me, "What do you think about when you pray before a meal?" I was able to share a little bit about what I believe. Surprisingly, she already knew much of it, because their English teachers in elementary school teach them some of the Christian ideas to learn about culture. She was actually very interested. I asked her if she knew anyone that was a Christian, and she said no. Wow! She had never even heard of anyone in China being a Christian.
They are all about happiness here. Everything they do, they want to be happy. Something cute they say is, "We wish you happy everyday." Everything is also about comfort. They all say that they want to have a happy, comfortable life for their children. I'm learning more and more how different the culture and mindset of the Chinese are.

Visiting

Yesterday when I sat down for dinner, I bowed my head to pray before I ate. Chinese students don’t really ever do this, so they noticed right away what I was doing. After I began eating, the girl across from me said, “Sara, are you a Christian?” On the very first day, she asked me if I was a Christian! How cool. Then yesterday at dinner while I was praying, another girl said to her friend, “She’s praying…” Neither one of the students really said much after these comments, but I hope that they will ask me later.
I love what I am doing! Is it possible to love my students in just 2 days? Last night I went over to the students’ dorm to visit some of my students. I was walking down the hall trying to find a room, when one of my students from behind me said, “Sara, are you looking for me!?” Well, I wasn’t really, but I pretended like I was. She took me into her room, and I sat and talked with her and her roommates for a whole hour! It’s so funny how girls are the same in any country. We just sat and laughed and laughed about silly things. It’s cool that when you are with people all day long, you can get to know them in just a few days. They gave me a peach, washed it and peeled it for me. When I finally left, they gave me two more peaches, one for me and one for my roommate. In class today I was given another. I now have a pile of peaches on my desk! It’s almost hard to receive a gift from them, when I know that they have so little.
I know they bought the fruit for themselves, yet they are giving them to me. They are so giving!
This trip so far is way more that I thought it was going to be! The students make everything worth it.

Blog on Hold!

China has blocked all internet use because of the riots in western China. Sara is far away from the violence. She is in a safe area. She is still able to call home. Please pray for her safety.

Paula (Sara's Mom)

The First Day

The students are here! They arrived yesterday, so we greeted them, helped them move in, and interviewed them to place them in classes according to their English speaking level. They are such sweet people. They really want to talk to us all the time. They say really funny things in what we call Chinglish (Chinese and English put together). Yesterday, when one of the ladies asked me about my curly hair, she said, "How do you make your hair?"! I have no worries about blending in, I am about a head or more taller than them. They want to tell all the American girls how beautiful they are. So far, the average guess of how old I am is 17! I guess I look young to them. Then...they always want me to guess how old they are. That's just asking for trouble :) Before they come to our program, they must have already chosen an English name. It can be really funny to hear the names that they've chosen. They don't really seem to care if it's a name or not, they just look through the dictionary and pick a word that they like. Here are some of the names I have heard: Desk, Chairman, Champion, Okay, Lucky, Peace...and then there are those who make up their own, like Donolamden. So funny! Last night I went to their dorms to chat with them before bed. They are so receptive. When you go to their room they want to feed you, and have you sit down and talk. One lady had asked me about my family. I told her about my family, and she said, "You seem very happy." I asked her if she was happy, and she said, "Well, not really. I have a typical Chinese family." She said her husband works all the time.
One more funny thing is that I was eating yogurt for breakfast yesterday, and a Chinese girl I was eating with said that I should eat yogurt everyday because it will make my face very beautiful. I couldn't help but laugh about that one!
Today I will meet my class! My teaching partner has an infection, and had to go to the hospital yesterday, so I'm not sure if she will be well enough to teach with me today.

Yesterday I heard that there were some riots in China, but they were not in Beijing, and were far away. It was something about a minority group in the west protesting. I am not sure, but we are not supposed to talk to students about it because it could be a touchy subject.

Church and the Silk Market

This morning we went to a church in downtown Beijing. Before church we went to a Bakery near it. I got some chocolate mousse thing that was really good. The church was huge! It was so crowded. I was really surprised that they sang the same songs that we sing at home. The service was really cool, and the people were so welcoming. What's cool to me, is that there are no denominations in China. Because the number of Christians is so small, they all ban together to form the Christian church in China. They are fighting other persecution, there is no need to worry about the small denominational issues.
After church we went to this place called the silk market. This was definitely a unique experience. The subway is like nothing I have ever seen before! I have never been shoved into such a small space with so many people before. There is absolutely no personal space in China. It would be so easy to get pick-pocketed, because everyone is pushed up against everyone else. The silk market is this 4 story building full of everything you could ever imagine! It's kind of like a flea market, but with nice stuff. I am learning to become a master barterer! :) It really makes you tired at the end of the day, because it takes so long to talk them into an agreeable price. You have to work hard for what you want. Everything is so incredibly cheap here. I got a dress shirt for $5 American Dollars. A meal at a restaurant is $1-2 American Dollars! I kind of bought a lot at the market, because it's all so cheap. I have no idea how I'm going to fit things into my suitcase! Anyway, at this market, there are back to back shops/stands, where they yell at you to come into their store. If you ignore them, they pull you in to look at their merchandise. Crazy! It took us 2 1/2 hours to maneuver through the subway system to get back to campus. Beijing is such a big place. Someone told me today that the city is the size of the whole state of New York! Wow.

Olympic Training!

Today I went running with one of the other girls and guess what we stumbled upon... Well, we saw this really pretty campus, so we decided to run through it. We first saw many teams all training for something. Then we started to wonder, because each team had on jerseys that said China on the back. Then we saw a huge building that said Olympic Training College! We were on the campus where all the Olympians train! It was so cool. There was a lot of military training going on there too. All of these reasons were why the people were up so early training for their sports. So, me and my friend went on the Olympic training track and ran a lap with the trainees! I'm sure that they were wondering what we were doing there, but the gates were open, so we went in!
Happy Fourth of July! I guess it doesn't really mean much in China. We are really doing anything to celebrate it. No fireworks here.
I am getting much better at using chop sticks! We eat with them at every meal, so you kind of have to learn to use them. No forks in China. I've been trying pretty interesting foods. There are a lot of really cool drinks. My favorite drink in the cafeteria is Sour Apple pop. I ate duck the other day. That was pretty good.
That's it for now :)

The Great Wall

The other day we went to the Great Wall of China. That is my first check off the list of the 7 wonders of the world. It was very cool. It really didn’t look much like the pictures that I’d seen on the internet, although it was beautiful. It was a perfect day, not too hot and not too sunny. We hiked up to the highest point in that section. The wall is broken down in many parts. The whole wall is 3000 miles! There are only a few parts of it that are preserved enough to hike on. It’s hard to believe that the soldiers actually climbed up the wall everyday. It was pretty tough! I learned that it was built to keep out the Mongols, although it didn’t exactly work. They mostly used it to warn the city that an attack was coming. The first parts of the wall were built before Jesus was born!
I got my assignments today on what I am going to be doing when the students come. First, I will eat breakfast with the students, then I go to class. I am an assistant teacher, because they wanted one older teacher with one younger teacher. In the afternoon, I will be teaching the music club. I am really excited about this, because me and another guy get to teach the Chinese about the different styles/ genres of music, such as jazz, blues, hip hop, country etc. Also we teach them some of the classics, like YMCA, Chicken dance and others. It will be pretty fun.