photoshoot

We are drawing portraits in the high school drawing class, but I've been having fun playing around with the school's camera and setting up a studio...

flat on my face

It's a little easier to laugh about what happened yesterday morning today; and I as tell the story to people, I can smile and be thankful, but the bruises on my legs and hips and the soreness in my body certainly tells a different story.
Yesterday as I was riding my bike to school the front basket broke at the place where it is attached to the bike and fell under the front wheel sending my computer, my shoes, and myself over the front handlebars and flat on the pavement. I've done a similar stunt twice before, once when I was 8 and again around 10 years old. My 8 year old stunt lost me my front tooth. I recently spent $1,300 getting that fixed (again), and the second experience left stitches and a scar I can see to this day on the bottom of my chin. With each of these experiences, I remember exactly what it was like to be laying flat on the pavement, and feeling the sobs well up from my core, a response that is both scared and shaken from an mili-second airborn launch from a bike seat, to a very close and intimate view of pavement touching my face, my hands, and my entire front of my body. Well, yesterday morning I experiences the launch, the flight, and the landing; right on my hands and my head. This time, I have nothing broken, a few scratches, black and blue marks and a confused and startled heart.
As soon as I landed, I laid on the pavement with many bikes riding by. I didn't know if I could move at first, so I laid there a while, and began to feel the ache adn began to hear what was happening around me. What I heard were people riding by and laughing at me. As I was tangled up in my bike, I couldn't move right away, and laid there, confused as to why I could hear things like "oh look, a foreigner laying on the pavement" and then the voices just riding by. After a little while, someone lifted the bike up, gave it to me and peddled off. I couldn't explain why I began to sob so heavily, but found myself walking down the street, avoiding hundreds of bikers going by, sobbing and trying to hold my basket on my bike and my bag in the other hand. Finally I stopped behind a street food vendor and parked my bike, still sobbing. The sweet man asked what was wrong, saw my battered hands and legs and then ran to a nearby bike man with my bike to get a piece of wire. It was an interesting out-of-body experience: seeing myself so helpless, sobbing, and watching these men rig some kind of wire to hold my basket in place. A bunch of women gathered around me, all laughing and wondering why I was still in a puddle of tears. I was ok wasn't I? (and indeed I was). I was also very shaken. Being laughed at when I was sprawled out on the pavement, tangled and bleeding is not fun.

The interesting part to all of this. I was on my way to school early (like 6:20) because I needed to get some things prepared for class: namely, an article about being the beloved of God and some images: one being Rembrants's "Return of the Prodigal Son." I was thinking about what it was like for the prodigal to come home after such a long time and to be embraced by his father so intimately, bearing the scars of rugged life. The question running through my mind was "what would it be like to hear the father's heartbeat?" when "smack" I found myself embraced by the pavement: first thought "this is not it." But now, I am thinking: is it?

Right now I'm reading "Life of the Beloved" As I read it now, I realize that he states clearly that brokeness is as integral a part of being the beloved as blessing. Not to sound trite or oversimplify the myriad of thoughts running around in my head, but I do wonder if there was a specific purpose of laying absolutely helpless on the ground yesterday, and feeling so humiliated by the laughter of the crowd. I wonder what this has to say to one in seach of the life of the beloved.

Weekend done

WEll, it's been quite the weekend... from re-decorating my apartment, to getting used to the ins and out again of life here in China (notice the grocery shopping getup) to b'b-ques and fellowship. Not a bad way to start out. Come back to "start over" hasn't been so much starting over, in fact, so far has been really fun. The newness is still there, and lets just say that I've been completely blown away by the difference of Tianjin- esp the buildings and roads... and the amount of people here.
We went to a friends tonight for dinner. The new thing around here (new for me) is regular pot-luck dinners cooked by and hosted by guys. Pretty impressive I must say. Nice job gentlemen! Ok, these are just a few pics, I'm actually trying to get class ready for tomorrow. Hasta!

Evening in BJ

I left school right after finishing up my art class yesterday in order to go to BJ and visit my Wheaton friend Leslie, here to start 2 of 3 years with ELIC in Nanxia province. A trip to BJ and back is exhausting.. when done the Chinese way. Trip there.. 2 taxi's, 1 car and a walk through lots of traffic. Trip back, taxi, subway, train, taxi.. Oh, the days of my own choice and schedule of transportation are long gone. But, well worth it. Great to see Leslie and to spend a fun evening at a lake downtown and a very trendy restaurant. We got duped into riding in a bike/cab for a very short time, though we did see some old BJ hutongs and had some very interesting conversations with our bike rider.
Even though it was pouring rain, we walked around the lake and had a wonderful time. Ben joined us for dinner and the evening and alas, the cycle of meeting people from all over the world all in China begins again. I also saw Lydia Tsui and Easton who have begun their journey with ELIC this year. Very fun.

Hit the Ground Running

So, here is a glimpse of a day in my teaching life. You saw the walk though the streets before, but did you know that a haircut (that takes 2 hrs of cutting, straightening and sleeking) costs about $1.40? Ah, the perks of China. Here is my cut and my hairdresser (yes, I feel huge beside the people here!!)So, generally I ride my bike to school, but I must say that riding in a fitted short skirt on a mountain bike is a bit of a hastle, besides the fact that I can't really sit down, and my basket throws things out when I hit a bumb and I'm smoking car-exhaust, I love it. This however, is my morning ride to school, a look inside the bus, and a bunch of happy teachers (they're cute aren't they?)
Then there's Dave and ME hard at work.
We actually do work hard. I promise!! Teaching 32 kids is no small job, especially when you have two of the free-spirit types coming up with all kinds of creative solutions to class. We definitely enjoy it!

And of course, the art room. I'm trying hard at remembering what it's like to be an art teacher. Fortunately, I've already taught most these students art for 3 years, so we're just picking up where we left off. And they are doing a great job.

And then, my favorite part of today. Kicking a buff Chinese man with all my strength and getting no where. Yes, I am becomming a kung fu master. This is seriously one of the best and hardest workouts I've undergone. Chen Master things that I'm too fat and in order to get skinnier I must do massive amounts of squats (to skinny the leges as he says) and to cut dinner out of my meal schedule.. at least, don't eat too much rice. (like that's the problem???-- maybe I should cut out the smoking. Yea, check this out. Intense.. totally intense. I'm actually dying in these pictures. The best part... I went right afterwards and got an hour long massage. And a massage is good, though the massuse went right for the kidneys. I told her that I was having some headaches, so I got a thorough kidney, liver and intestine massage. Go figure. They told me I needed to get the blood going in my system to wash out the impurities. They could be on to something...hmmm....

Then- "presto chango" Miss Evans the nice teacher again at our parents open house this evening. Notice the translation screen behind Mr. Finnamore our principal... nice huh? We've got quite the range of languages here!

I had a nice time talking to the parents of my "Service and Society" class. Half of them smiled at me, and nodded. I think they didn't speak English and were probably wondering why their kids were taking a class about how to learn to serve in China. The half that "got it" glowed. I told them they could have me over for dinner anytime, or the class for that matter, as learning about cultures was a very important part of the experience.

And now, it's late, I'm sitting with my computer, a load of songs and a guitar, getting ready for leading singing at our 7:15 am meeting in the morning. yea... Then to BJ to visit my dear friend Leslie also teaching for the next few years here in Zhong Guo.

Singing off for now. Good night!

Tuesday

Second full day at school. A few fun things to mix it up today. It rained as we took a walk around the street and market area, I taught 3rd grade art, and Dave and I sat down and got a good chunk of the year planned out (as far as our overall objectives). So, a good day. Right now I have a few minutes of time before our first faculty meetings, so I thought I'd put a few images of the day here. This is class this morning, a time to locate where we are in this city and how we see the image of our Father on this place, as well as posing the question, "who is my teacher?"
Obviously there are a lot of different kinds of teachers, and ways to learn about things. I think our approach to learning about Service this year will be quite an adventure. I'm looking foward to it.

The Shirt says it all

Well, this is going to be a short entry, and not for lack of things to write; more because I'm falling asleep here and need to get to bed. Ah, but I'm a full fledged teacher again and I will soon try and get some photos of my classes on line. Class has been good, oh so good. Dave and I planned all weekend, and pulled off our first "experiential" class this morning. We wanted to give the kids another "perspective" of the city and of their lives, so had a little plan where we got them outside and looking for their "teacher." I hiked 21 flights of stairs with them at a nearby office building, and found at the top an empty room with a view of the entire city. It was pretty cool I must admit. We'll be trying out all kinds of things this semester to hopefully set the tone for looking at lives of service and compassion with a different kind of view. I have 31 students now in 2 classes, so it's quite the crew. Dave is an answer to prayer, what a gift to have a co-teacher. I couldn't do it without him.
Art is going well too. I'm so glad to be up there teaching. It's wonderful, except I kind of am quite rusty at the subject of art, but will try and catch up again.
Today was one of the nicest days I've remembered in Tianjin, the sky became clear blue with white clouds, and I could see reflections in the canal- the canal actually looked nice! I've noticed the streets are quite cleaned up as well, and when I went for a run along the canal it was very pleasant. It seemed like the whole section of town was enjoying the city, as I peddled around on my bike and borrowed Jenn's camera (mine has been MIA- I think it was snagged from me!) I found lots of smiling faces and familiar sights to see. (Mind, I was peddling around on my mountain bike with a short skirt and bike basket and a camera with many interested faces at my disposition)
I went to dinner this evening at the Jiang's home- my TA Shao Hua's family. It was good, and fun to see them. Some pretty amazing things happening in that household that I can only give great thanks about. Here's a picture of a little girl who the grandmother basically adopted because she wasn't wanted, and upon further reflection on "life in the kingdom," she decided that she could adopt this girl and care for her. It's pretty neat how things do work around here.

my bedroom view

This is pretty sweet. I can actually keep up on the blog and try and give a brief entry for the days I have time to do this. I must say, the schedule here has been a slight shock to the system-- up at 5 am (very interesting to be in school at 7 am and have a good amount of work done by 9am) It's 1:30 pm now and I already feel like I've had a long day. Ah yes, back to being a working woman :) So, let's see. Yesterday was our first day of school and what fun: walking around the hall and surprising all kinds of kids. There's certain advantages to teaching K-12th grade in my former life- and one is that I now know most kids 2nd-12th grade. Of course there are many new faces everywhere, but certainly there are many old and familiar smiles and squeals walking down the hall and giving lots of hugs and encouragements. I've really enjoyed the big homecoming. So far I've had dinner at different people's homes or had people over each night, meaning lots of catching up with old friends and man, there is a lot of catching up to do!! So good though.

Dave, my co-teacher, has now arrived in Tianjin (though I have yet to lay eyes on him) an hopefully this weekend we can plan the class that I already started teaching. Um, yes, miss prepared here. I'm thrilled with my classes though. They are going to be pretty labor intensive as each is highly experiential. I have 2 classes of Service and Society with 14 students each and one drawing class of 10 that meets every day. I just finished teaching drawing (and we have an entirely new and very cool art department on the 6th floor!) It was fun, and I'm realizing I need to bridge some pretty big gaps in my experience, as I have not taught nor done any art since I left here. Today I laid out all the materials and had the kids teach me (which they are incredibly capable of doing because I taught them all before in middle school for 3 years). That was fun. I teach in the art room, and in a classroom, but I have an office that I share with a Chinese TA as well that is a nice little getaway for me too. Kim has left me her couch and I've got a wall of windows and plently of quiet space to think. I do think this will be a prime place to actually do my creative project/paper!! (which is in sore need of completion!)

I love living with Jenn. (and Jenn if you read this you will just be hearing glowing reports). You know it's a good situation when I look outside on our ping tai (balcony) and find a garden of herbs growing already. I used some fresh basil for a tomato/cucumber salad last night and was just thrilled. And, it's so good to have my own place, and know I'll stay there for more than a few months at least. I know I'm in the honeymoon stage, but I've really enjoyed getting veggies from the street vendor (and yes, I have been experiening the normal stomach bug, but that comes with the territory)- and experiencing such good Chinese cooking that I've really missed. The first two things people say to me are "ni zai lai" (wow, you're back) and "ni bu tai pang le" (and you're not too fat) Seriously. This is a very blunt culture in some ways. Many seem to ask sympathetic questions like "are you going to be ok? It's so different" and my response is "well, I'm sure glad it's different because I sure am!" I think the fact that I know #1 I've been released to be here and #2 I am very aware this is a completely different journey have helped make the transition easier. But, I will say that I miss you Kim and Alison like crazy. If I actually let myself think about it, tears will well up with how much I miss the home we had. So, you all can be lifting this up for me!

Apparently there is good progress being made as far as LDI building a retreat center- it's almost done. I have been so encouraged to be in the loop as far as conversations about adventure ed and spiritual formation. That is an area I actually can speak to. Ken you will be proud I hope. I'm still trying to choose my words wisely. I think my challenge will be to speak clearly and relavantly to the needs at hand. And to really be lifting up the possibilities that seem to be dropping on my lap. There are no limits to opportunities here. The prayer is that I respond the the needs of the day.

Back to China

Returning to China....there were a few really cool things about my flight back. First, in the Syracuse airport while waiting for the plane I realized that the girl sitting across from me was reading her "Wheaton Passage" course material-- the very program I trained people for and left. 9 years ago I was also in that place, in that airport, on the way to Wheaton. And now upon leaving it was fun to encourage someone else from northern ny making the same journey. Another cool thing is that we flew right over honeyrock. It was a very clear day, and I could recognize the chain of lakes- I've spent enough time looking at topo maps of the area that I could see pretty clearly- (and we were flying straight north at the time so I was also oriented right)- we also flew right over lake superior and it was special to think about the wilderness groups who at that time were probably somewhere on the lake. And, I even recognized point abbey- the place I last said goodbye to at superior. And all on the way to China!





So, I've discovered that for some reason I can access this blog presently, even if others can't. Maybe I've got a small window of opportunity before the portal shuts, but while I can update this blog, I will. So, back to China!! I'm really here and believe it or not, I haven't been able to stop smiling. Had a good flight over, and my roommate Jenn had done a wonderful job preparing the apartment (and dinner) so it's just been fun to get settled in. Well, somewhat fun going through boxes -- I can't believe I have so much stuff!! We're pretty much moved in now, teacher work days start tomorrow and classes on Thursday. I've made it to school once, and was a little overwhelmed by everything at the time, so I've been working on my apartment first. Today I got my old bike and went to the foreign fellowship and was delighted to see so many old friends and students. One boy, an adopted Chinese boy named Joseph, who I've known since he was three (now he's 8) ran up to me and locked his arms around my neck and wouldn't let go. It was so cute when he asked "why did you take so long to get back?" He, along with so many others, have very much welcomed me back and confirmed in my heart so many positive things. I visted my Chinese "family"- my teaching assistant Shao Hua and whole family -- and just was so delighted to cause such a commotion upon entering their house. It's been a little funny when my chinese friends are gushing about their lives (in Chinese) and I don't know exactly what they are talking about- I know language is going to have to be a real focus of my time this year but that is a positive thing. It's certainly necessary! And a little overwhelming, I'm still pinching myself that I'm actually back in China, but as I've walked around the streets, remembering how to shop and speak and bike, I feel so certain that I'm in the right place. It's a treat to finally get to meet Jenn, my roommate. We've been writing each other since March, which has been so good. I'm very thankful to have her- we're going to have a good apartment and relationship-- a huge anwer to prayer.

Family Time

Here are a few pictures from my family.