Early Morning Shopping

At 6:30 this morning I went across the railroad tracks to this fruit and veggie (and other random stuff) market. They are only open until about 8am so we had to go early.  Since my good friend jet lag has been waking me up at 5am every morning, it was no problem at all! The produce was really cheap and it was just a fun cultural experience.  Vendors were lined up along the street selling things out of their cars, bikes, trailers, and just off the ground.  I've never seen so many people out at 6am!  I'm super slow recalling Chinese numbers so I have no idea what I payed for most things, but it was fun anyway.  :)  I loved taking in everything and being a part of it!  Here are a few pictures:

On the way to the market

I was so tempted to get one...

My New Digs

Here are some pictures of my new apartment... I haven't had time to do anything to it, so I'll post more pictures once we get it set up and looking homey. 

Welcome signs on the front door...

My room...excuse the mess from unpacking...

more bedroom...

Downstairs bathroom, complete with non-English washing machine and a real toilet.

Dining room/living room

I *love* the sliding doors.

Kitchen

More kitchen

I forget what this is called..  It's a patio off the kitchen.

Extra bedroom...ie extra furniture storage room.

Random wardrobe in the hallway.

Upstairs bathroom

Master bedroom

Upstairs sitting area

Bedroom #4

Cute light fixture...door to the rooftop patio.

My favorite part of the house... Coming soon: grill and lawn furniture.

View from living room

View from kitchen

Well, that's my new place!  I'll add more pictures soon....we are going to Ikea on Monday so it will look more like home in about a week!  :)

Goodbye, Dayon... Ni hao, Tianjin!

As I'm sitting here in my new living room in my new home in China, sipping instant coffee out of my new mug, I can't help but smile and think, "This is my life now."

On Wednesday morning, my mom and brother took me to the airport.  Of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't forget something at home, so about 15 minutes into the trip we had to turn around and go back home.  We FINALLY got to the airport, checked in, secured a window exit row seat (score!) and said our goodbyes.  Two of my amazing friends surprised me at the airport to see me off! We all held it together (even my mom!  she was a champ!), said goodbye, and off I went!

 The rest of the day was a series of flights that went way smoother than any I've ever had.  As someone who always either sets off the metal detector, loses a bag, misses a flight, has something stolen, etc etc etc, I was understandably a little nervous about so many flights and such a long flight to China. Amazingly, I wasn't patted down in security.  I found my gate (right next to Starbucks...one last soy latte for the road!) and walked onto a pretty empty flight with the exit row to myself.  I stretched out and snoozed until we landed in Dallas.  I had a super short layover so I channeled my inner Chinese, pushed my way to the front of the plane, and booked it to my gate.  I made it with a few minutes to spare!  I even found the other teacher I was supposed to be traveling with, which I wasn't expecting to happen until Seattle.  On the flight from Dallas to Seattle, I accidentally sat in the wrong seat (whoops!) and didn't realize it until about an hour later.  Luckily a screaming baby took the empty seat (my original seat) behind me.  I sat next to a Chinese man named JP.  We had a great chat about China and he even wrote my name in Chinese for me on a barf bag (thanks, JP!).  When we got off the flight he helped me with my luggage and even helped me find my next gate.  What a gem!  I grabbed lunch with the other family from the school and waited....and waited.  I called my mom one last time and before I knew it we were being herded onto the plane to China!

Beautiful view flying into Seattle

I had held it together pretty well until I got onto the flight to China, and then I had a moment of panic...like, "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!" That went away pretty quickly and excitement set in.  The flight was about what I had expected...crowded and long...but soon we were landing in Beijing!  I got my luggage without a problem and waited for my traveling buddies to find all of their bags.  Their daughter MJ and I had a great talk until she got bored with me and crawled under the cart for a quick nap.

People from the school were there to pick us up. An hour-and-a-half bus ride later, we were in Tianjin.  A handful of people from school came to help carry our bags up to our new apartments.  My host family, a couple that has been so helpful and amazing, was there to meet me.  They showed me my new apartment and helped me get settled.  Everyone left and I walked around my empty apartment (my roommate wasn't due to arrive until Saturday) without really knowing where to begin.  There are four bedrooms - 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs.  I ruled out one super tiny, crowded bedroom right away.  I liked a bedroom upstairs, so I lugged all my bags upstairs and started to unpack.  After giving it some more though, I decided I wanted one of the downstairs rooms instead, so I drug everything back down the stairs.  By that time I was too tired to unpack anything so I went to bed.  After tossing and turning all night, I finally got up at 5am and started getting unpacked.

Yesterday we went to a store called Metro, similar to a Sam's Club.  I used my first squatty potty...and lived to tell about it.

 I got a few necessities (microwave, water tong, hangers...) I ate lunch with my host family, went to the bank to exchange money, unpacked some more, got my internet set up, and had a delicious dinner of homemade BBQ wings, potatoes, and snap peas.  After going to bed at 8 and sleeping pretty well, I'm feeling pretty good!  I'm still feeling a little out of sorts but everyone has been so kind and helpful.  I'm just excited to get settled in and start normal every-day life.  Thanks for all of your words of encouragement during my move!  They are appreciated more than I can even express!  :)

Bye for now!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

I had to say goodbye to some really amazing friends tonight, so rather than sitting here and being sad I think I'll post some cute new family pics.  :)

 

A big thanks to my talented friend Emily for taking our family pictures! 

True Confession

True confession... I've been frantically trying to teach myself to eat with chopsticks for the past several months.  Here's a recap of my progress.

WINTER:

*After watching Youtube tutorials, Googling "how to hold chopsticks", and looking at several step-by-step diagrams, I sat on the couch with my dinner and chopsticks, determined not to get up until I had finished every bite.  An hour and a half later......... 

*One of my friends took me to a Chinese restaurant (where I typically use a fork...and even that isn't always pretty).  She patiently talked me through using my chopsticks and I made it through about half of the meal before I finally gave up, hid all of the dropped rice under my plate, and, defeated, finished my dinner with a fork.

SPRING:

*Back on the couch...dinner time down to about 45 minutes.

 *I went to a Korean restaurant and ate my entire meal of bibimbap WITH CHOPSTICKS (and a little guidance from my friends)!  *applause* It was a big day. 

SUMMER:

*Tonight I went to dinner at a friend's house. I ate salad, rice, beef, and veggies...all with chopsticks.  I didn't even get a grain of rice on the table!  (Although I did drop a tomato on the floor, but that was just typical clumsiness and not really chopstick-related.) 


So....in a week I'll be in China, chopsticks in hand.  :)

My Story

Every time I sit down to blog, I can't think of a thing to write...which is funny because there is so much going on and I have so much to say.  I'm just going to start typing and we'll see what comes out. :)

I don't think I've posted the story of how I ended up on this journey to China, or even what I'll be doing there...so that's where I'll start.

I grew up in a pretty small town in Ohio.  I graduated high school with 133 kids...133 white kids just like me.  In college, my roommate got involved with an organization that connected international students with conversation partners.  She started meeting with a Chinese graduate student, and she came back to our dorm so excited every time they met.  She told me about the conversation partner program and said there was still a need for more people who were willing to get involved.  (I should explain...a conversation partner is someone who meets with an international student and helps them work on their conversational English...it's so simple and such a great way to meet people from other parts of the world!)  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to serve others, so I signed up. Before long I was connected with Michael, a grad student from China.  He was a lawyer in China and was in the US getting his MBA.  We started meeting once a week or so, and the more we talked about Chinese culture, the more I wanted to know.  Michael and I met for 2 years until he left to go back to China.  I was so sad to see him go!  He completely opened my eyes to a world beyond small town Ohio.

  

 Random Michael Story...

Some of my college friends took Michael and his classmates to Young's Dairy (a dairy farm that has lots of fun things to do) one day not long after we met.  They wanted to try the batting cages, so Michael decided to go first.  He put on his helmet and stepped into the cage.....directly behind the plate.  We were yelling, "Michael!!  No!!!  You have to move!!!  The ball is going to HIT YOU!!!" and he continued to stand in the ready position, oblivious to our warnings.  I'm not sure if he didn't hear us or just didn't understand what we were saying.  Maybe he thought we were yelling, "Go Michael!!!  Woo hoo!!  Hit the ball!!!" but no, we were seriously concerned for his safety.  Thankfully, one of the guys who was with us went into the cage and moved Michael out of the way before he got beaned by a fastball .  Next time I think I'll go first and demonstrate how a batting cage works.

Fast forward 4 years...

A girl from my small group was teaching ESL at a local university, and she was looking for conversation partners for her students.  I jumped at the opportunity and was thrilled to find out that my new conversation partner was from China.  I contacted her, and before long I had agreed to be a conversation partner for her roommate and another friend as well.  So the three of us started meeting and exploring our city together.  I've been meeting with them for a few years now and I've really grown to love them!  They have enriched my life so much!

Meanwhile, at work...

After my second year of teaching I was asked if I wanted to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) the following school year.  I was becoming more comfortable in my classroom but still didn't quite feel ready to take on something new, so I said no thanks.  Well, the next day they came to congratulate me on being the new ESL inclusion teacher.  Ughhhh......  I was a little annoyed that they didn't take my "no" for an answer, but I tried to go into my new job with a good attitude.  The first day of school I absolutely fell in love with my ESL kids.  I was so surprised and relieved!  I ended up with eight different nationalities represented in my class:  Libya, Guatemala, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico, China, Kenya, and the United States. Of my 25 students, 7 were ESL.  Some of them spoke flawless English, and some of them spoke no English at all when they came into my classroom. There were certainly days when I felt overwhelmed by the needs of my international students, but overall I loved every minute with them. By October I knew I wanted to continue doing ESL long-term.

Teaching in China...

I knew I loved China, and I knew I loved teaching, but it hadn't really occurred to me to combine the two until this past fall.  I have a friend who teaches in China, so I started researching the company she works for and I was immediately interested in joining their team.  I prayed about it, talked to some friends about the possibility of teaching overseas, and a week or so later I submitted an interest form.  A few days later I received an email from someone on staff saying that she would be in my area that weekend (Coincidence? I think not!) for a conference and asked if I wanted to come meet her and hear about the China schools.  Talk about perfect timing!!  I went to meet her and she was so kind and helpful...she really confirmed everything I had read and heard about the company.  She answered a lot of questions for me, prayed with me, and even emailed me the next day to check in. I decided to go ahead with the application process.  The process was pretty extensive (I mean, I had to go to Georgia for a psych evaluation if that tells you anything!), but the company was so helpful and walked me through every step. I am so thankful for their support and encouragement over the past several months!

This winter I was officially offered a position at Tianjin International School.  I'll be teaching kindergarten in their ECC.  I'll have a small class of international (non-Chinese) students and I'll be teaching all subjects, just like a kindergarten classroom here in the States.  I'll be living in an apartment with another teacher.  We'll be living in a pretty big apartment complex with lots of teachers, other expats, and nationals living nearby.

I'm so excited about my new job, and I'm equally excited about being part of a new community and building a new life in China!



Moving day is 8 days away...

Queens

When it's time to leave a place, you're forced to say goodbye to all the people, places, routines, and familiar things you love.  It becomes an emotional roller coaster...a mixture of feeling overwhelmed by so much love and so sad to leave it all behind.  I have about 12 days of goodbyes ahead of me, and I must say I'm experiencing different emotions by the day...by the hour...even by the minute.  I've laughed so hard over favorite memories, and then been reduced to a puddle of tears the very next moment.  As my friend Bethany would say, "Nothing makes me go from zero to tears like leaving the country."

There are two main groups of people I'm heartbroken over leaving - family and friends.  Sometimes, though, the line between family and friends is pretty blurry and friends become some of your closest family members.  That's what has happened with the amazing community of women called Queens.

I am so, so thankful for the love, encouragement, accountability, and joy I have found in Queens. I never knew it was possible for a group of women to genuinely love one another so deeply (1 Peter 1:22). I can't even begin to describe the dynamics of this group that makes it work so well......it just does.  I'm so thankful for women who have been by my side through many, many ups and downs.  I'm thankful that they are in my business even when I don't really want them there.  They ask me hard questions and they allow me to do the same for them.  They study the Word together and pray together. They are willing to get their hands dirty and fight for one another. They speak truth in love...they confront sin...they ask forgiveness...they offer forgiveness.  They are the most humble, honest, loving, godly, hilarious, thoughtful, generous, compassionate, beautiful women I know!

 Oh, and there is always lots of fun to be had.  :)

 

Did I mention they are expert party planners?

I have grown more in my Walk over the past year with the love, encouragement, guidance, and example of these amazing women than any other time in my life. I'm very grateful! So, as I'm saying my "goodbyes" this week, I'll be saying goodbye to my unofficial family...the women I'm blessed to call my sisters.