Worship and Lunch

I'm so grateful I have a place to fellowship and worship here.  I'm attending an international church with people from Papa New Guinea, Philipines, Africa, Americans, and British.  It is so encouraging to worship the same God with people from all over the world.  This morning I sang with the worship team, which is something I don't normally do.  Usually I'm playing an instrument.  I found it refreshing and freeing to use my voice.  

Afterwards a group of young people went out to lunch.  It was the best Chinese food I've had so far.  Adam, the Brit in the photo, told about his experience taking the train to Shian this summer. He purchase a third class ticket for 100 yuan about $14 US.  It took 30 hours with no food, windows open, dust constantly blowing in, hard benches that sat 6-8 people, and the bathroom overflowed into the car.  It sounded like a nightmare.  I gather not to purchase third class train tickets in the future.

Bus Jam and Chinese Coffee Date

I am getting braver to venture out on my own.  Today I took the public bus to downtown.  I needed to do some work in the classroom and meet one of the secretaries for coffee.  I walked 25 minutes to the bus stop.  There is a theft problem on the bus so I was very careful to hold onto my bags.  I was curious how long it would take me on the bus verses the taxi I've been normally riding to school.  At one bus stop 6 giant busses were all trying to load and unload people.  It turned into a crazy bus jam.  I finally made it to school 1 1/2 hours later.  This helped me decide to take the taxi; it is much faster and safer.  Usually a couple teachers carpool to cut down on taxi cost.  

Sunna is a new secretary at the school this year.  She is a little sunshine.  Her husband came along for the coffee conversation.  He is a policeman.  She has agreed to meet with me once a week to help me learn Chinese.  I feel very blessed to have such a sweet sunny personality to assist in learning this difficult language.

My New Friends and Girls on the Town

I have now been in China one week.  The other people in my apartment complex have really warmed up to me.  Every night as I'd walk home I'd see children playing games outside and women walking around.  I'd always try to wave and say hello and they are more eager to say hello.  Tonight I accidently got caught in the middle of a soccer game and ended up joining the game.  One little boy was very excited about this.  A women motioned if I'd play badmitten with her and I did.  This little boy who I'd played soccer with wanted to play badmitten, too.  At one point we had a four on four game of badmitten going.  It was so much fun.  They kept saying mingtian, which means tomorrow.  They wanted to play more tomorrow.  You can see how excited they are in the picture.  The other photo is of the 7 year old teacher and two secretaries at the school I work with.  Sweet girls.  I'm excited about all my new friends.

Going to Work

When I leave in the morning for work there is a long line of people waiting to get into the apartment complex.  These people work in the complex, cleaning, construction, garbage.  You name it they do it.  China has so many people to do whatever needs to be done.  

My Disco Apartment

My apartment is quite retro in many aspects.  I have a unique orange couch, which I love and is very comfy.  The lights in the apartment are probably the defining touch.  One is a purple sparkly blue moon and star light in my living room.  Over my dining room table are three lights that flash blue and red when turned on.  Unfortunately, the photo doesn't pick up on these disco like features.  The view from the 9th floor is beautiful.  I never thought I'd live in a skyscraper before. 

Jiang Nan Ya Zhu

I live in a beautiful Chinese community.  There are 20 plus skyscraper buildings, each 20 stories high.  There are several traditional Chinese gardens in the complex.  It is so beautiful to walk around and very peaceful.  It is a well gaurded and gated community.  There are usually 6-8 guards at the front gate and at night each building has a guard.  I feel very safe in this community and the people are warming up to the foreigners.  There are many children and babies.  Whenever I walk by mothers make their babies wave and children say hello.  They seem happy to use the English they know.

I am Here

I arrived in China last Thursday early morning. Getting settled into my apartment and decorating my classroom. I don't have internet connected yet at my apartment so I am using the schools internet. Today was the first day of new teacher training. There are 13 new teachers in a staff of 20 teachers. The principal and director of education both stressed the importance of love in education. Letting students know you love them. I'm so happy, because in this school it is ok to give hugs to students. In the US this is looked down upon. After teacher training they drove us out to where our new school is being built. The photo is the location of the new school with all the new teachers. A group of us went to get foot massages. A foot massage is actually a full body massage in a chair. It was so relaxing and very close to where the current school is in downtown Dongguan. The new school is located on the skirts of Dongguan.

Goodbye Family

It's always hard to say goodbye to people that I love.  These last few days here with my family has been emotional.  We celebrated my dad's 55th birthday and my parent's 32 anniversary.  I will miss them dearly.  The picture with our dog, Bridger, was hilarious to get, because the dog would not sit still and look at the camera.