Outweighed

I keep talking about the great differences between Chinese and American culture, because they continue to astound me. This past Monday my team was instructed to cancel our classes, because we needed to go to the capital city of Hebei Province to get our physicals. These are physicals that we were instructed to get in the States before we came to China, but we had to get them again. So, at 7 am on Monday all of the new teachers loaded a small bus and drove 2 1/2 hours away to get a routine physical. You know, just the basics: pee in a cup, eye check, blood sample...chest X-ray exam...EKG...and yes, an ultrasound. The latter two were the most interesting. I laughed the whole way through the ultrasound, but the smiles were gone as soon as it was EKG time. The lady giving it yanked up whatever she wanted to and clipped and clamped whatever she wanted to. Luckily the whole deal was over before I could complain. We all made it through and were able to laugh about it on the way home.

Everyday there's something that happens that I can't explain or make sense of in my mind. I often try to figure it out only to end up feeling frustrated. I'm learning that I don't always need to ask why...like, why did I have to get to an ultrasound? Or why did we need to get physicals that we already got? Trying to figure it out only takes away my focus for being here. While we were in Beijing this last weekend with the other IECS members, a few of us shared our most favorite and least favorite things about being in China. It was so amazing to hear how much everyone's favorite things far outweighed any of the not-so-good things. I shouldn't have been so surprised because the truth is that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

While I'm talking about favorite things, I'll mention a few of them from the past week. I got to see the Bird's Nest and the Watercube in Beijing when we were looking for the finish line of Brad and Peter's marathon!! No one else was quite as excited I was...I think when I saw it, I had a "whoa, I can't believe I'm in China" moment. Those happen every once in a while and they catch me off guard. After the race, a bunch of us went to get lunch at a place called Texas Pete's. Walking into the southern homestyle atmosphere, I felt like I stepped out of China for an hour and into the U.S. We got big burgers and fries and finished it with the most amazing ice cream I've ever had. I'm pretty sure we'll visit again. I was quite thankful for this burger experience, cause later in the week I was asked by a student if I wanted to try Baoding's famous donkey burger. I've heard a lot about them, and it was inevitable that I would have to eat one sometime, so I accepted her invitation to "have a try." It actually wasn't as bad as I thought...it resembled pulled pork, only saltier. I think my tolerance for trying new and very different food is improving!

Ok, but my favorite part of this week happened tonight. All of the foreigners were invited to participate in English corner, because they were having a pumpkin carving night and wanted foreigners to show students how to do it. We walked into a room FULL of students applauding and yelling in excitement at seeing us. They had us introduce ourselves, give them a background on Halloween (which I was lucky enough to be appointed by my team to do), and teach them how to carve a pumpkin. It was so much fun!! I accidently forgot to carve in the bottom teeth on the pumpkin, and when I asked my group of students what we should name it, they said "Grandpa pumpkin." So then, they carved a second one with no bottom teeth and named it "Grandma pumkin."

A small picture of what the night looked like:




Then the students had a contest to see whose pumpkin was the best....
"Grandpa and Grandma" didn't win, but I was glad cause they said the winner had to sing a song. Not my idea of a great prize, but somehow the whole room ended up singing "My Heart Will Go On." And all I can say is, oh China...how different and how amazing you truly are! Being here far outweighs anything else I could possibly be doing right now...

Completely Surrounded

There have been several ways in which I have felt completely surrounded this past week. On Friday my Baoding team left for Beijing to meet up with the other International English and Cultural Studies people. We traveled by train, and since this last week was a National Holiday for China, everyone was taking the train. At least that's how it felt. We got to the station and found the line (a loose definition) for our train. The"line" began to move, and we inched our way forward to a small opening that led us to the train. I thought the worst was over until I boarded the train and wondered how in the world I was supposed to get to my seat. Instead of an aisle to walk through, there was a sea of people to climb over, push, and shove past. See, the train sells many more tickets than available seats, so it's standing room only. Unfortunately for us, our seats were at the back of the train car, so we had to shove through an incredibly thick line of people. But we made it! Through my frustration and being completey overwhelmed, I remembered that there was one who came to this world and was continually surrounded by people in undesirable places, and he had compassion for the crowds. I long to be the same!

Once we arrived, Tony met us to take us to our hotel, and since the other two teams weren't coming until Saturday, we spent the afternoon shopping at the Pearl Market. You can buy anything you'd ever want there and pay almost nothing for it in American money. Most of us got some warmer clothes and coats for winter. It is here that I was completely surrounded by vendors grabbing at me and yelling "Pretty lady, you want silk scarf? Lady, you buy shirts for husband? Lady, come see beautiful purses!" You can't browse or seem interested in anything or you're doomed. Amelia and I decided to check out some jeans, and of course you can't buy jeans without trying them on, so we asked where we could do that. She smiled kindly and held out two larger men's shirts and said "yes, yes...right behind here." So, right there in the middle of the market, we backed up into the corner and changed behind the shirts with the kind lady watching us. I'll tell ya, this way you won't ever question if you should buy it, they'll tell you it looks just perfect and that they'll give you a good price!


The next day was such a blessing to reunite with the other seven members from IECS. We all went out to lunch and celebrated the birthdays of Peter, Tony, and the soon-to-be birthday of Tony's baby, who should be coming this week! Afterwards, we had great time of giving thanks and sharing words of encouragement with one another. It was truly a time where my heart and soul felt refreshed. I was surrounded by a team who shares a love so deep, and it was so evident while we were together that it is because of this love that we're in China. Here's the whole group: From the top left: Peter and Shannon Lucas-Roberts, Courtney Corder, Amelia Martin, Jess Shamblee, Brad and Jessica Distad. Bottom left: Ryan, Tony, Tim, Jon, Me, and Will Corder.

Another memorable moment from Beijing was when Amelia and I ventured out on our own to go see the China Salsa Congress. She loves salsa dancing, and it was a coincidence that this congress was there the same night as us. It was a new experience for me, and I had a lot of fun. In the taxi on the way there, we were unpleasantly surrounded by the stench from the driver when he decided to use the steering wheel to pull himself forward and let a huge one rip. We couldn't contain our laughter cause it was so loud and so stinky. He didn't seem to care at all.

Overall, my time in Beijing was very refreshing and a very good way to end my holiday. I'm looking forward to teaching again this week and to being surrounded by my students each day.

Just a little info

In my last post, I forgot to give my mailing address in case anyone wants to send mail. I'm not sure how long it would take to get to me, but I'd say it's worth trying... :) I'm in the process of trying to find a post office here where I can send stuff out. Here's my address:

Emily Green
No. 2 Building Rm. 205
Overseas Student Hotel
Hebei University
No. 180 Wusidong Road Baoding City
071002 Hebei Province, China

Also, I wanted to post some pictures of my room...it's a pretty nice place.

Here's the bedroom:

And the kitchen:

My bathroom/laundry room/ ?? room:

The little shower head right next to the toilet:

There ya go...a little tour of my new home! I hope it makes you want to come visit. :)