Restlessness

Well, it's a short post this time. I'm tired, and I can't fall asleep at night, which only makes it worse. In brief, I had a very nice birthday - 4 days of celebrating (whoa...too much). Thanks for the many Facebook messages, emails, etc. I will get around to most of those, but it will take me a while. I've had all of about 30 minutes of free time since last Monday. I forgot how busy these first couple of weeks are. But this weekend will begin the National Holiday, which means I'll have a week off. Rick and I will travel to Tianjin, so I once again won't have much time to catch up with folks, but I'll do my best to find some time in there. Just forgive me. More free time is coming - I promise :)

Main thought/request - I really am having trouble sleeping. presently, out of the last 7 nights, 5 of them have involved long, long periods of trying to fall asleep, followed by waking up time after time during the night. Today the sleep deprivation really hit me. Even as I'm typing, my eyes are glazing over and my head starts to nod. Please keep me in your prayers. I'm not sure if this is a physical thing only or if there is also a spiritual aspect to it, but it does make my work pretty difficult.

The only side benefit - I do get some pretty strange dreams. Last night in my dream, a friend and I were deciding what we would do in the future, and we decided that we would form a band called Melvin de Celica, and our first hit song would be the sequel to Baby Got Back - aptly named Baby Got Back (Again). However, before we could carry out this most noble of plans, we came across a group of animals we were not familiar with. They were a blend of chicken and flamingo, and they were infused with a touch of jive. They also could talk, and their leaders were named Lamont and Cointreau. They seemed to think my friend and I were a threat to them, so they all started yelling at L & C that something needed to be done. So some of them came over to us, knocked us down and started pecking at us. But before they could do much damage, they had to have a dance break. Some crazy funk/jive music started playing, and all their necks and knees started a-boogey-in'. It was really quite bizarre and entertaining. But I woke up again before I could see the outcome.

Now I have to get ready to teach. Hope you enjoyed the story. I'll be back soon, hopefully.

Year 2: Here We Go!

Well, Year 2 is officially underway. I've been back in China for 2 weeks now, and we've finished one week of classes. Everything seems to be running smoothly and it looks like we've got a good set of students again. See the pics:

Class A


Class B

I'm going to try to keep this blog a little better updated this year. Hopefully a post for each week. Don't hold me to that, though. Ha! You know I'm not good with keeping those kinds of deadlines. Oi.

Anyway, as I'm getting started with classes, I wanted to offer everyone a chance to help me out. I made new lesson plans this summer, and I can tell that they will be a great improvement this year over the last. However, the plans are largely contingent on the students being willing to discuss some topics in detail. And, I know that sometimes the students get a little tired. I mean, we have them in class for 3.5 hours each day, and they are constantly speaking in a foreign language...could you imagine signing up for a class like that? Yikes!

So, my request is this - do any of you have some creative ideas of classroom activities we could do for anywhere from 5-45 minutes? They might be things to spark creativity, or maybe to help them relax for a moment, or to help re-energize them after some discussions. If any of you have some ideas, please feel free to share. I want my class to stay fresh and intriguing each day, and that's difficult to do! So, any help you might offer would be great!

A final note: last year, when I was going downtown one day on the bus, a man started asking me some questions in English about who I was and what I was doing in China. I've had several experiences like this in the past, but this one seemed a little different than the others - something in my spirit said to take note of this. Well, I gave him my email address that day, and he contacted me later, but all last year we just couldn't get our schedules to work out for another chance to talk (maybe this sounds strange, but it's pretty common in a small city like ours).

Over the summer, I said that once I got back, my teaching partner (Rick) and I wanted to get together with him and his family. Today it finally worked out, and boy am I glad of it. Turns out he believes in some great Truth, although the rest of his family does not. And, you can probably imagine, this causes tension in his life. Honestly, I don't know where this friendship will go in the future, but I feel like things were definitely orchestrated for this cross-cultural connection to take place. Anyway, it might be something for a moment of praise or a moment of requesting if any of you think about it!

Now I have to scoot - time for dinner and then we're having students over! Keep in touch.

I Love the South

So, I was at the doctor's office to get my back checked out today, and there are several black women in there with different kinds of problems. And you know how many of them are - very friendly and talkative (I'm appreciatin', not hatin').

Well, one lady starts telling me all the things she's been going through, and she said that she knew something was wrong with her knee. So she went to the doctor, and..."He told me I was gunna need surgery. And I knew it. It was just inedible."

HA!

Of course, that was supposed to be "inevitable," in case it doesn't translate in written words as well. Oh man, I had to work so hard not to just bust a gut laughing when she said that. Good times, huh?

As a side note, it seems nothing is wrong with my back. Just once again I've been told I must stretch more. Ugh. But I guess it's better than the alternative.

Things Remembered/Things Missed

As I am now at the last few days of my first year here, I being to realize that things have gone so quickly. I can hardly believe that I've now taught 96 students about business and life, as well as many others who have come to our non-class activities. But a year really has gone by, and now I reflect on some things I will remember and some things I will miss.

• Being called Mr. Rose and/or Mr. Loss
• Eating "gai jiao fan" everyday for about $.50 (GJF is a mix of veggies, sometimes some meat or an egg, and spices all cooked together and served over rice - about the Chinese equivalent of a sandwich)
• Getting text messages from students that don't always make sense (e.g. "Mr. Ross! Happy Father's Day!")
• Waking up to either 1) students playing basketball at 6am, even when the sun isn't shining or 2) one of the roosters living here (note: I do live ON a college campus - not on a farm...ha)
• Seeing how many ways people can say and/or pronounce Rick's last name "Bagley." For example, Bailey, Badley, Bargley, Barly, Bargley, Bagerly
• The Water Man - We have to get bottled water here b/c it's not always healthy coming from the tap, so we order big bottles of water for our apartments. I use a lot of water, and the water man is not so close to us. So I devised a system where I would have 2 bottles at my place at all times, so when I ran out of one, I could have a backup ready until I got to the water man again. Well, it took me about 2 months to convince the water man that there was a reason for me to have that second bottle. But after enough gestures and repeated bad Chinese, he finally agreed to it. Ha. I guess I'm not very Chinese about my use of water...
• Coffee breaks - there are so many stories here. My students know I love coffee because I drink it almost everyday, and I talk about it often. Coffee to me represents friendships and relaxation. I don't drink coffee to wake up - I drink it because it enriches my enjoyment of the time when I'm drinking it. Anyway, I'll share a couple of coffee stories.
• I brought a French press over here to help make my coffee, but I've never liked the cleanup, and the capacity is small on mine. So I decided to look for a coffee maker. I found one, but it was also too small and didn't come with a filter. So I asked my parents to mail me one. I was so excited the day it arrived. I carefully plugged it into my voltage converter, and set up the first trial run. I turned it on, and it made those wonderful siphoning noises. Until it blew up. Apparently the voltage converter didn't work. And now, neither did my coffee maker. I was devastated. Long story short...I found a new one after about another 2 weeks of searching. It has worked ever since, and it is great. Thank you coffee.
• The other coffee story - Region Coffee. It's our local coffee shop. We actually have a decent amount of shops here, but this is the only one that's close to us. It's a big shop - probably holds about 200 people if it needs to, but usually there are not more than 20 people there. It has been a great location to enjoy time with students and also the other foreign teachers here. They have a great coffee there called Charcoal Coffee. The first time I had it, I said, "Wow, you can really taste the charcoal flavor in there, and there's also a hint of chocolate in it." Peter and Glenn (the two non-ESEC teachers) both laughed. I asked why, only to find out that Peter had said almost the exact same thing the first time he had some. I knew Peter and I could be good friends at this time. And I'm sad to say he will be going back home at the end of this year, not to return next year. Hopefully the new foreign teacher will also be a coffee drinker.
• Good ole Chinglish phrases like, "Mr. Ross, my friend would like to touch you." In Chinese this would mean they just wanted to get to know me and ask me my opinion on things. Ha.
• The wonderful "Ahhh"s and "Wowww"s the students would do. All in perfect unison. "Hey kids, look at this!" "Wowww!" So great.
• Crossing the street. Riding in taxis. Listening to the symphony of car horns and watching the amazingly choreographed dance that is Chinese traffic.
• My guys' group. Four of my students from first semester meet once every week to just enjoy our friendships. We always plan something fun to do, and I also try to challenge them with some life questions. A real joy.
• The roommates. Six girls (5 of them were our students) who are all roommates and are greatly entertaining. They love to ask questions about, well, mostly love. But they also really like asking about life. We don't see them quite as often as we did last semester, but we are thinking next year we want to change that. They are really quality young ladies.
• Chinese t-shirts. So many of them have English writing on them, but I just don't know what phrases like "Rahant ratwre (heart)" really mean. Do you?
• Dou bing. Yum. My favorite food. It's it little like Frito's, but soooo much better. And it's a local specialty!
• Coming up with new ideas for ESEC. It seems every week I had a new idea about how I wanted to change my teaching style. And, generally, the students enjoyed it. It kept things fresh and new. Sometimes it was confusing, but most of the time, we all felt the time spent was well worth it. And this summer Rick and I will be devoting some serious time to revamping things again for next year. The school is really taking recognition of what we've been up to lately, and we can tell good things are in the works.
• And finally, prayer time. Rick and I still get up every morning for a time of prayer together. It is so beneficial to the rest of our day. And I know God is moving in our lives and all around us because of it. I hope you all can experience some of this in your walks too!

There are so many other stories I could mention, but these are just some basics. I'll be home from about July 2 until August 30. Some of that time will be in Oxford, and some will be in Dallas. Feel free to come visit if you can!

There's a war going on out there...

Well, despite all the emails sitting in my inbox, papers to be graded sitting on my desk, and students at my door waiting to play Wii, tennis, badminton, pool, ping pong, etc., I’m taking a moment to write something here. It’s been too long anyway.

I want to write something that is possibly controversial for some of you, but I think it’s important. It’s about warfare. But not man vs. man. It’s of the spirit nature. Now, I don’t know where all of you stand on this issue, but I wish you could be personally privy to some of the things I have experienced here, so that you might better understand what is at work against us (and against all of us – even in America). Let me briefly recount to you some of the things that have happened here.

Several nights I have been awakened by 1) a terrible feeling of fear and heaviness all around me, 2) a sensation of being strangled by an invisible source, or 3) strange noises moving around our building that did not obviously come from anything I know that exists around our building.

One night I went to bed and saw 4 pairs of green eyes staring at me from my ceiling. I rebuked them, but in the morning, there were still 2 pairs of eyes remaining. Another night, I went to sleep peacefully, but when I awoke the next morning, I saw a face in my ceiling staring down at me. When I noticed it, it bared its teeth at me and then disappeared.

Once when there were a few of us (brothers and sisters) together, we were walking across campus, and we noticed a snake slithering along the ground. We stopped for a moment because it surprised us all. It stopped too, looked up at us for a moment, and then went along its way again. I asked my students, and they said they have never seen or heard of there being any snakes on our campus.

Recently, I decided, for a strange set of reasons, to show the movie “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” to my students. If you have seen the movie, you know that at 3am, lots of strange things happen. Well, the night before I was to show the movie, both Rick and I were awakened right at about 3am. I had, thankfully, put up my new mosquito net that night, but still I was awakened by the sound of mosquitoes at my ear. I thought this seemed strange. So I unzipped my net, turned on the light, zipped the net again, and I was really frightened to see mosquitoes all around my net, trying their best to break into the small holes. Thankfully they were unsuccessful, but I was still very unsettled. The next morning all the mosquitoes had gone, and I check all my windows and doors to find that they were sealed. Rick, on the other hand, was awakened by a bad nightmare that left him feeling disoriented, in pain, and a bit in fear. I had not told Rick that I would be showing the movie, so he was very surprised to hear this story.

This week I also showed to the movie to my other class of students. I wanted to find a Chinese version of the movie because some of the students from last week complained that it was difficult to follow all of the big English words in there. I had seen the movie at a store downtown before, so I went to find it. Alas, it was sold out. I went to 3 other stores with a student looking for it. Two of them did not have it. At the last store, we told them the name of the movie, and they said they had it, but when they looked for it, it was gone. Strange timing for it to be sold out everywhere, since this is not exactly a blockbuster movie here in China...

And most recently, Rick, my teaching partner, has found out that he has a bunch of kidney stones in him, including one rather large one that doesn’t want to pass. The doctors say he is okay, but he needs to get some treatment done to break up the stones. If he does this now, he will be out for a full week of class. If he waits, he can finish class, but he has to endure the pain until he can get treatment. We’re not sure yet how we want to address this, but we could certainly use your prayers.

Now, are all of these signs of warfare? Maybe, maybe not. But, nonetheless, it awakens us to the reality that we are not “home” yet. We are living in a fallen world that is passing away. And it makes us realize we have a job to do here. I hope you all back in America can be encouraged to do your part, too! The harvest is here – let’s claim the fruits of the labors of the past and the labors of the present!

The Mood of Things

Okay, I won't comment much on this. I'll just give a brief introduction. This is an email I recently received from one of my students. And, honestly, it is one of many similar ones, though the wording is a little clearer in this one. You guys! There is a change in the air here. The old traditional ideas are being questioned. I believe this is because 1) there have been many great prayers to help open things up 2) my teaching partner and I are really working hard to see the banner of His glory raised high for all to see and enjoy and 3) (most importantly) the Spirit is ready to move!

PLEASE: Keep praying for what is happening here. The harvest is plentiful. We need more harvesters - both on site and at home, in prayer. Please, please, please, commit time to this if it is in your heart to do so. Eternity hangs in the balance, and I want to tip the scales in a good way.

Here's the email (only very slightly modified to help correct some of the Chinglish):

I would like to share some of my feelings with you. I want to say I really have had a lot of fun in your class. I enjoy it very much. I have made so many new friends. All of them are so kind.

For you and Mr. B, you both motivate us, and you want to make us more active, even more than before. Thank you, my friend.

It doesn’t feel like it’s been 2 months since we came into this class, does it? More than half of this semester has gone. I feel kind of scared. I love this semester far more than any other semesters! But I will not have a semester like this any more in college.

During this 2 month period, I have noticed that my life has seemed to be a little flat. It might make me feel comfortable. But now I realize that is not good for me. I should do something different. I want to challenge myself, though it may make me kind of uncomfortable.

I hope I will not regret anything at the end of this semester. I think it will be the most exciting and valuable time during my whole college life. I want to find a new life of richer detail, both wider and wilder. I don’t want to miss any more. I want to be present and conscious and aware. I hope I can find the way to be that kind of person.

(Wow.)

Pause

Nothing has changed since my last post. I still really love what I do. But, I tell you what, I am emotionally, spiritually, and physically drained. This week I realized something a little sad about my time here: about 90% of my life here is "work." I do find time to enjoy some casual meals, some good time for sports, an occasional moment for video games, and a coffee break or two. But aside from this pretty much everything else is work. I prepare things for class: lessons, tests, activities, grading, stories, etc. I meet with students, and although this can be great fun, it is often very complex and focused on "deep" things. Even going to church here is work, not rest and refreshment.

This week, has been a really tough one. Between the things going on in a land that may or may not be a part of China, the trouble with the Olympics, and all the difficulties with France, the students have a lot of questions. I'm not really allowed to give answers, which I'm honestly thankful for. I don't want that responsibility. I don't know the answers. But I do encourage the students to think about things with their own minds. Rather than turning to hatred and bitterness at the world, is there a better way that we can approach this situation? I end up playing a lot of Devil's advocate, and it really gets the students thinking. I'm grateful for that. But truth is a double edged sword it seems...

I'm not much of a fan of Sean Penn's work, but I did end up enjoying the movie Into the Wild. Much of the movie seems lost and misdirected, but the ending pulls it all together, I think, in a very real and natural way. Well, maybe for a guy. Maybe it is not a girl's movie. But the boy in the movie basically says that he would rather reject all comfort and security for the truth. And his journey into the wild is a journey seeking truth. Tonight I told a student that I would be willing to lose a friendship because of truth. Truth, it seems, forces you to decide. You can sit on the fence for a little while, but when you are faced with truth, you can't stay indifferent forever. And if someone chose to reject me because of truth, then I would be willing to accept that because that's just how important truth is to me. I think I'm being dangerous but not reckless with this notion, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, in reflecting on the week, I think I may notice several students and possibly even a friend who have turned off their hearts to me because of truth. Oh, and it hurts so deeply inside me. I want everyone to like me. I want everyone to meet me in this journey of truth. Or if they don't exactly meet me, then we should at least challenge each other. But it seems some people don't want to be challenged. I acknowledge that sometimes I ask "why" and "how" a bit more than many of these students can handle. I have to be careful. But it is never in the casual moments of thinking and pondering that people get offended. It's in the moments where I feel "under orders" that people "join" me or refuse me.

Being here really awakens me to knowing that we are in a constant war. This world is not peaceful. Peace in this world is almost illusory. America will have judgment to reckon with, I believe, for all the false peace we have created around ourselves. We have convinced ourselves that this life is simple and peaceful and kind. And the people of China want so much to have that kind of life, too. But, I'm afraid we won't ever really achieve that in this life. And even if we can achieve it for ourselves, I'm not sure we should hold onto it too strongly because so much of the world is constantly at "war," and the world needs people to stand up and fight for the souls of men and women.

Ah, maybe I'm rambling a bit now. I don't know how to express everything. In fact, I'm tired of expressing so many things. Life is good, and yet it is so painful and tiring. Especially when the fellowship here is so limited. I'm wonderfully thankful for my teammate who encourages me, and I him. But, even so, we are both tired. The war is constant, and rest is seldom found. So, I ask all of you who are supporters, to please commit to prayer. Please, please, please pray for Rick and me. Please pray for this part of the world. Please pray for our students and our school and our city and our friends and the administrators and leaders here. I'm am horribly ashamed to say that I did not always pray when I would get newsletters from friends who were "fighting" in this war. And I know not everyone who reads this will actually commit to prayer for what I asked. But I ask it all the same. Because we need it.

The dark covering over this area is beautiful and wonderfully crafted. It is enticing and comfortable. It provides for enough of your fears that you don't have to worry. It answers enough of your questions that you needn't think too much about life. Oh, it is wickedly evil, and it kills me to see such amazingly kind people subject to such lies that they don't even know they are believing. The ones that I have spoken with about truth...I know I offer them something good. And some of them are seeing how the wool has been pulled over their eyes. But many are scared. When the tough questions get asked to them, and they can't run from them, they go crazy. They do everything they can to hide. They reject me. But more importantly, they reject truth. And truth doesn't always even mean "Truth." Just true ideas. All I can do is 1) remember where I have come from - it is the same as those here 2) remember I am not proved good or evil by how much the people here like me 3) live by faith and not by sight and 4) pray, pray, pray.

It is late. I am tired. My joy is in the Lord. And my sorrow is in Him, too. The seeds that are being thrown, may they land in fertile soil. And may my great sins be greatly forgiven that all can see my foolishness, my forgiveness, and most importantly, the one who has forgiven me.