It's 3:00 AM Thursday morning and I find myself wide awake.  We left LA at 6:30 AM yesterday morning and arrived at Midway at 12:30 PM.  My sister Lois picked us up from the airport and we got to Morris a little after 2:00 only to find a dear friend putting the finishing touches on a welcome home banner.  She and others from our small group Bible study had pooled their resources and stocked our refrigerator with goodies that should last us a bit.  We appreciate their kindnesses so much.

Jet lag is interesting.  I'm so very tired but sleep will not come.  I did doze off early last night but awoke confused as to where I was.  Hopefully this is a temporary thing and I will soon get back on schedule.

As we unpacked our suitcases yesterday we unpacked so many memories.  All of our students gave us gifts so that "We will never forget them."  Little did they know we didn't need gifts to remember them.  "Becky's" sense of humor, "Jane's" sweet nature, "Sara's" intrigue of American culture, "Mary's" quiet ways, "Lily's" obsession with her mirror...all of these things are now a part of me.  I think of these people often and wonder how their day is going.  Most of them are already back teaching at their schools, trying some new techniques learned from their month-long study with us.  We gave them small gifts from us as well in hopes that they too will never forget us.  I hope we will not be forgotten. 

I know our task this summer was to share some teaching techniques with teachers from China to try out in their classroom.  I sometimes wonder who learned more...them or me.

Rollin and I would love to return in the future.  We would love to connect with the ones we met this summer and meet some new ones.  We don't know what the future holds but we do know the One who holds the future.

We're back on US soil.  We left our hotel at 5:00 AM on August 5 but our plane was delayed so we waited on the plane for about 2 hours before they finally took off.  We were going to be late getting to our connecting flight in Hong Kong but they held it as our plane had 50 of their passengers waiting to board it.  We took off only 1 hour late and arrived in Los Angeles at 12:00 noon on August 5.  Now, most people would assume the process only took about 7 hours but factor in the time change and crossing the international date line and it was actually about 22 hours.  We're setting up shop at Noah and Bailey's for a few days while we try to find our wits and then will be heading back to Morris on Wednesday very early in the morning.

Yesterday was a day of highs and lows.  The morning began at 8:30 with our commencement service for our Chinese teachers.  It was full of pomp and circumstance as most Chinese things are.  Each class was required to perform something in English.  There were songs, raps and even a debate about whether parents or grandparents should raise the young children.  The North American teachers performed the Michael W. Smith song "Friends" and then acted out Shel Silverstein's Giving Tree (Rollin acting as the tree and I was the girl).  The head of Heilongjiang Provincial Education Dept. thanked everyone, our team leader spoke and then it was over (2 hours later).  Hugs and tears flowed as we said our good-byes to our Chinese teachers.  Neither of us do well with good-byes so that was a tough time.

In the afternoon "Anna" came to pick us up to go her parent's house.  Anna was the lady I spoke about earlier who had known us when we lived in China before.  She is a high energy young lady to begin with, but all the excitement had her floating as we made our way across town.  Her parents greeted us with more enthusiasm than I had EVER been greeted in any home anywhere.  Anna has a rather sad story.  She is presently a single mother raising her 12 year old boy.  Her husband was abusive so they divorced when her son was only 1 year old.  She now feels she has no chance to find anyone who may love her as she has a son.  When a son gets married it is the parent's responsibility to provide housing and a car for the new couple.  She said no man would want to assume that responsibility so she is not a good candidate.

Her mother also had a sad story to share.  She was a math professor at the university.  One of her students did not want to complete his work but wanted her to give him a passing score him anyway.  He came to her mother's home with a mutual friend to negotiate the "deal".  Anna's mother refused to do this and later that evening the young man came and threw something (we're not sure exactly what it was) that burned her face, arms and hands.  Her face is disfigured and her hands are greatly disfigured.  She even lost one finger through it all.  She has the most radiant smile shining through that face, though.  

Anna's family remembered our family quite well.  I gave them a picture of our family as a gift and they immediately placed it in a prominent spot in their common room.  We ate a simple lunch with them, sang songs together and then left hoping to see them again sometime in the future.  

Last evening was our closing banquet with the provincial authorities.  We were taken to an extremely nice Russian restaurant in another part of town.  We used FORKS, KNIVES and SPOONS for the first time in about 5 weeks.  The food was delicious and the surroundings made us feel like we were not in China at all.  

Today we leave for Beijing where we will spend two nights before beginning our trek home on Sunday.  We'll be spending a few nights in Fullerton, CA with Noah and Bailey before heading back to Illinois.  We're going to miss it here but we are anxious to get back and see everyone in Illinois (and Ohio).  :)

Flashmob

Here is a video of our "flashmob" that we performed.  I've also included the text that Frank (our Chinese helper) sent with it.  I love the phrase that we really attract lots of people's eyeballs.  Chinglish is so much fun!


To the trainees from the 19th training program,
Spend two minutes watching your performance in the Sun Island
Park. We really attract lots of people's eyeballs and many of them took
photos or videos of us.


http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/82451766-1088870492.html

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!  

Yes, you heard right and no, we have not lost our minds.  Tonight the North American teachers celebrated Christmas with our students so they could see and hear all about our Christmas.  It was complete with Santa Claus, candy and the true Christmas story.  We ended the evening with everyone singing "Silent Night" while candles were being lit.  It was a very special time for all of us.....Chinese and North Americans alike.

Following the Christmas celebration I asked my students to do me a favor.  Last Sunday I had bought some children's Bible story books for our grandsons.  They are in both English and Chinese but I thought it would be fun for the boys (especially Jonah since he is studying Mandarin in school) to hear the Chinese version as well.  We set my students up with the computer and videoed them reading the book.  One of my students has her daughter here with her and she read "The Prodigal Son" for us.....only seven years old.  It was precious.  They enjoyed doing me that favor and then we allowed them to take something from our desk that we would NOT be taking back with us to America.  There was some Off insect repellant, laundry soap, sewing kit, markers, hand lotion, beach ball, etc.  They were thrilled with each and every thing regardless of its value. 

Another miracle!

We didn't expect to post another blog so soon but we experienced another miracle tonight!  

The teachers from our former university had invited us out to eat with them.  We knew three of our former colleagues would be in attendance but weren't for sure who else might be involved.  Others from the present English department we didn't know began to arrive and finally a younger teacher came.  She introduced her English name as Anna and a light went off in my head (that doesn't happen that often anymore).  I asked her if she had grown up in the area and I could see a light go on in HER head.  Anna was the young lady who played with Sarah and Noah (but especially with Noah) when we lived in Harbin.  She was 17 at the time but quite short so it turned out that her bike fit Noah perfectly.  She would often let him ride it.  She claimed that Sarah and Noah were her first English teachers so she credits them with her excellent pronunciation.  :)  

Plans are underway to spend a few hours in her home later this week before we leave.  She said her mother remembered our family well and she wants us to meet her before we leave Harbin.  

We have been so blessed with unexpected reunions this summer.  This was the icing on the cake!!

Nearly done

We are on the downward slide with our time here.  We have just two more units to teach before our students give us their final presentations.  There are closing ceremonies, closing banquets and closing hugs and tears as we part ways.  We've all been exchanging emails and learning Skype so that we can continue to communicate with each other in the future.  We have become close to our students and are not looking forward to those farewell moments.  

We attended the English speaking church this morning once again.  The message was good and we were joined by several of our students.  Following the service we headed off in the rain to yet another shopping excursion.  They want us to find the very special items for our family and friends back home.  Because Harbin is so close to Russia (and hence they get a lot of Russian vacationers), there are more Russian type souvenirs than Chinese.  We're hoping that our day in Beijing on our way home may have some things to help us finish our list.  

We are looking forward to our own bed (Chinese beds are VERY hard), showers that don't flood the entire bathroom (we'll tell you about that when we see you), something other than delicious Chinese food (not complaining....it's all good but would enjoy some variety) and most importantly our friends and family whom we haven't seen for a while. 

A link to pictures ...

... lots and lots of pictures.

http://sdrv.ms/SWyKOh

Rollin had invited his students to our room tonight to look at pictures on the computer and to teach them the game Set so I took off to visit my students in their dormitory.  They were so excited to have their American teacher visit them in their own setting.  Each room I went to tried to get me to eat some of their food that they had squirreled away for themselves.  Cucumbers, apples, peaches, some unidentified melon and sunflower seeds were the snacks of choice.  I had a wonderful time visiting them.

I probably had the highest compliment paid to me today when one of my students told me that she did not see me as American but as her sister.  It is such an honor to be here and to be working with these precious people.  We have just one week left to spend with them and I ache when I think about our good-byes that must be said next week.  It does help that many of us will be able to Skype with each other in the future.  Email has made it more possible to communicate in the future, but there's nothing like sitting next to each of them and sharing our lives.

Last evening we put on an American wedding for all the students.  Our other  married couple on the team "renewed" their marriage vows to each other.  Rollin acted as pastor and we had the Chinese teachers act as bridesmaids, flower girls, groomsmen, parents of the couple, etc.  They were in awe of it all.  They would burst out in applause at every step.  We headed to the foyer of the building for a reception complete with a gorgeous wedding cake and Sprite.  We had taught them some American dances.....Virginia Reel, Electric Slide, Chicken Dance, etc. so we finished the night with those.  It has been so much fun sharing our American culture with them.  We have so much in common as human beings and yet have a great divide when it comes to our cultures.  They have so many questions trying to figure out exactly what is real...the movies they see or the lives of the American teachers they witness here.  I hope they have decided we are more real than the big screen.

This morning we were able to visit the church we would sometimes attend in 1989-90.  The service was especially meaningful to us because we were able to attend the English speaking service.  The church was packed!  There were a few other foreigners in the group but mostly younger Chinese.  The sermon was about Brokenness and was quite good.  There was a lot of scripture and a lot of singing. They included one of my favorites too.....Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone.   It was truly a joy to see!

One of my students joined us there.  I was not able to physically GO with her but we could MEET there.  Rollin and I took her out to eat following the service.  She found a little hole-in-the-wall and we ate 3 kinds of jiao zi (dumplings) and some liang cai (salad).  The first jiao zi to come out was mostly filled with meat.  I took a bite and thought perhaps it was beef.  She said....maybe....or maybe the meat of donkey.  I'm not sure.  I forgot the rules about eating first and asking what it was later.  We wanted to spend time with her and answer questions she might have had.  The rest of our team had splurged and gone to Pizza Hut.  Hmm......meat of donkey or Pizza Hut.....hmmm......spending time with my student was worth it.  

Our time here is flying by.  Two weeks from today we will be leaving China and heading back to the US.  We are staying a few days in California with Noah and Bailey.  It's always fun to see them but we also feel that spending some time processing the previous six weeks will be good as well before we head back to life in the fast lane.

Tonight we had one of those uncomfortable evenings.  Rollin's students took us out to eat at a much fancier restaurant than any of them should have been able to afford.  It was a Korean barbecue with absolutely delicious meats....several kinds of seasoned beef, mutton, chicken hearts, pork and PIZZA!!!!  While the pizza wasn't exactly American, it looked pretty close!  It was an evening of "toasts" to us.  It is so unlike anything that happens in the States.  Each of the students felt compelled to get up and thank us for our "expert" work.  It's just one of those Chinese things that puts us Americans ill at ease.  We took a bus to the restaurant but they insisted on us taking a taxi home as they wanted to go on and shop.  The 15 minute taxi ride cost just $15 yuan.....a mere $2.35 in American dollars.  

It has been an exhausting week.  We're looking forward to a weekend of shopping with students, heading to a church with students and then going to an English speaking church with the rest of the Americans. 

Teaching our Chinese Teachers each day is a real stretch for these two teachers.  Rollin's experience is all about music and mine doesn't go past the third grade.  We are analyzing reading texts and learning writing strategies.  We're wading through it but sometimes we feel over our heads with the subject matter.  We study several hours each night and try to come off sounding like we know what we're talking about.  

Today our students were studying descriptive writing.  When Chinese people write, they tend to not be as direct as we are so we worked through all the steps of writing in English.  They were to choose a subject (a person, a gift they had received, a room, an item they cherished, etc.) and then describe it.  They worked with a mind map organizing their thoughts and then put pen to paper and wrote their paragraphs.  

I had been peeking over their shoulders but one young lady was not allowing me to see what she had written.  At lunch she told us that she was writing about a gift she had received and was going to share that gift with all of us (except me).  She is a very clever person and keeps us on our toes.  

When they were finished with their writing, I asked them if they would like to share their paragraph with the class.   "Becky" was VERY anxious to be the first.  She began to read about the gift she had received and began to describe this gift as having eyes like lakes, a loving personality and a big smile.  She talked about how this person had shown love to lonely students, her fellow teammates from America, and love to her husband.  It was a warm day and I had been sweating drops but the drop that fell from my eye had nothing to do with sweat.  You see, Becky had been describing me.  I didn't realize how much she had observed in our few days together.  It was a reminder of how much our students watch us wherever we are and whatever we do.

I hope I can continue to be a gift to Becky.  I'm certainly not perfect and it humbles me to know that as imperfect as I am I can be a gift to Becky and maybe others like her.

For those of you who have been worried about our living situation, today Rollin and I were again united into one room.  We're not for sure why it took so long but in China you just never know why.  

The weather is really heating up in Harbin.  Our classrooms are NOT air conditioned so things get a bit hot for teachers and students alike.  Fortunately we do have air conditioning in our living quarters so we can cool down to sleep.

We began a rotation of teaching culture to our students.  Rollin is discussing the North American education system and I am teaching what mealtimes look like in our country.  I set a table for my students just like they would find in our home in America (everything's paper or plastic, though) and made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, served some bananas, drank some Sprite and finished things off with Oreo cookies.  I was wishing I could have actually cooked them something but we have no kitchens available to us.  Today I did that with my students and now I will rotate through the 7 other classes.  Peanut butter, jelly, Sprite and Oreos are not the cheapest thing in our local grocery store but my students enjoyed them so much, I think it's worth it.  Most had never tasted any of those things before.  Those items are too expensive for most Chinese families and most would think that they wouldn't like it anyway.

They had so many questions about the etiquette of eating in an American home.  They have such strict hospitality rules and couldn't imagine how American mealtimes are so relaxed by comparison.

Another interesting day in Harbin!  We met an American who is presently teaching at our OLD university.  I asked him about our dear friend, Mr. Wang, who was assigned to help the foreigners when we were there.  We were told he had recently retired but that he could call him on his cell phone for us.  He is visiting his son in south China so I don't think we'll be able to see him but we did visit together on the phone.  I have a vivid memory of Mr. Wang crying as we left Harbin in 1990.  It was good to reconnect with him.

Tonight we went with some of our students to one of Harbin's night market.  It is a bit reminiscent of the Sandwich Fair with outdoor stands of food and people selling their wares.  We were able to find a treat we enjoyed 23 years ago....a kind of corn "chip".  It brought back a lot of memories.  

Tomorrow we're heading to the Botanical Gardens with our students for a six hour day of picture taking.  If the weather cooperates it should be fun!

Rollin and Gloria dancing!!

One, two, "sree", four, five six seven eight......this is what we heard tonight as we practiced dancing the Virginia Reel with our two classes.  We had taught it to our students on Wednesday but they had not perfected it so they requested we do it tonight.  There was no room available big enough to hold 32 students (no one missed this) so we had to do it outside on the street in front of our students' dormitory.  We had a ball with them and by the time we got done with it, most of our students were rather adept at it.  We even took on the Electric Slide and had two local ladies join us as well.   They enjoy the very simple pleasures of life and it is indeed a refreshing thing. 

Our first FULL day was yesterday.  We have classes from 7:45 - 11:25 and then eat lunch with our students in their dining hall.  We have a few minutes to regroup and then meet with our team at 1:00.  At 2:00 we begin our culture rotation.  Each of the team members has prepared a 90 minute presentation on a topic of North American culture and then present it to each of the 8 classes.  Rollin is discussing education in North America and I am doing mealtimes.  Our official time with our students ends with an hour of one-to-one conversations with our students (15 minutes per student).  I've enjoyed my one-to-one time with our students.  It's a chance to get to know them and their personal concerns.  We leave the building at 4:30, have dinner with our team and then what the evening holds is up to each of us.  Last night both Rollin and I invited our classes to visit us in our rooms.  Our rooms are so tiny that having 4 of them come at a time was even a stretch.  When a new group would come, the one visiting at the time would protest that the other group had come too early but then would politely up and leave.  We had fun sharing some of the photos of our family on the computer.  Bedtime is around 9:00 as the sun in Harbin comes up at 3:30 or so.  China is on a "one time zone for the country" system.  Since we are quite east in the country, our mornings begin early.  

It's nice to begin a routine, tiring as it is.  We're looking forward to the weekend.  On Saturday all the North American teachers and all the students will have an outing at a botanical garden not far from here.  It will be the perfect day for picture taking......something else the Chinese people LOVE to do.  :)

The first day of teaching ... finally

The day finally arrived....our first day of teaching in China!  The schedule today was SUPPOSED to be:
9:00 - Opening Ceremony (where all the officials give speeches and tell the students to work hard)
2:00 - 4:30 - Our first class with our students

What REALLY happened was:
8:00 - Discover that following the Opening Ceremony we would need to teach our students from 10:00 - 11:30, have lunch with them and then teach again from 2:00 - 4:30.  We had enough materials planned for the 2:00 - 4:30 time slot but the first time slot was going to be a stretch.....a 90 minute stretch to be exact.  Fortunately both Rollin and I have a long teaching career where we have had to "punt" so that's exactly what we did.  We had a wonderful time meeting our students and getting to know more about them.  It also reminded us that schedules in China are always tentative.

Each day we spend an hour in one-to-one conversations with four students (fifteen minutes each).  During that time they have an opportunity to pick our brains and ask questions in a very private conversation with us.  During those one-to-ones today we discovered they wanted advice about raising their children, how to have a happy marriage and discovering the real meaning of life.  Not at all heavy subjects!!!!  I didn't know I would be serving as a marriage counselor to them but I guess I will be!  They are so pleased that both Rollin and I are here together and enjoy watching us to see how an American marriage works.  I hope we don't disappoint them!

A trip down memory lane

Today was a very special day.  We had our team time this morning and then the team was planning to go on to visit the church in Harbin.  We had made other arrangements as the university we taught at during the 1989-90 school year is celebrating their 60^th anniversary and this weekend was designated as the celebration weekend for them.  One of the English teachers we had taught with back in the day had invited us to be a part of their English department’s reunion.

We met her at 1:00 and took a walk around the grounds, remembering the days at NEFU.  The university has built many new buildings so the grounds had changed.  While we lived there, we had been housed in two different apartments.  The first one had been demolished to make way for a newer, sleeker building.  The second one still stands but looks a bit older and worse for wear. 

At 2:00 we were scheduled to go to the building that houses the foreign language department where we were able to meet another teacher we knew.  As we were coming into the building we began to take pictures (a very Chinese thing to do) of each other in front of some of the beautiful art pieces.  A group of people came in and one of them began staring at us in a most unusual way.  He came up to us and said, “I think you know me”.  It turns out he was the first Chinese person we met back in 1989.  Mr. Wu had met us at the Beijing Airport when we landed.  He was responsible for us while we were in Beijing then and even had helped Sarah retrieve a camera she had forgotten at a restaurant (he remembered that, by the way). We were unable to say good-bye to him in 1990 because he had been sent into the countryside before we left.  He had been such a delightful part of our first days in China. 

The truly awesome thing about all of this is that it couldn’t have been just happenstance….as Mr. Wu put it, “It’s a God thing.”  We are so delighted to know that we will now be able to begin communication with someone who was so special to our family so long ago. 

We’re off to the opening banquet with the officials from China who coordinate our time here.  More wonderful Chinese food!

Back in Harbin

On Thursday evening we had a special service by our organization to properly send us on to our teaching sites.  It was a meaningful evening for all of us.  Friday morning our team was met by the provincial director who overseas our program at the government's end who took us around Beijing to see a few more sights.  We experienced the Summer Palace (along with about 50,000 other people), the drum tower in old Beijing and traveled through a hutong (look it up).  Our last trip of the day was a 90 minute flight to Harbin.  We couldn't believe we were in Harbin as we drove past "Car Row" with all its vehicle dealerships.  New and improved roads were everywhere.  Skyscrapers now dot the city.  Most of the buildings in the area we are living are at least 24 stories tall.  There are some even bigger than that in the distance.  

When we arrived last evening, we discovered our rooms were not ready so we were placed in other (single) rooms on a different floor.  What that means is that Rollin and I are no longer roommates.  We were told that our rooms would be ready today, and after lunch we moved our luggage to a "holding" room until our new rooms were ready.  We will not have a double room available until July 16 so until then we will simply be visiting each other in our separate rooms.  This country has changed in so many ways and yet.......not so much.

Tomorrow we will be going to the university we taught in during the 1989-90 school year.  That school will be holding a 60th year anniversary.  We drove past it today and it is all decked out for the celebration.  We know we will see at least one person we knew during that school year with the hopes others will be there as well.

Navigating the subway ...

Rollin and I were put in charge of navigating the subway system with 3 other North Americans in order to get to the Olympic Forest.  It's where the Bird's Nest, the water cube and a huge park are left over from the 2008 Olympics.  We have a picture of us in front of the Bird's Nest to prove we actually made it!  My typing this is proof we made it back to the hotel.  :)

It's a picture!!

Here's a picture of the 90 or so English teachers heading out on Friday for their various teaching sites.  See if you can find Rollin and Gloria.

Last days in Beijing and "split pants" explained ...

Well...I understand some of you may not have understood the split pants thing.  Babies in China do NOT wear diapers.  They wear these little pants that basically have no crotch in them.  They simply relieve themselves whenever they want (or their parent encourages them) via the split pants.  Quite interesting....but just think of the savings with no Pampers!

We had our last day of training today.  We had to teach one of our units to the rest of our team and get feedback from them.  I think teaching with your fellow teachers may be the most intimidating of all but things went well.  We are very encouraged by the members of our team.  We have Minnie from Oregon, Becky from Nebraska, Marilyn from South Dakota, Sharon from West Virginia, Phyllis from Texas, the Wongs from California and the Varnesses from Illinois.  We are a "senior" group with the youngest being 58.  I prefer to call us "mature".  

We leave for Harbin on Friday but before we go we have a day of seeing a bit of Beijing.  Rollin and I are in charge of a group going to see the Olympic Forest.  We may get a glimpse of the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube but the main attraction is a huge park that was intended to be a bird sanctuary.  The weatherman predicts a 90% chance of rain so we're hoping he's wrong.

China then and now ...

Training is beginning to wind down.  We've had all our training on the curriculum we'll be using and are preparing to teach a mini-lesson to our team tomorrow so they can critique us and share insights into the material that we're using.   This morning was spent hearing about the cultural differences and how to adapt to them.  A large number of our teachers have never been to China before so that was a necessary lecture.  

While China has changed a great deal in the time since we left 22 years ago, it is still the same China in many respects.  There are still a LOT of people everywhere, babies still wear split pants, bicycles are still prevalent (although there are quite a few cars and scooters), people still stand on the corners selling their wares and the mei guo ren (Americans) are still a topic for hilarity among the locals.  What is still the same for us is that we still love it here.  It is a wonderful place to come and share your life.  We're so glad we're here.  

At the 3-self church ...

This morning we were up at the crack of dawn to attend the 3-self church in Beijing. The service started at 7:00, but we were told that in order to get a seat we would need to come early, and they we're right. We arrived at 6:25 and were seated in the back two rows. There were overflow crowds in rooms adjacent to the main auditorium and several other overflow rooms in buildings in the church complex. The service was typical of what you would see in the United States, except in Chinese. We were greeted with bilingual hymn books so that we could sing along with them. And wow ... Did they sing! A couple of the songs were familiar and they even obliged us by posting the scripture reference in English so we could read along. When we left, the courtyard was filled with those waiting for the next service that began at 9:00. There are days when we feel out of sorts because we have an 8:15 choir rehearsal before our 9:20 start of church. I don't think we'll complain . . . ever . . . again. We'll just appreciate what we have.

More from Beijing ...

We've spent the last couple of days working through the curriculum we will be using while in Harbin.  Two young ladies wrote the curriculum for our organization.  We were fortunate to have them with us, explaining it and modeling lessons from it.  They've done a great deal of research and have fine-tuned it for the students we will have in our classes this summer.  They are long days and exhausting, but just what we need.

Yesterday we also had a workshop on China and its culture, trying to prepare us for what we will feel and experience in our time here.  She is a woman who has lived in China (originally from Minnesota) since 1984 so we do trust her experience with Chinese culture.  Even after all that time she says she still gets frustrated and confused by what she experiences on a daily basis.  The key to living in China is to remain flexible and not expect anything to run as you thought it might.  

We've been in communication with the university we taught at in Harbin during the 1989-90 school year.  We seem to have been in China at the right time as they are having a 60 year celebration next weekend of their beginnings.  We've been asked to come to a dinner on July 8 to celebrate with them.  We are so hopeful and excited that we may see some of our former students and/or colleagues.

We DO have internet connection in Beijing and we ARE able to do some emailing.  However, our two means of sharing with you (Facebook and this Blog) are not going to be happening in the way I had intended.  Our daughter in Ohio (thanks, Sarah) will be cutting and pasting these blog entrees instead.  Thank you Sarah, for your willingness to help us out.  

We arrived in Beijing about 12:30 yesterday.  We were exhausted and felt like we had several layers of grime on us so a shower was the first order of business.  By the time that happened, it was time for dinner.  Our organization had planned a very nice banquet-type meal and we enjoyed some favorite Chinese dishes.  There were also a few that we couldn't distinguish exactly what they were but we enjoyed those as well.  Last night we went to bed early.  I had a really wonderful night's sleep.  Rollin, however, did not.  We're hoping tonight is his night (and mine).

Us waiting for our first flight.  Purposely no pictures of us post-flight.  :)

Today we spent some time in training.  The curriculum that is being used is new to our organization so the two young ladies who wrote it have come to help with the training.  Rollin and i are not too awfully worried about it but several people here have not had any classroom experience so they are a bit more apprehensive.  There will be more days of training so by the time we leave for Harbin we should be feeling more confident.  After our training, our group piled onto two buses and headed out of Beijing to visit the Great Wall of China.  Rollin and I had been there twice before but for many it was a new experience.  If you've never been there before, you need to know that it's like climbing many flights of stairs on very uneven surfaces.  In short, you come away exhausted.  We are readying ourselves for dinner with our team and then it will be another early bedtime.

It is Departure Day.....D-Day.  A day we've been waiting upon for a long time.  When we left China in 1990 we hoped that one day we would return.  A lot of things have happened since that time.  Knowing that we're a bit more mature and (ahem) older is a good thing.  I think we see things in a new perspective and are less likely to try to "do it all".  We know that there is One who will "do" it through us. 

We've gotten many encouraging notes this morning.  Lois, my sister, is driving us to the airport.  She is always quick to offer things like that for us and we are grateful. 

It's going to be a long day.  We leave Chicago at 2:10 PM and we should be in Beijing by 1:15 AM CST on Friday.  Crossing time zones and such makes it sound a lot worse than it already is.  We just know we'll be aloft 22 hours with a lot of waiting time in airports. 

We can now pretty much count the hours until we leave.  We did our final pack this afternoon.  We actually have room to spare in our checked luggage.  Our carry on luggage is pretty much at weight capacity.  It is far different from our packing 23 years ago when we were packing for four people and four seasons.    Last time we went we were required to do our own cooking for the most part so we even packed some essentials (frying pan, spices, etc.).  This time we won't have to worry about cooking for ourselves.  We will be living in a hotel and all our meals will be served there or with our students in their dining room. 

We're at the point where we just want to GO.  We're tired of packing and repacking.  We're anxious to get going and get on with it! 

Please remember us daily in your quiet times.  We so feel and appreciate that.

We are in a countdown now....just one week from today we will begin the journey back to China.  We're beginning the packing process.  We are allowed one checked luggage that can weigh no more than 44 pounds.  Because we have 7 pounds of books to add to our luggage in Beijing, that means our checked luggage can only weigh 37 pounds when we depart from home.  We can have a carry-on that weighs 9 pounds and a purse (or in Rollin's case a laptop bag) that also can weigh 9 pounds.  What all this means is that we are going to be seen a lot in the same clothes over the next six weeks.  There are a lot of other loose ends to tie up.  We have two neighbor teens to water plantings and mow the lawn.  (Thanks Abby and Jake)  We have a schedule that looks a bit daunting but we trust that the training in Beijing and the years of teaching experience will kick in to enable us to do a good job.   We hope that the next week gives us just the right amount of time to finish up everything that needs to be done!

Since we've gotten our assignment we have been bombarded with information that has our heads spinning.  We've received by email the curriculum we're using, numerous hints on what to take and what not to take, introductions to our teammates and information about our flights.  It's a bit crazy but we are so excited about the summer that all of this extra information doesn't bother us.....much.  It seems wild that in just a little over two weeks we'll be off.  We've been waiting so long for this to come....can't believe it's finally here!!

We just got our assignment and it looks like we'll be going "home" to Harbin.  We haven't heard exactly what part of the city we'll be located in this time but we have hopes that at some time we can visit our old stomping grounds and try to meet up with some of the people we grew to love so long ago. 

It has been almost 23 years since Rollin, Sarah, Noah and I took off for China in 1989.  Things were a bit different then.  Sarah and Noah were both shorter than both of us and technology wasn't what it is today.  We're excited to be able to share our summer with you through this blog that we've created.  Sometimes things can be filtered in China but we're hoping this blog will not.  We'll try to keep you updated as to our lives and the lives of our students.

We haven't yet been given a final destination for the summer.  We do know we'll be working in a team of 8-10.  We have requested to be placed in Harbin....the city we were in more than 20 years ago.  Our hope is that we will be able to connect with some of the people we knew back then.  We leave June 26 and head to Beijing for a week or so of training before we go to our assigned city.  We'll be working with English teachers this time.  Like in the States, teachers there are required to get additional training from time to time so that is what we will be doing.  We will especially be focusing on listening and speaking skills.  That is something most Americans are equipped to do!

Thanks for checking in on our blog.  Hopefully there will be many more entries in the future.