March Update

Dear friends and family,

I have the hardest time comprehending that March has already come and gone. I don't know if it has to do with being in China, being a teacher or something else. Regardless of why I cannot keep up with the speed of time, it is time for another update to let you know that Rachel and I are alive and well.

That much is true, Rachel and I are doing well. We are really enjoying the changing weather, the culture around us and new foods with the changing season. March is the first month where you can feel spring coming. You can also hear it! Pingxiang has some of the most sporadic thunder storms I have ever experienced. It could be perfect clear walking home, and then pouring by the time we eat dinner and clear by the time we go to bed. And the thunder is incredibly loud! But that might have to do with the lack of insulation in the walls.

Other changes have begun to take place here in Pingxiang. They have been slow, but most noticeable this month. They aren't the changes that you might expect nor are they for the better. For example; the teachings hasn't gotten any harder, nor have people stopped staring at us, but somethings has changed. Something I believe to be in the area of motives, purpose, or at least priority. I personally would argue for the spiritual realm.

When Rachel and I arrived in China, the spiritual condition of our host family wasn't the greatest, but it had potential for growth. We were meeting for ch--ch, learning news songs in chruch and even pr@ying somewhere regularly for meals. However, as the school has begins to grow and classes grow, spiritual things gets pushed aside. Even eating with our host family is being replaced with the efficient meal-budget. All little changes that are resulting in something much bigger.

Our relationship has changed from being something we enjoy to something to endure. As a whole, the spiritual condition has darkened around us. Rachel and I first noticed this change when we got much more serious about pr@ying and redirection the problem around us. The days we wake up earlier to pr@y are the same days we have the roughest classes or the most schedule changes. You could argue coincidence, but we are feeling a little more than just the common occurrence. Whenever we push an idea, we get a serious push back.

For those who pr@y, we would highly appreciate it. We are finding ourselves fighting against something slightly different than the language barrier. We want to make the most of the remaining time we have, and that is going to require power and help outside of ourselves. We will likewise be pr@ying for progress in our efforts. Rachel and I believe that things can take a real positive turn. The trick is just getting things turned around. We trust that G_d is more powerful than anything we are facing, but it will still come with a great deal of effort and energy. 

Rachel and I are hardpressed, but we have courage. In the midst of the downward turn and the trials we have been facing, we can see G_d leading in a positive way. Just one more thing to prove what Romans says is true, "And we know that in all things G_d works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." We just have to figure out what His purpose is for us. Until then we greatly appreciate your partnership in our efforts and even the encouragement we receive knowing you read our emails. We'll continue to look forward reuniting with some of you very soon.

With much love,

Blessings from the VanStriens

P.S.

Despite what the attached picture of us in China might depict, we have some idea of what is going on, too.

February Update

Happy Chinese New Year!

According to the Chinese calendar, it is a whole new year. Which means, I am due for an update.

February has been a very exciting month and it isn't just because of all the fireworks and New Year celebrations that we got to experience. Rachel and I were blessed to have her family come and the opportunity to travel around China for a week. It still surprises me how much you can really do in a week. I write a brief list for those who have more than one email to read. Following the list will be the more detailed version.

• Accelerated English courses started the end of January into this month. Five or more hours a day, 6 days a week for two weeks.
• Time off/Vacation from the 5th to the 19th of February.
• Took an offer to teach a college student English for five days and loved it. Rachel and I co-taught pronunciation and phonetics.
• Took the train to Shanghai and met up with Rachel's family for the week and receive some of the gracious gifts sent with them.
• Traveled via bullet train to Beijing.
• Lost our hotel directions, few spoke English, it was cold. Made for a great evening!
• Saw the great wall, Tiananmen square, and the forbidden city
• All of us traveled on the sleeper train back to Pingxiang for the last two days of vacation
• Met a young boy named Bill and a girl named Fang Shan (pronounced: Fun Shun), both Chinese.
• Taught them to pay some card games in English
• Shared a "better story" with them too.
• Rachel's family nearly missed their return flight back to the states
• My Chinese phone is now in America.
• We had a big meeting with our host about the school, our group of believers, and a few other things
• Rachel and I have to decide whether to stay another year or not
• We received some study curriculem for our group.
• Rachel and I will start the spring semester next week and be joined with all the Chinese teachers.
• Rachel and I might start Chinese classes before the month is over.

Now for the details.

 Every time we send out a monthly update, we get the feeling so much has happened that it's hard to describe everything in adequate detail. The good news is… most of what took place was a lot of fun. Of course, that makes it easy to write about—and hopefully easy to read!

We are just getting back into teaching after having a small break for the Chinese New Year. We had approximately three weeks off, which was a very welcome and very much-needed break since we worked through Christmas. Well, I should say we kind of took time off. During our first week of vacation, we wound up co-tutoring a college student named David, who was getting ready to take an important test this month. He knew a lot about English, but he had a very thick accent. After four days with us, the poor guy was exhausted and tongue-tied! Both Jeremy and I discovered that we liked tutoring older students a lot. We also think about things from entirely different angles, which has proven valuable in our marriage and when we tag-teach.

The day we finished tutoring David in pronunciation, Jeremy and I raced home to pack. We boarded an overnight train that afternoon, and headed to Shanghai to meet my mom and sister! We can't even begin to say how good it was to see them. We had grown accustomed to not hearing native English speakers. Or familiar faces. Or family. Their presence, even for just a week, was refreshing to say the least. They came armed with all kinds of donations for us and Apple Tree. We have got spices and cookbooks (and Rooibos tea!) for our home, good material for our weekly book meetings, and we have more additions to the library and game cabinet at school. On a different note, it was also encouraging to compare our knowledge of Chinese language and culture with newcomers. We still don't know a lot of things, but we certainly have learned a lot since we first got off our first flight. In some ways, it seemed like we were seeing China for the first time all over again. Mom and Lillian would point out something new and unusual, and we would remember how unfamiliar everything was to us when we first came.

However, there was plenty of China that we had not experienced—and that included our next stop, Beijing. The next day, the four of us lugged our suitcases back into the city and got on a bullet train. The train was really fast, but it honestly didn't feel as awesome as any of us had anticipated. It just kind of felt like a really fast train. The Chinese had warned us not to expect too much, but you know how that goes. Some things you just have to experience yourself.

Once we got to Beijing, we had a ton of trouble getting to a hotel. It was bitterly cold, and we spent four hours walking around—trying desperately to figure out where our original hotel was (the opposite end of one of the biggest cities in the world), how we could get a taxi to take us and all of our bags, where we could sleep for the night (it was going on 11pm) and most importantly—where we could find a bathroom. All of this took place on empty stomachs, since we hadn't eaten anything but nuts and soup the entire day. After some quick thinking on Jeremy's part and some help from Tim back in Pingxiang, we wheeled all our suitcases down one of those sinister alleys you see in Jackie Chan movies to our hotel. We stuck it out there for the next three days, and it didn't turn out half bad. The rest of the vacation was awfully fun. We saw the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square… not to mention a host of tourist shops, markets, restaurants, etc. Mom and Lil took pictures of everything they found interesting, which was quite a lot. We'll post pictures so you get an idea of what things looked like.

After Beijing, the four of us boarded an overnight train to Pingxiang. Mom and Lil had 17 hours to get used to Chinese travel by train. What's that look like? Picture triple bunks stacked nearly the ceiling, with people crammed in every available nook and cranny. What's it smell like? Noodles and spicy Chinese food if you're lucky; disgusting bathrooms and stinky feet more often than not. What's it sound like? Crying babies and Mandarin spoken at full volume at all hours of the night. That might not sound too pleasant, but the emphasis on community and relationship-building makes it all worth it. Everyone was curious to see the Americans, and quite a few people were brave enough to talk with us. We met a boy named Bill who wanted to practice his English with us, and we have already begun to correspond with him via email. We also met a girl named Fen Shang, a sweet girl who helped translate for us to the rest of the curious passengers and vice versa. Best of all, Mom talked with a woman named Tracy from 1-3 in the morning! Tracy is an English teacher from Beijing, so her level of English was very good. Mom took full advantage of that to share truth with her.

A few hours after Mom's conversation with Tracy, we arrived in Pingxiang. Mom and Lillian liked our apartment a lot, and they really enjoyed meeting Tim, Mabel and David. Tim and Mabel went all out to show them hospitality. We went to a fancy restaurant where my family got to try eating donkey for the first time. (It's really good, just in case you get a chance to try it yourself!) The next day, Mom taught Mabel the basics of hand-quilting, while the rest of us played Egyptian Rat Killer. We also showed them the school, our Wal-Mart, Pingxiang's city center, etc. It was so nice to show off our little city. We enjoyed it immensely, and I think they did too. After just seven days in China, they flew back home and are already back into life in America.

Just after Mom and Lillian left, we got the chance to sit down with Tim and Mabel. Since we have officially been in China for six months now, we decided it would be good to give them an honest assessment of what we think of working at Apple Tree. This conversation kind of laid the foundation for figuring out if we'll stay on for another year or not. We talked for nearly two hours, and at the end we all felt very satisfied with how the conversation went. Now, it just remains to be seen whether or not serious change will take place. If it does, that will give us incentive to stay. If not, we will probably have to leave Pingxiang, as much as we love it here.

As always, here are a few things you can be thinking about for us:

• The leadership/management of Apple Tree

• The decision whether to stay here or not

• Finding solutions to problems that have been raised with the school

• Our Book meetings, since we've started a new series with a group from Albuquerque

• Reaching our students, especially Petty, who's been asking lots of good questions

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts! Please write as you're able. We always love hearing news from the States.  

Blessings from the VanStriens