Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving - Chinese edition

Blessings from some rice stuffed pilgrims

~Jeremy and Rachel VanStrien

"Grocery" List Update - Nov

Dear friends and family,

The last few weeks have been anything but boring, and the past couple of days are no exception. Rachel and I continue to rack up new experiences together, some good and some not so good. We trust that the bad things are molding and shaping us into the people we need to be. As for the good things, we just sit back and enjoy them.

This section is just for those that want to know the basics of how we are doing and get on with other things. So, without delay: Rachel and I have experienced everything from eating Chinese take-out for a date, to being taken out for Chinese with company owners and everything between. We are constantly surprised at how many things a person can experience in the matter of two weeks. We are doing better even with Rachel taking her turn at being sick and losing her voice. Next week is inspection, that really shapes what the next few months look like for us.

Now for those that want the details. Rachel and I are doing well and adapting to our "schedule" as best as we can given the nature of it. We have a good idea what to expect each week, and are getting more comfortable with doing things outside of just class. The past weekend we decided to take advantage of an evening off and get some Chinese for dinner instead of making it ourselves. It was surprisingly easy, but the whole idea just made us laugh. Americans ordering Chinese takeout... in China. I hope you appreciate the humor as much as we did. Maybe the next time we go out we can order some American take-out. They have something that looks like a mix between KFC and Burger King. Still not sure what I think of it.

On the subject of food. Surprisingly, that is something we have adapted to quite well. Even an ever-changing teaching schedule is something we got used to pretty quickly, but the changes taking place in the states are the ones getting to us. We hear about people graduating from colleges, starting new jobs, or celebrating birthdays. Those are the kinds of things that I cannot get used to hearing while being a world away. Those are the things that just get harder each time. Missing thanksgiving at my house with the family, not making a Christmas tree with Rachel's family. Those are the real sacrifices. I personally can live on rice just fine, and being cold is bearable, but being away from family and friends is the hard part. Especially during the holidays, keep us in mind.

It isn't all sacrifice though, that much is for sure. Especially when you are one of the only Americans in the city - It comes with some perks. Pretty much everyone wants to be your friend, take you out to dinner or invite you to your home so they can practice their English. We are now friends with a Chinese millionaire, the chief of police, the owner of a beauty salon, and a few other people. I don't have a clue what their names are, but they say "We be friends" so that is good enough for me.

Now, you might be wondering, "How did they get in contact with the chief of police?" So I'll tell you the short version of a long story.
Because we are foreign teachers in a private training school, there is a lot of paper work involved on a multitude of different levels. This is especially true when our competing schools complain about how we operate. One that we have dealt with a few different times is registering with the local police station. And since the chief's daughter wants to learn English, guess who he wants to befriend? Us.
And that is the short story of how we know the chief of police.

Now, on to the business side of this email. People have been asking about how they can help and what ways we need support. As much as we encourage them to support other ministries, they continue to ask. So, to follow the advice of a man with whom I am very close, I am making a wish list of all the things we need or could use. Most items on the list do not need to be bought, only funded. With shipping and exchange rates, the best thing is for us to buy from companies within China. There are only a few American items that will need to be brought or shipped over. If there is anything you would be willing to help with, shoot me an email.

For the school.

1. Foreign Teacher(s) - Granted, this cannot be bought at the store, but it is a financial need. Having another foreign teacher will allow the school to expand and give the current teachers a lighter load all around. To hire another teacher, the school needs to raise roughly $800/Month.
2. Photo copier - ours only works 50% of them time.
3. School Supplies - Pencils, colored pencils, colored markers, glue sticks, and cheap paper plates for crafts.
4. Give away prizes for students: Hot wheel cars, American candy and anything small that is clearly made in America. 
5. Games - Bananagrams, Jenga, Boggle, letter/spelling/grammar games. 

For Jeremy and Rachel

1. iPad - I know, I am being ridiculous, it is definitely a wishlist item. But when I am looking at the options for replacing my computer, it is the most logical. It can function in a class room or at home, and there are thousands of free apps for learning and for organizing. 
2. Dishes - We want to be hospitable to our Chinese friends; however, we currently have two small bowls... which makes it difficult to host people. We need a few plates and bowls for the people we invite over for dinner. Dinner items for 6 people would cost about $25 with enough left over for food to feed them.
3. Recipes - This is an easy one and it's free: Good and easy recipes for classic American food. Rachel and I cook for our study group Monday mornings and our Chinese friends want to learn to cook different American dishes. Soups, stews, and different ways to cook meat are things they really want to know.
4. American spices - China has red pepper, white pepper, black pepper and chili pepper. Oh, and ginger. We could use some more.

With much love and appreciation from some spice-less pilgrims,

Jeremy and Rachel

"Typical" - End of October Update

Throughout all the updates, pictures and phone calls that I have made, I don't think I have really described life in China as an ESL teacher. You may have an idea of the bigger events that are happening in our lives, but the real experience is in the daily living and moment to moment lifestyle of China. This isn't to say that the big events of our lives aren't important, but only that they are made up of lots of smaller ones along the way.

Since there's no such thing as a truly "typical" week, I'll just write about last week to give you an idea of what life here is like.

Monday
For Rachel and I, our teaching schedules runs from Tuesday through Sunday, so what better way to start the week than with a day off? Never looked forward to Mondays so much in my life. Tuesday isn't bad either, mostly because I only have to teach for three hours and the classes don't start before lunch. A typical Monday is spent sleeping in and eating a homemade breakfast. Pancakes and oatmeal are among our favorites. Then we either sit around and read or go explore the 'small' city of 1.8 million people. To end the day we have friends over and spend time reading and discussing a certain Book. This week was a little different because we started our day with reading together. I believe that will be the new "normal."

Our reading group consists of 5 people, three of which are Chinese. We are on rotation for leading discussion, but are never quite sure which way we are rotating. The first time I led discussion, I was only given one day notice. Turned out well enough though. I don't have to prepare as much as an American meeting because I must speak slowly in order to be understood. Discussion also involves a lot of questions, which also makes the time pass quickly. As long as I have information about my topic, the questions are really what lead the discussion. I personally enjoy that much more than a lecture or hearing one person's opinion.

The same goes for when one of the Chinese lead the discussion. They are responsible to bring a discussion topic, though the questions are really what control the conversation. I think it's absolutely great that they can lead a discussion in a foreign language though, I certainly would not be able to do that.


Tuesday
As I said before, Tuesday is my second favorite day of the week. Classes are late enough that we are able to sleep in and still get to work well before classes actually start. I teach 3 classes, but only 6 students. Rachel teaches one class of two students. The interesting part of this particular Tuesday involved construction. Over the holiday, they began remodeling the entire school and they were still working on it when we returned to classes. They were just finishing the offices around lunch time, but until then Rachel and I worked with our laptops on a sofa in the hall. For my first class, we met in the almost completed offices. After lunch, they finished two more class rooms just in time for Rachel and I to teach.

Operating a school building while its being remodeled is very interesting. It would be one thing if it was one room at a time, or if the mess was contained even slightly, but that's not what happened. As students came in for class they had to step over power cords, climb over furniture and avoid wet glue on the floor. Even during my class I had to keep the fan on so to keep the room from filling with dust. I know that I wouldn't be sending my child to a school building under construction in America, but to them it seemed normal.

Wednesday - Friday
Rachel and I woke up Wednesday to start the more aggressive part of our week, only to find that we didn't have any running water. At first I thought we just didn't have any pressure built up, then it turns out we had no water at all. Couldn't wash the dishes, take a shower or even brush our teeth in the sink. Then, right before we leave for the school, it turns back on. I figured they must have been doing something with the water line and had to turn off power for a little while.

The next day we wake up and I try to make breakfast and I notice our electric stove isn't working. It doesn't work 100% to begin with, this time it wouldn't even turn on. Neither would the kitchen light, or the fan. We had lost power. The curious thing was, we still had all the running water. I would have thought that one would have determined the other. I am finding that isn't the case.

On Friday, and the power was back on, but the water was off again. When I got to the school, I mentioned these things to Tim, who is responsible for our living conditions. "Yes, this happens often. It is normal, we did not have power either. You get used to it," he said with a nervous grin.

Saturday -Sunday
By Saturday construction on the school was finished and we could prepare for classes properly. At least, that is what I would have thought. This weekend we had a few demo classes, which means the schedule got changed around a dozen different times and Rachel and I didn't even know what classes we taught until a few hours before they began. When I consider that I have to be at different schools to teach demo classes, it is amazing I made it to all my classes this week at all!

For example, I taught a demo class at another school this Sunday. The class turned out to be a single student three years old and as spoiled as they come. She was determined that she wouldn't learn any English until she got some cake. Instead of giving in, this three year old little girl got up and walked down the street to find some cake - right in the middle of class. Tim stopped her and told her she had to study first before she could get cake. After much crying and arguing between Tim and this 3 year old girl, Tim presented her with two options. She could either study English or she could walk home. She chose to walk - nearly 3 miles. The parent was so impressed by how Tim handled the situation, they they signed her up for classes! Even if she doesn't learn any of the language, they are hoping she will learn some good character.

End of October
Since writing this, the co-founders of the school, Kurt and Cathy, have come for a visit. Although they only stayed for two days, they were a huge encouragement to all of us teachers at Apple Tree. They had to continue on to a conference down in Hong Kong (all the pastors in mainland China travel to Hong Kong where they can meet freely before returning to their homes.) While they were here, we had a chance to host a young Chinese lady named Penny. She is tentatively planning to open an Apple Tree in her home town, so she saw everything we are doing here at our school. In between touring our three Apple Tree locations here in Pingxiang, Kurt & Cathy & Penny joined our discussion group for a total of 8! We were blessed to have them.

While they were here, Kurt and Cathy also encouraged us strongly to continue learning Mandarin. Since then, we have had more lessons and have tried to pick up more of the language around us. It's slow going, but we are getting better at it.

That's it for now! Please continue to write to us when you can and keep us "in mind!"

The "Average" week of some pilgrims,
Jeremy and Rachel VanStrien

Post Holiday Update

In China, the first week of October is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It began with the Moon Festival on Sunday and Monday was a national holiday, much like our 4^th of July. Unlike our 4^th of July, we got a whole week off of school and work-related responsibilities. Almost everyone takes the opportunity to travel or at least take some time off during this holiday. Rachel and I definitely followed suit, even if we didn't have the most restful vacation. Only a few days ago, Rachel and I were camping up in the mountains of China with friends of ours. With little Chinese, no map and only an hour to prepare, we spent 4 days in the Wu Gong Mountains (literally “The Kung-Fu Mountains”) and had a great time.

The idea started out great, then quickly changed when our host wanted to leave a day earlier than we originally planned. I bought our sleeping bags and backpack the same morning we left, and our friends arrived only 2 hours prior to leaving for the mountains. They had just gotten off the train when we had to pack up and leave again. We still managed to get everything we needed and leave only a few minutes late.

The mountains were breathtaking in more ways than one. They were some of the steepest climbs and highest mountains I have ever climbed. At times we found ourselves climbing nearly straight up for what seemed like miles. And just when it like we reached the peak of the mountain we would start climbing again. Or if weren't going up, we would be going down at a similar angle for a similar distance. By day two, my legs were hurting so bad I had to make a knee brace for my left leg.

All these things were more than worth it when we turned around and looked over the mountain range. Stretching far above the city smog line, countless mountain tops were spread as far as the eye could see. Deep lush valleys filled with trees and bamboo lay below us, and rocky cliffs hundreds of feet down. I couldn't help but stand and wonder at the beauty of the creation.

I could write another page's worth of information about what we saw and experienced, but that isn't what I think is most important. The best part of the whole trip was spending time with our English friends and being able to have real conversations about life. Getting the chance to catch up on life and talk about what really matters was so refreshing, even more than getting above the smog of the city.

It was very valuable for me to hear a different perspective from someone in the same position as me, teaching ESL in China. It made me begin to think of my own feelings toward my situation and my plans for the future. Since the trip, I have been asking questions like, “How is China playing into my life long goals?” “How can I make the most of my time in China?” Not only that, but “How can I be the greatest blessing to the people around me?” and “How do I use this opportunity to the greatest extent?” Questions like these have been screaming through my head ever since we had lunch on the mountain top. Now I just need to start finding the answers.

The spiritual encouragement was the most valuable to me. Friends of a common belief and culture are able to challenge us in ways we really needed. It has been an answer to pray to have them around and spend time with them. I only hope that we were the same to them during their stay. I also hope we are able to be that kind of blessing to the people around us on a daily basis. That is one of the big areas of concern for Rachel and I as we continue to teach in China: How can we be a blessing to people in a culture we don't understand?

On a more official note, things at the school are going well. Just before the holiday, they began remodeling and upgrading the building. They are replacing all the old windows, putting in new floor, repainting all the walls, changing out the doors and moving other doors entirely. They started two days before the holiday and they will finish just before school starts on Tuesday... hopefully. When it is all said and done, it should look great. However, now it just looks like a mess. Just when Rachel got most of the books organized, we had to put them in storage so they could remodel. That means doing a lot of work to reorganize them once we get back to teaching. Of course, we will also be jumping back into lesson planning and other areas of responsibility.

Keep us in mind as we continue to learn how to be good English teachers. Especially for myself, because they gave me all the “naughty” students. We desire to do a good job, but we can teach only as much as students want to learn – which isn't always a whole lot. Another thing to keep in mind is our growing understanding of the Chinese culture and adapting to life here. We want to be accepted as much as possible, but we don't want to lose our identity or our own culture.

Blessings from some sore-from-backpacking pilgrims

Later

(Late) September Update

Dear friends and family,

I regret that this update is coming so late. So much has happened this month, I would have liked to write an update earlier. However, because so much has happened I haven't gotten around to it until now. I keep thinking that things will slow down once we have been here a while, or after we get used to teaching. That isn't the case. Earlier this month Rachel and I finished up trial classes with the school, then we left and returned for a wedding in the United States, and now we are back to teaching again. Even now, we 're keeping busy with advertising and promoting the school.

To give you an idea of something interesting that has happened... During the trial classes, Rachel and I had the opportunity to teach a trial class on the different English names for fruits. We used real fruits like apples, oranges and pears as a visual aid.

After class was over, I split a pear with Rachel in front of one of the Chinese teachers. He promptly told me not to cut the fruit. “Don't cut fruit, don't cut fruit!” he said to me. I thought he wanted it or we were going to use it later, but it turns out that cutting fruit is a bad symbol in China. To cut fruit in fruit of someone means that you want to divide the relationship. “Cut fruit in China means, no friends. Not good,” the Chinese teacher said.

Rachel and I couldn't help but laugh at our situation. No one would think twice about something so innocent in America, but cutting fruit has a lot of significance in China. A friendly act back in the states means “to divide friends” in China. Even still, we ate the pear.

One thing we have noticed more and more involves the joys and struggles of teaching. The funny part is, those joys and struggles have very little to do with teaching ESL. They depend on whether we have a good student or a bad student. I know that my teaching friends will appreciate this fact. I could be teaching something as boring as the physics behind the atomic bomb, but if I had good students I think even that would be enjoyable. :)

Monday is our weekend out here. Only once in a great while will we have to teach on Monday, and this week was not the case. We had the whole day to ourselves and we decided to make the most of it and throw a party (Not even joking). Rachel threw me a birthday party and invited all the other teachers over to eat cake and play games, and we all had a great time. I will admit though, it was strange to host a party where I did not speak the dominate language.

In China fruit is the main snack of choice, so I went and bought a bunch of fruit as well as some soda. Then comes my favorite party, Peanut butter and jelly. Instead of the normal America meal to go with cake, I made everyone a PB and J sandwich. My favorite food ever – just ask my dad!

The party went great and I got some wonderful presents. All very culturally Chinese. The best part though was having people over and not having to think about work or the different stresses of teaching. It has been the best day off so far!

Since we are done with all of our major traveling we have been able to slow down in some areas and get more involved in other areas. One of the bigger areas is the Christmas program. (It has nothing to do with Christmas other than when it takes place.) Rachel and one of the other teachers are heading up all the program planning and Tim is doing the promoting. We are hoping to get media attention, the press, and all the schools aware of what we are doing. If we succeed it will be great publicity for our school!

Next week is holiday. All the teachers get the whole week off for mid-autumn festival. Tim and Mabel are planning to take us up to the mountains for a day and go camping. We wanted to stay longer, so invited some other friends to come down from Northern China to do some hiking for a few days. It is going to be a great time!

Thanks to all the friends and family that read this and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Rachel and I are realizing more and more how important that is for us. We will only need them more the longer we are here. We also have a growing appreciation for emails sent from home, even if only to talk about the random events of your day.

Blessings from some pilgrims,

Later  

End of August China Update

Greetings from the East,

As I look back on our first week in China, all I can really do is laugh at everything that has happened. So many different and new experiences! Rachel and I are without a doubt on the other side of the world. We are not in America anymore, that much is for sure!

I have no clue where to start, everything is so different that is it worth mentioning. Everything from how the Chinese drive and dress to what they eat and how they shop. It is so vastly different. I suppose the best way to explain everything is chronologically.

Our first night in China we stayed at a hotel in Shanghai. It was one of the better ones, with more of a western feel to it. Even with that being said, it hardly felt western. In China we have yet to find a soft bed, most of them feel like padded boards with very little give to them. Surprisingly, we are grown to find them a great comfort at the end of the day.

The Hotel we stayed at was the last place with a western toilet. Unless you buy something different, all the toilets we have seen have been squat potties (pretty self-explanatory). Put simply, it is a hole in the ground/tile. And you don't flush the TP, that goes in a waste basket. Very different than what we're used to! :)

After a 8 hour train ride, we were greeted by Tim - who is able to speak fairly good English. After saying "Xie Xie" (Thank you) most of the day, it was a complete shock when he replied with "You're welcome". I have have a much greater appreciation for people who speak English now. They are immediate friends!

So, we get stuffed into a tiny car and are driven to our first apartment. The question is which is more exciting: the driving or getting to the apartment? At the time, I would have to say driving. Imagine a city about as busy as NYC, and then get ride of 90% of the traffic laws and that is about what we experienced. Cars passing in the intersections, others running red lights, the more adventurous ones drove on the sidewalk, every now and again you would see someone driving the wrong direction and blaring the horn. Then you have the pedestrians and bikers to thrown in the mix, they would basically walk or bike wherever was easiest for them. The best way to explain it is, there is an equal responsibility given to everyone on the roads and sidewalks not to hit anyone or get hit by anyone. Everything else is free game!

Tim drives us through the crazy streets and takes us down some seemingly random back ally where the car barely fit and while pointing to ahead says, "Your apartment." Most of the other building around weren't in the best of shape, so I was very thankful when Tim showed us our place. Third floor of the nicest building in the square. And since we are on the third floor, we also get the whole roof to ourselves!



We hall our luggage up the stairs and open the door to our apartment and brace ourselves for what awaits....


First words about the apartment... "They left the windows open!" It had been raining hard all day and we were welcomed with a flood a water throughout most of the house save the bedroom and "Kitchen". Even with the water, we were very impressed by the size and everything that came with the apartment. A "Spinner" (Washer), two beds (both very hard), a fridge, a water cooler, a mobile closet for clothes, some couches, a few cooking items (Ricer cooker, stove, wok, etc), and that was about it. We didn't have a lot, not even a kitchen sink... but it was home, finally.

Tim took me to the "Supermarket" and Rachel stayed to clean the flood of water (First time we had really been separated since the wedding - strange feeling). We had to buy some water (You cannot drink the tap water in China), toilet paper and toothpaste (ours got tossed coming on the plane). Finding everything was easy enough, but knowing exactly what I was buying was something else. Everything is written in Chinese, only the logos look similar. Then we went to a separate side shop to buy water - it was the only thing the man sold. Large jugs of water, bottled water, water dispenses, small bottled water, different brands of water, and anything else related to water. Then the man delivered the large jug of water to our house and installed it for us. In America I would have been grateful to have someone show me where to find it, this was something else.

Rachel and I start to unpack and get settled into our apartment when we hear a knock on the door. I think/hope it is Tim or Mabel, maybe they forgot something. It is neither of them! The lady from the second floor, whom we named Maggie (who I believe is our landlord), decided to come pay us a visit. Only one problem, we don't speak Chinese yet... She is talking a mile a minute and we can only look and smile :] lucky for me, I could just call Mabel and have her translate for me. It was by far the funniest situation I have found myself in yet. Women yelling at me - I don't understand - Smile and wave...

We shut the door and could finally go to sleep after a long two days of traveling and adjusting to culture. So ends day two.

Things that we are thankful for:

• Tim had someone install a kitchen sink for us, and it should be operational by the end of the week. 
• Jeremy managed to find a pair of shoes in his size - much harder than it sounds in China 
• Walmart sells peanut butter and jelly! 
• We are beginning to get to know the other teachers more, despite the language barrier. 
• Interactions with and visits to the local kindergartens for advertising (They say it is work, but it is our favorite part of the week so far!). 
• Contact from friends and family back home! Please continue :) 

Things we miss:

• A Normal American Sunday spent with friends and family 
• A toilet we can sit on. 

Blessings from some grateful pilgrims,

Jeremy and Rachel

Ni Hao (Hello) From China!

Hello Everyone!

Rachel and I have made it safely to Shanghai! Mabel met us at the airport and we are on our way to Pingxiang to move into our apartment. Once we get to the train station we have at least another 8 hours of travel. It will not seem long at all though, we are taking the fast train and Mabel and her son David provide excellent company.

Some quick highlights from our travel and first day in Shanghai:

• The closer we got to China, the more we noticed how out-numbered we were. Once we got on the plane, we just assumed that no one would speak english anymore. If they did, it was a nice treat.
• The 12 hour plane ride wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was very confusing though. I never new what time it was or how much longer we had before we arrived. They fed us three different times, so I couldn't even base it off when I ate. I will say though, after about 6 hours in a small seat I got real jealous of first class seats.
• After we landed we went though customs - much easier getting into China than the USA. At least that is what Rachel has told me. I would believe her.
• Mabel and David pick us up and we went out to eat - Incredible. If you think you have had good Chinese food you are very wrong. I had to eat with chop-sticks and I still stuffed myself it was so good. We ordered a dish that had bacon in it - my word! Our favorite so far.
• David, who is about 8 years old, just after meeting me threatened to put me in a coffin! (Rachel thinks we'll get along great... :] ). Turns out that was a new vocabulary word and he was practicing. Whatever the case, it was real funny.
• Mabel's first impression of us was amusing. When she saw all of our bags (3 each!) she called us camels! :]
  

Please spread the word that we have arrived safely. We no longer have the use of social media to help us. Also, if you wish to receive regular updates about our adventures and are not already on the list just let us know. (To those whom it may concern: if you have a super secret job such as running the youth group or saving the world before breakfast, you may want to have someone forward these updates to you. Not sure what they filter or what is safe.)

Blessings from some international pilgrims,

Later