Say Goodbye

These last two weeks have been when all the schools hold their graduations. Our Junior High graduation was last week, and I attended my own school's on Wednesday. It was definitely hard to see all the little kids that I've been spending time with crying their little hearts out. When the sixth graders leave for their new Junior High school, many of them are leaving as heroes, with a wake of sad little third and fourth graders and good friends in the fifth grade who still have a year left until they follow.

It's also time for us teachers to start saying goodbye. We've started the rigorous process of packing up, figuring what to leave and what to keep. Last notes and letters, goodbyes to friends we've known and worked with for the past year, to the students who we have taught and who have taught us, and to each other - we teachers have worked and taught and relaxed with one another every day for the last 10 months, learning with each other as we have served the Lord over here. God has brought us through many experiences that we will come away from changed, with new eyes for the work that we are called to as Christians. I've been memorizing a passage in Philippians 2, and verse two gives me a new realization of how important it is in work like this to have a likemindedness and the same love with your fellow labourers.

We have only one month left over here, and our schedule is crammed with summer camps. We will be getting two new American teachers to help us, and there will be several different locations for these camps in Taiwan. In the next few weeks I will be moved with some of the other teachers to Nantou which is in middle Taiwan for a camp in the last week of July, then up to Taipei for several days before I fly out back to the states. Please pray for safety while we travel and that there wouldn't be any difficult complications with the camps.

Bits and Pieces and My Favourite: Darth Vader Impressions

These past two weeks have probably been some of the busiest since I've been here.  On Thursday of last week one of our friends took us into Kaohsiung to watch the dragon boat races... all sorts of little shops and stands were set up for the four day festival (we got Thursday and Friday off, but had to work the Saturday of the next week.  It rained during the races while we stood on the side of the river cheering for the different boats.  Usually there is a special rider at the front of the boat who grabs a flag at the end marker and our friend told us that there have been races where the rider fell off the boat.  We told him that if there was an American dragon boat festival...the boat rider's job would probably be to wrestle for the flag - he thought it was pretty funny when me and Sarah demonstrated what a boat race would look like American style.

I'm looking outside my window now at the freshly planted rice fields.  At the beginning of the year we were told that they harvest the rice twice a year - at the end of each school semester.  The first time they cut it was at Christmas - we saw it as a sign of hope - accomplishment (not seriously, but it is rather dramatic to think about :) the second time they cut it was recently in the last two weeks, signalling the beginning of summer and the almost-end of our time here. 

Today our friend took us to a river camp up in the mountains... the water was so clear and we climbed all over the rocks... the view of the mountain peaks was delightful.  But apparently in Taiwan the swimming holes also serve a dual purpose as bathing waters.  One person was even shampooing his hair!!  Fortunately for us, he was considerate enough to lather up downstream. 

We American teachers have also been recently aquainted with a new treat - white chocolate covered purple potato crisps.  They're a sweet crunchy potato roll dipped in the chocolate...it's so yummy!!

All the prayers I had about this new school program have been answered, and in some of mine and Phoebe's conversations, I've been able to share about the reason I'm over here (which was God's work) and a little bit about my faith (which is the reason I'm still here).  I praise the Lord for every opportunity He's given me here to tell others about Him.  Please pray that the one's I've talked to -even briefly- will have a curiosity to learn more about the God I serve.  

Today Phoebe had me doing role-play with the students for our English dialogue... she told me to think up some funny voices to use for variety.  A lion, a witch, and a wardrobe of voices later, we were on the final run-through and it was my turn to choose a voice.  I got my mouth really close to the microphone, and breathed hoarsely, wheezing out the words in my most deepest possible voice...then sucking in air and finishing the sentences.  Darth Vader isn't quite as well known over here, but I still got a standing ovation from the kids, and Phoebe laughed so hard she made me sit down during coffee break so she could get a video of me talking like that.  

Last week I got to my school a little bit early, and instead of going to my classroom, I decided to do some exploring...I found my co-teacher, Phoebe, with a classroom full of 1st and 2nd graders and none of them much taller than my knee.  She was teaching them the motions to the song, "Farmer in the Dell"... I helped her with that and then she sat me down to read the story to them... 10 minutes and about a billion 'Hi ho the derry-O's later, we all said goodbye.  This morning when I walked past their classroom at lunchtime, I saw all their eyes widen in surprise -they never know what day I'm coming- and they shouted out "Hello, teacher Hannah!".  They're cute enough to make me never want to leave.

Odds and Ends

Several days ago me and Jo got out of school and started walking towards the train station...our route takes us by the track field and past the first building of the school.  This day though, we happened to walk by right during rappelling class (which we didn't know existed).  A group of seventh graders and their teacher were rappelling down the side of the school!  They were hooked to the railing on one of the upper stories.  It was really fun to watch, especially since some of them were pretty apprehensive.

We taught at one of our last temporary outside schools for the year and it was way up in the mountains.  The area is apparently famous for hang gliding.  Before we left we were waiting at the front of the school watching our kids practice singing one of their tribal songs in the field.  All of the sudden it started pouring rain - it was one of the first rains we've seen this season.  It was really refreshing and hilarious to watch because the teachers made the kids finish the song out in the field.  As soon as they were done all the kids ran to where we were under the sheltered foyer.  As a gift, they gave us a CD of songs that our students had recorded.  

One of the new classes we started at our school is a music class and of course since we are English teachers, we teach English songs - and we get to pick the songs.  It's so fun to end a class period and hear the kids singing 'Do, Lord'.  The new classes are a little bit stressful, but I know that the little opportunities we get like that to put in a tiny glimpse of our faith makes it worth it. 

I'm reading through Nehemiah, and realizing how much he did for the people of Israel in the rebuilding of Jerusalem.  He cries out to God in 5:19 to think on him for good.  While over here, I certainly haven't done anything that could compare to Nehemiah's work, but I hope someday I'll be able to make as much a difference as he did for the Lord.

New Plans (Lesson)

Last week we had a meeting at the English village with six different elementary schools.  All six of us teachers are assigned right now for the month of June to teach at one of these schools.  I was placed at a school where I already know the kids, and I am friends with the English teacher.  All of us are a little bit apprehensive about what we are going to be doing since this is a whole new game for us.  All year we have had to be flexible within certain unvariables, but this last month we've been getting ready for many changes that we will be implenting to kick off for the new teachers coming next year.  That meeting was one of the most scariest things on my agenda besides next month, and God was so good to answer my prayers for it to go well.  The Lord has been incredibly gracious to me recently especially as it has been kind of stressful working out the new programs and stuff as a teacher.  

It hasn't been all work and no play though...on Tuesday we went to inspect a crocodile farm as a prospective activity for summer camps.  After feeding the crocs and then fishing for bullfrogs we got to hold one of the smaller gators.  At the end of our visit, the man was showing us around tied a pig's foot onto a big bamboo pole and dangled it over the pool where the 30 year old crocodiles were...they jumped and snapped at it, and the guy was just standing there pulling on the pole to tease them out of the water.  

Immense

Psalm 81:10 "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

I always thought this verse sounded kind of funny with the metaphor that God was using...but as I look back on this past week...I realize that we have received some immense answers to prayer.  As a team, we have petitioned the Lord for opportunities regarding reaching out in our community.  This Sunday us four girls had a chance to host five young students at our house for an Easter celebration.  We shared the story of Easter with them...and all of them said it was their first time to hear about it.  Afterward, we introduced them to a more 'American tradition'...Easter egg painting.  We had a really good time with them and were so grateful for the chance to tell them a little more about our faith.  Some of our students want so much to spend time with us, that they'll come to church with us, even if they are practicing Buddhists!  If we can't understand the service, at least they can... our prayer is that while we are here, and after we leave, the students we have gotten to know will think about the way that we American teachers are different, and seek out more about the faith they see in us.  

Us four girls are trying to organize a Saturday program we can have for a small group of students.  Most of our Saturdays are spent doing something with them, but we really want to start a consistent time to get together.  We could really use your prayers - a lot of times for us the weekend is so easy to just take for ourselves and rest after the school week than struggle for several hours over a language barrier with young teenagers.

For everyone back home who has been praying for my safety overseas...your prayers came in handy today.  I had my first car + bike accident - and I was on the bike.  I was on my way to the store to pick up some bacon for dinner, when a parallel parked car started to pull out into the road.  There wasn't enough time for me to stop or swerve away.  The front tire of my bike hit the front fender and I lurched into my handlebars and got flipped sideways onto my back.  I was stunned, but I was also laying in the road, so I jumped up and went to my bike.  The tire was at an almost right-angle with my handlebars and the right pedal was stuck under the front of the car.  I yanked it out, (I must confess not really caring if I was damaging the vehicle that had just inflicted such trauma to my person) and tried to get back on...that's when I realized about the handle bars.  I put the tire between my knees and twisted the bars back into position and hoped that it would stay put - I still had to go get the bacon.  I was still shaking when I got home, and a little bit bruised, but as I look back, it could have been so much more serious.  God has his hand over me, and it's such a safe feeling to realize that nothing can happen to me that He does not allow.  My name is written on His hand and everywhere I am He is continually aware of my needs.  -Isaiah 49:16 "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

Precious

My kids try so hard to make me happy.  They stumble over words and think nothing of how silly their pronunciation might sound to me...they just want me to know that they want to be able to say it...for me...the teacher.  I've been here for almost eight months now, and as I look back...I'm trying to see all the things that I have done for the Lord that would make him happy.  I wonder what he saw as silly choices.  I feel just like one of the little kids I teach...fumbling around the things in my path, and trying to do my best for the Teacher.  I wonder if my kids are thinking about how well they measure up - if they make the cut.  It makes me think about how concerned I should be about what the Lord thinks of my accomplishments and failures over here.

What's Your Name?

Yesterday's school was about an hour away.  It was constructed on the side of a mountain so the track field looks out over the expansive valley.  All of the students are aboriginal.  English classes start in third grade for children here, so typically we do not teach any grades below that level.  This school made a special request that we hold a class for the second graders.  Each of the eleven students in the class are barely taller than my knee, and even the most simple words we use in English are nothing to them.  There goes our lesson plan.  I stand in front of them and ask in Chinese "Do any of you have an English name?"  They reply back to me in their language, "No.".  "Do you want to have an English name?" I ask, still in Chinese... one little boy in the front slowly raises his hand, then another student, then another.  We go through the class to each child and give them each a piece of paper with their new name.  We help them say it once, then twice - and many times.  They bravely answer our question "What is your name?" with the sentence pattern we teach them in English "My name is ____.".  They are so proud of themselves and say their new name to themselves over and over under their breath.  Their Chinese name is still the one they use, but in the years to come, they will need an English name if they ever hope to break out of the simple life they've known.  To the people here an English name is almost like a symbol of hope for the future.  

The Smaller Events

I'm standing at the front of my classroom - it's breaktime.  On my left a group of boys is throwing something into the ceiling fan and it ricochets out the window.  The girls are somewhat more peacefully occupied rifling through my teaching supplies at the desk.  One of the kids is drawing a rather graphic war scene on the chalkboard next to another young rascal who is working on the finishing touches of a portrait - in other words, the boogars.  I'm in the middle of all this engaged in a paper-scissors-stone competition with one of the rowdier little boys - Arthur - and we're playing that the loser takes a levered flick to forehead - I've held my own, so I think we're both a little dazed.  This next class will mark what's probably 300 plus games of animal bingo I've played in a classroom this semester.  I love my job, but I just fell for this weekend.

Saturday I went to a 'dodgebee' (dodgeball, only with a frisbee) tournament for a school I taught at sometime this month.  I know the English teacher there and he lets me know when practice is.  I've gotten to join in a few days here and there for training so I've spent a bit more time with these kids than I get to with most.  

I sit on the sidelines talking with them until it's their match.  They line up and we all high-five before they go out on the court.  They're incredibly good at the game - I was so proud when they won.  I couldn't make it to the next match, but I got a text today telling me that they took third in the national competition.  I'm hoping to see them again soon.  

As I sat in that gymnasium on Saturday listening to all that little team, I realized - though not for the first time - that I was basically deaf.  The little boys chattered to me and laughed and commented on the game in front of us, and I smiled and strained to understand.  But it didn't matter...I wouldn't have mattered if I was deaf because I would have experienced the same feeling - an outsider trying to break into the circle where they would be so welcome if only they could get in.  I wonder how much they could have - would have said to me if only we could understand each other.  Child-eyes might speak, but I know now that they can never tell enough.

I went out to buy dinner the other night and as I stood waiting for my rice, the cook and waitress were having an animated conversation about something and laughing over it- maybe a customer, maybe a kitchen incident.  We exchanged smiles when they glanced at me, but I could see they realized I didn't understand.  They can talk freely because it is as if I never heard their lively banter in the first place.  I'm missing out on a world here...and one of the only consolations is the fact that I'm mostly unable to realize it.

The Road Home

I'm balancing on a six inch wide wall of concrete that cuts through the rice field we have to get across.  I readjust my precariously placed backpack - there's about 200 feet left to go.  I'm on my way home from a visit to my friend Celia in middle Taiwan.  We're going into the city by bus so I can catch my train.  The last time I made this trek I had no seat on the train, and this trip was no different.  I say goodbye to Celia and hop on a car to try and find a good standing place.  I end up in the middle of the aisle with other poor pilgrims who didn't purchase their ticket in advance.  I'm next to two young girls who are pestering each other to be the first to say 'hello' to me.  I don't speak a lot of Chinese, but I could gather that much from the giggling and backward glances.  With half an hour left to my trip the conductor stamps my ticket and finds me an empty seat next to three college students - one of whom was a foreign exchange student in America for ten months.  I struggled to communicate with another woman questioning me in Chinese about the cram school teacher in front of us... "No, I don't know him."  "Yes, he works at a cram school."  "Yes, he is probably from America too."  Once I finally got to the station I switched trains at, I made a query as to where my train would depart from..."EH?" the lady asked me... "To Chaojhou!" I repeated... a college student came to my rescue and said "I'm on the same train, it leaves in two minutes from the platform over." We started booking it towards the bridge and all of the sudden my hand was taken by the lady I had first asked..."Follow me! I'll take you too, but we have to run!!"  All three of us practically flew up the three flights of stairs to the bridge, across the bridge and then down three more flights of stairs to the platform.  Me and the student jumped on with just enough time for me to wave to the lady and thank her.  When the conductor came around, my new friend wouldn't let me pay for my ticket adjustment... after a short conversation, I found out he has a sister living in Illinois and hopes to travel there someday.  Once he got off at his stop, a soldier-turned-postman-from-the-east-side came and interrogated me as to what I was doing here... he gives out the customary exclamation when he finds out how old I am and asks what on earth am I doing teaching English in a foreign country at my age.  I laugh and for a brief moment, wonder myself.  I've been traveling for about five hours - met a trainload of new people - and I'm a little glad to get off at my own  station, where I'm picked up by my team and go home...tomorrow is a full day of teaching.

Poverty

Three weeks ago, I was teaching in a shed on a mountain somewhere in northern Thailand.  A ridged metal sheet was our roof, and chicken wire over some wooden beams made up the side wall that you didn't want to lean on too hard.  30 little kids stared up at me like nothing else mattered, and wrote down every single word I put up on that board.  These kids are third generation Chinese that fled to Thailand at the same time the Taiwanese settled on their island.  The difference is, the Thai Chinese came to a country that was already settled - so they aren't eligible for passports, making it legally impossible for them to leave the country.   These little kids go to school for seven days a week.  Chinese school, and Thai school.  They can usually speak three languages, and I wonder - what is this accomplishment for?  Why do they work so hard when they have so little chance of being able to use the education they rigorously pursue? 

We've traveled hours in the bed of a rickety pickup truck to get to these mountain schools...we're served green tea in the principal's office, which consists of a wooden table in a concrete room and a bookshelf on the far wall.  At another school the principal serves us carrots from his own garden.  We give out cookies at one school where there are only sixteen students - one of them is a baby held by a young girl.  As we drink even more of the tea that has become so familiar, the aged principal tells us slowly in Chinese, "You are the first Americans ever to come here...thank you..."  I wonder if I know a tiny bit what David Livingston felt like as he was seeing Africa for the first time.

Every where we travel are these thatched roof huts that I've only ever seen pictures of in charity books.  I've heard stories about little kids going barefoot to school...but now I know they do because I've watched them trek into the schoolyard.  I've dreamed of being able to make the tiniest bit of difference to these kids, and from what they tell me themselves...I've succeeded...and been left only with the prayer that now I'll be able to do more.

Camping...

The campfire story was a little scary for my taste, but the smores definitely were compensation - and a new concept for all the little kids who were roasting marshmallows.  I don't remember a time when I didn't know what a smore was.  They concentrate intently on the composition and consumption, and overall, the concensus is that 'It's good!"  As we trek back to the camp, I grab one of the little girls and run her across the field to the tents.  She squeals at the toad I find jumping around in the grass. 11:30 finds me huddled in a pup-tent in a school sports field with my little students.  We're still playing cards...curfew was an hour and a half ago, but they don't want to go to sleep.  "It's the last night of camp," one girl told me..."we want to have fun!" So we keep playing and color check our UNO cards with my cell phone light every few seconds.  We finally go to sleep when the other tent protests at all the noise we are making.  I blame my co-teacher Jo for starting the sleeping bag war! :D When we wake up the next morning, we all take turn laughing at each others hair, and then roll up our blankets to go brush our teeth.  After the final performances, we walk the kids back to their bus.  It's been four days since camp started and we've been together 24/7.  I was there to pick them up at the train station and I waved good-bye as their bus drove away.  I've made grilled PB-and-J and pizza with all of them, and played 'Heart Attack' more times than I can count.  

Psalm 4:7a says "Thou hast put gladness in my heart..." I think that I got an extra helping of happiness this week and the best part is...we have a whole other camp starting tomorrow...as my students would say: "Sweet dream!"

New Friends...

Early last Thursday morning, me and Sarah started our five day excursion to Singapore and Malaysia...we popped on a taxi that took us to the train station, and caught our train just in time.  Once we were in Kaohsiung, we took the subway to the high-speed rail station.  The rail took us up to Taipei (which is on the northern tip of Taiwan).  From there we caught a bus that took us to the airport.  We finally got into Singapore around 11:00 that night.

 When traveling abroad, you never know who -or what- you might encounter...one of the run-ins I had on this trip was with this friendly boa.  I stopped to admire the snake and as I stroked his leathery skin, the Indian who was charming him asked if I had ever held a snake before...when he heard my answer was yes, the snake was around my neck almost before I realized it...gorgeous, isn't he?

During our stay, we went to Sentosa beach which is the Southernmost point of all Asia.  On Saturday of our trip, we hopped on the early flight to Malaysia and spent the day in Kuala Lumpur where we went up to the skybridge that connects the Petronas Towers which are the two tallest twin towers in the world. 

 After the towers, we made our way to a special reflexology spa where we had little fishies

 nibbling on our toes...there were several different pools where you could experience the treatments and some of the fish had teeth!!  After the spa, we jumped in taxi that took us to the National Mosque of Malaysia.  We waited for prayers to let out and then I had to cover my hair before I could walk into the Mosque.  We looked down on the washing rooms, and walked

 through the marble pillars to the prayer room.  We couldn't go into the prayer room, but we watched several men perform the traditional prayers.  Then it was back to Singapore in time for church the next morning.

We got home to Taiwan late Monday night, and we have three and a half days to get ready for our visa trip to Thailand.  We'll be there for two weeks teaching English in the schools there, and we will also have a mini-camp with a drama theme for a high school there.  We will be touring Bangkok for the last few days that we are there, and then we come home with just enough time to get ready for our own winter camps at the EV.  

With all of the traveling I have been doing lately, I am constantly reminded that no matter where I go, God is with me - protecting me, leading me, and listening.  He is my guide wherever I go, and has kept me safe through all of my adventures.  I am so grateful to Him, and curious as to where He'll take me next....

New Travels...

This Thursday I'm off to Singapore for a week and also a stop in Malaysia.  We've been planning this trip for quite a while now and I can't believe it's here already.  I spent tonight in a clinic for a check-up before the trip.  Last week was my first experience with needles in a foreign country away from my family and America and what is familiarly safe to me.  I have never enjoyed getting shots... and not having my mommy there was rather a traumatizing experience that I am not ashamed to admit :D.  Fortunately I have a dear roomate who took care of me as I was attended to by the nurse with the syringe.  We will get back in one week, and then off again for our visa trip which as of right now, the destination is unknown.  For the first weeks of February, we will be holding living camps at the English village and I will be in the kitchen for the cooking classes with all the kids... grilled peanut butter and jelly, kettle corn and pizza are all what's on the menu.  It's going to be a messy sticky job...I can't wait... it's been about five months since our summer camps, and having all those kids for an extended period of time is always a blast - I'm thanking the Lord for this opportunity to be with the same group of kids for several days at once.  

2009

I can't imagine the adventures that this new year will bring... So far for 2008, I spent half of the year in a foreign country... I'm definitely excited to see what God will have me do when I come home sometime in July... Taiwan was his plan for me this year, I can't wait to see what I'll be doing next.  I was so restless last year to do something -anything- I didn't know what, and the Lord sent me out to a place that I had never dreamed of.  My life dedicated to God has brought me so much more than I ever could have gained by myself - there is no way I would have found these experiences on my own... no way I could have been used as He saw to use me.  I love the verses that talk about being a vessel for His glory...it is my prayer that there will be yet more opportunities that I am ready for as a result of His trying me this year.