Happy New Years!!

This past year has been full of so many blessings. And yet, it definitely didn’t feel like it started out that way.

One year ago, New Year’s Eve – I was at my Small Group leader’s house for a new years party. We had broken into groups to lift up the coming year and to just read and talk about life and the future. I had lost my job in August, I had just been “fired” from my holiday job that day, and I was trying to get a job that I ultimately didn’t get – I wasn’t happy – life was hard, and only seemed to be getting harder. I remember though, we were sitting there and my friend Jess said something along the lines, “Hailey, I can’t wait to see what this next year will bring to you – because I know it is going to be big and special.” I have thought of her words many times recently, and it has just shown me that I can’t plan anything – I can’t ever assume anything about what life will be – He is in charge, and I just have to let go and let Him handle it all.

I could never in a million years have ever guessed what this past year would hold. It wasn’t but 3 weeks later that I found out I didn’t get that job, and that was the day that I learned about China with my organization.

China. Who would have ever thought? I know I didn’t. It’s crazy – sometimes I think to myself, I live in CHINA! I feel like I have found a place, or at least a path to a place that I am supposed to be on. I don’t know what the future holds, and if years keep being like this – I don’t think I can ever even try to guess what will happen next.

So, just remember that He has bigger plans than any we can ever make, and He can see farther into the future than we ever can, and he knows what is coming. 

So my resolution this year - is to follow His leading. I hope that I can always do that - do what He wants me to do, GO where He wants me to go, and work however He wants me to work. 

Happy New Years!!!

Jing Jing

There are moments, and then there are MOMENTS. 

The second is the kind that not only makes your day, but that you have to tell everyone about. I had one of these moments last week.

There is this precious little girl in one of my classes, her name (the only one in Chinese that I know) is Jing Jing, and she has my heart. Almost every class she has a note or a picture that she has drawn for me. I have quite the collection of artwork on my wall from her. Today she said (in English) "I love you, Ms. Hailey" - it melts me. I hate to say I have a favorite, but I definitely do.

This past week as I was finishing up telling the Christmas story, I asked the class what they liked most about the story. I got many answers, things like "When the kings visited" "when the Baby was born" "When the angel came" etc. Then Jing Jing raised her hand, so I called on her - and she told me that she had a book with the same pictures in it. I immediately wanted to ask her so many questions, I wanted to see that book.

A few minutes later as I was passing out stickers to the winning row she pulled her book out of her desk. I definitely hadn't expected her to have it with her! She handed it to me, and as the bell went off I got to quickly flip through it. I saw that it was not just any book, it was the Book. A children's picture version, completely in Chinese. I can't tell you how excited I was. Of all my students (and I do love them all), for it to be HER to have that book - it just makes my heart so happy.

I asked her today if I could see her book, and she and I went to look for it. We didn't have time to find it. But I just needed to tell you all about that special little girl and the hope that I have for her.

I left the class SO excited. I wish so much that I could talk to her, or that we could just understand each other more. I only hope that one day we will have that chance.

This is Jing Jing and I after class one day.

Thankfulness

November – a month of thanks. I see a lot of people doing daily thankful for posts – so I thought I would just make a thankful list. There are so many things to be thankful for, even though sometimes I feel like there is nothing to be thankful for at all.

I have made a list of many of the things I am thankful for, and just thought I would share it with you.

I am thankful that He has allowed me to be a part of this really awesome adventure – that I finally found the path that He had waiting for me; because I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I am also thankful for….

My team – that He has put me on. We have been so lucky and blessed to be able to click so well. We work great together and, even with our differences, we are able to get along and support each other.

Students – all 280 (ish) of them. I just melt when they all start yelling my name as I pass them in the hall or somewhere on campus. They have so much excitement every time they see me, and I love each and every one of them. Even though we can’t communicate and I don’t know any of their names (not that it would matter, they never learned their English names anyway).

Co-teachers. I don’t know what I would do without them, other than not be able to ever teach anything. They have helped me become a better teacher over the past 2 months, and I hope that I can be an encouragement to them as we spend this semester together. I had a rough start with one of them, but as time has gone on it has been amazing to see the change in her and how well we get along now.

My apartment -- As interesting and “special” as it is, it is home this year – and I love it. They are redoing our walls this week, and we are especially thankful for that.

Our FAO -- and all that he does for us. He is an amazing man who works so hard to make sure that the foreign teachers have all they need, and he does it with such a servant’s heart.

Blue sky – it is rare, and when we get to see it, it is very special

Fellowship – it’s a biweekly thing, but it is always so good to get to spend time with brothers and sisters.

Felicity – our language tutor, such a joy to get to spend time with learning Chinese.

The Zhongbei team – our hosts this week and friends in this city. It is so nice to know other people here. It is a strange thing coming to a place and being able to count the people you know on one hand. Also, who we will be spending our Thanksgiving day/ weekend with.

My washing machine – it isn’t an American one. But it sure beats washing clothes by hand.

Heat – with the weather getting colder it is so wonderful to have (even if it is just a little) the heat on now.

Repairmen – aka our friends. They come to our apartment a lot. They come to check on the heaters, they come to fix this or that; they come and rescue us from flooding our apartment when the heater explodes.

The moon – I love being able to see the moon at night. Sometimes the sun is so covered by smog you can hardly see it at all, but it is almost without fail that you can see the moon at night.

Hot water – we went 2.5 weeks at the beginning of the semester without hot water, and now I know how much I truly appreciate such a small thing. This goes for water pressure in the shower too.

School cafeteria – even though we eat there a lot and the food is usually the same… it is free, and it is good food. It saves me from having to walk almost a mile to the grocery store.

My legs/ feet – what would I do without them in a place where all I do is walk?

Care packages!!!!! (and letters/cards)– these make my day/ week/ month. They are so wonderful, and they make me so very thankful for all the people at home that love me so much.

My family and friends at home – you guys are awesome. I miss you all, and I know you miss me too : ) But thank you for your constant support and Thoughts, and the fact that so many of you even urged me to go – not telling me that I shouldn’t, or that it was a bad idea. Thank you!

Skype – my connection with home. It is so wonderful in this day and age that we can communicate so easily (and for free!) from so far away.

There are still so many more things that I am thankful for, but I know that you are probably tired of reading this post – if you have made it this far, congratulations – so that is all I will be thankful for right now.

Life in China: A how-to guide... What to do when the heater explodes

That's right. EXPLODES. 

So, if perhaps your heater (that is run on steam and hot water) should break (maybe partly because you barely touched the screw/ pin that holds all that water in) and spray a geyser of hot water all over the place and flood your apartment... These are the things you should know.

Step 1.

Yell for help. This "adventure" would have been so much worse if the most amazing Sarah Roberts had not been there. 

Step 2.

Try to contain it. This isn't easy. You can put your finger over the hole, but be aware that the water is hot and there is a heck of a lot of pressure behind it. So while this method will work, it won't work forever. And by the end of it all you will have circles imprinted in your fingers from pressing so hard. My advice, find the pin if possible and try to at least put it back in the hole and use something (in our case, long underwear) to hold it in with. This is a lesson that took us a while, and caused many sore fingers. I was also told, after the fact, that a chopstick has been known to solve this problem as well.

Step 3.

While trying to contain it, call for help - you need someone who can turn the water off. Gerry was awesome and got us 4 repairmen (our friends - they come up a lot to check the heaters) up here in about 15-20 min.. that was a really long 15-20 min.

Step 4.

When help FINALLY arrives, let them take over and you begin the clean up process. Towels are a good place to start - also buckets. But your best friends are the broom and the sponge mop. So make a towel barrier (after you get all the water out of the living room and near the front door cleaned up - we had water all the way out onto the landing) and start pushing all the water into the bathroom so it can go down the drain. (You could enlist more help here, Chesney came to our aid and it was much more fun.) 

Step 5.

When all the water is cleaned up and your heater is repaired, begin on the laundry. SO MUCH LAUNDRY! Towels, bed stuff, clothes - all covered in plaster water... And when all the laundry is hung up to dry (cause remember you have no dryer) you can (if your mattress was thankfully spared like mine was - which is an incredibility in itself) put a sheet on the bed, find the only dry blankets left, borrow a pillow and go to bed.

Also, just an extra tip: don't run or walk too fast on wet floors... you will fall and hurt yourself.

This event happened on a Saturday night, in the middle of a 9 day work week. We are all so tired, but it definitely broke the monotony.

Enjoy some pictures of the aftermath.

It's a good thing they are fixing the walls next week, cause I destroyed them.

Demonstrating how we had to hold the pin in place. Notice the soaked clothes... I was drenched.

Wringing water out of my pants.

Chesney and her mop.

不要

“不要。。。不要。。。不要。。。不要”

We said it over and over and over (It is said Bu yao (boo yow) for those that don't read Chinese haha) - it means "don't want".

So here is how it started, we were hungry. We had walked through 2 malls and looked for something to eat somewhere, with no luck. Places that we eat at have to have a picture menu (really rather common in China) and so we happened upon this restaurant on a side street as we were walking back towards KFC and Subway, our fallbacks. We went inside, they immediately realize we can't speak any Chinese so they just led us to a table and sat us down - next to two drunk guys who thought it was hilarious that the waitress couldn't understand us at all. We just politely smiled and ignored them, for the most part. We ordered. The food came. As we are eating I hear one of the guys asking the waitress for 3 of something (there are only 2 of them, and 3 of us), she leaves and comes back with 3 small cups. They fill them with whatever it is they are drinking, and then sit there for a while. As we are finishing up, one of the guys brings over all 3 full glasses to our table - I can smell the alcohol off of it from quite a way away. He sets them in front of us and stands there, he is wanting to toast or clink glasses - so we finally realize this and let him do that. Then he tells us to drink them, and we again go into our 不要 不要 不要, they laugh at us and keep pushing, we continue 不要 不要 不要. So they just leave us alone, we finish and pay and leave. We then realized that the first drink that any of us had ever had bought for us was this - some strong and unknown Chinese liquor, by two very drunk businessmen who only did it cause we are the 外国人 （waiguoren - waygworen) - the foreigners. It was really funny the whole time, and we were trying really hard not to laugh because that would have only gotten more attention.

Here is a picture of our drinks: (the little glass goblets)

Pictures!!!!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!!!
Mostly because I want to share them with you, also because I don't feel like writing much right now. :)
And they are not all in order....

Knife Shaved noodles - Taiyuan is known for them, and they are soo good. [Photo credit: Anna Haffner]

Anna and I made apple desserts! Pie and Crisp.

At the train station, getting ready to go to Beijing for Mid-Autumn festival break [PC: Anna]

Look! We made it to Beijing all by ourselves!! [PC:Anna]

Jumping at the bird's nest

Me at the Bird's Nest - It was so cool to get to see Olympic Park. And the sky was even blue that day!

Lunch/Dinner with Cyndie Junk - we are favorite team!

Tiananmen at night

4 ladies in the back of a cab [PC: Cyndie Junk]

The Water Cube in Olympic Park

A lake in an Amusement park here in Taiyuan - the start to our October Holiday Break

A door handle at the Twin Pagoda temple

I climbed that!! (There are 2 of them, but you can only go in 1)

Circle Door!

They wanted their picture with us

Then they took our picture for us

Seriously out of order... This was at coldstone creamery in Beijing with Joy and Katie on Mid-Autumn Break

A whole lot of randomness

(I am going to go ahead and apologize up front about the length and ADD-ness of this blog post... this is just going to be a collection of a bunch of things I have written that didn't get put into any other updates... enjoy :) )

"Yi, Er, Yi" (1,2,1) I hear this all around me on campus as classes of precious children march in lines to class, or to wherever they are going at the time. Our campus is the primary campus, which means that we have grades K-5. SMBS (Shanxi Modern Bilingual School) has 2 campuses, the other goes from 6th grade to 12th grade. There are 3 sections on our campus, each section has grades 1-5. I teach Grade 1 in section 2... confused yet? I know I was for the first couple of days. The campus itself is beautiful, full of trees and flowers and gardens. There is a track and a playground, basketball courts and a gym. There are about 4000 students - just on this campus alone! - so it's to be expected that there is never really a quiet moment.. and when you get home and think that it will be quiet, you are wrong - because that is when the car alarms, the car horns, the fireworks, and the construction noises start.

We arrived at the school on the Friday before classes began. Mr. Gerry, our FAO (Foreign Affairs Officer), came to Beijing to pick us up after our whirlwind trip back to the US to get our Visas fixed - which thankfully went very smoothly. Being back in the States was such a strange experience. Even after just a month in Beijing, America felt so different. We enjoyed the quiet, the wide open spaces, and the CLEAN air - but we all missed China a lot. While there, we were FINALLY able to meet the rest of our team - Allysa and the kids had stayed in TN while Dale had gone on to Chine with us, it was so great to finally be with them.

The first week of classes flew by, I have realized that not only are schools here quite different in the way that the students learn, but that I also have a lot to learn about teaching. But I know that through Him all things are possible, so I hold to that promise and I know that I will make it and I will be ok - no matter what!

Chinese culture and way of life are so different from what I am used to. Regardless, I feel so at home here that I know I am where I need to be. Life here takes more energy than it does in the West - simple things like asking directions or finding food (and then eating eat) are enough to make anyone want to take a nap. And in China, there is lots of time to take naps -- every school day from 12-2:45 is lunch/ nap time - it is amazing!

It's strange to talk about what I've always been used to, because my life is so used to the "normalness" here - as much as you really ever can be. I fall asleep every night to the sounds of a construction site that is right next door (they work 24/7 it seems), to the constant noise of car horns, and the occasional burst of fireworks - which are actually really common. I've gotten used to the fact that there are SO many people and you really get no personal space when you are in public. It's become normal (though also rather frustrating) to not be able to understand anything around me. If you can imagine this, you wake up and go about your day - but you can't speak to anyone or read anything around you. You can't ask where the bathroom is or buy food. You can't get directions or tell your students to be quiet. As frustrating as it is, I know that I will learn some Chinese - and that I will be able to communicate more in the near future.
---
"Barbarians," she says and shakes her head. This comment (translated) was made, not because we were eating the fish's eyeballs (kinda chewy, not much taste), but because we were splitting the bill up at the table. This normal American custom doesn't go over well here, it is actually considered rude. You are more than welcome to pass money and split the bill outside on the sidewalk, but don't do it at the table or in the restaurant. These lessons are learned, often by error.

One lesson that should not be learned by error, is crossing the road. It is often a dangerous task, but only if you don't know what you are doing. You must (at least try to) be aware of all the traffic around you as you step down off the curb. You must push all fear from your mind, because the cars/ bikes/ motorcycles/ semi trucks smell fear... then, you just GO. Sometimes you can hold your hand out to signal that you are crossing - but mostly you just GO. A rule I like to follow on the bigger roads is to just go when the locals do, you really can't usually go wrong when you follow a group of people that have been doing this their entire lives. All that being said, I LOVE crossing the street - it is so much fun. :)

This coming week is Mid Autumn Festival - we get out of school for it. We got gifts for it - a box of 30 apples and a box of 15 moon cakes EACH. Some of the girls on my team (myself included) are going to go to Beijing to see friends and go to IKEA on Friday. I will have to post about that later.

I have started hanging up letters and notes and pictures that people have given me, so if you want to be included on my wall of (I don't have a name for it yet...). Send me mail!!! :)

(Sorry for the extreme lack of pictures... I will fight the internet and put some up next time)

You might live in China if....

So this past month in Beijing has been awesome! I want to share some stories and pictures with you and then I want to share with you something that I've been working on for a while - some things that you might experience if you live in China.

We finished up training last week, and then had to say goodbye to everyone as they headed off to their cities.. it was sad, but I know that I will see them again in Thailand in February. I made some great friends this past month - and got to spend some time with my Google+ people!! So without further ado, here are some pictures from the last week or so and from all the goodbyes...

Our "class" - we had practice teaching on our last day of class - and these beautiful kids were part of it!

Malaysia and Me

Clare and Chesney

Starbuck's with the Mongolian team!

Our team (minus Alyssa and kids and with Joy and Katie)

So glad to have been able to have Joy and Katie join us, it was an awesome month!

So much fun.

Alicia and I. Alicia was off to Nanchang.

Lindsey and I - Lindsey is in the COLD city of Harbin.

Matt and I - Matt is on the Mongolian team in UlaanButaar 

Chesney, Matt, and I

And now we added Lindsey!

JOY!

Katie!

AND NOW, what you have all been waiting for... OK, so you probably haven't been waiting, but I have... I've been planning this post for a while - and just so credit is given, this would not be possible without the rest of my team or Joy - who came up with so many of them..

... you might live in China.

(These are in no particular order, and not all of them have pictures...)

If you can't tell where your bus is going because the schedule looks like this....

 If you know what a Shoilet is...because you have one....

If you have literally followed the yellow brick road but have never been to Oz...

 If you eat potato chips with chopsticks....

Or Peanut Butter...

 If cars "parallel" parked are all facing different ways...

(This is one of the many many things I love about China)

 If parking ON the sidewalk is normal...

 Or French Fries...

(This doesn't really have a joke with it, I just really love these strollers)

 If you get touched by minimum 800 people every subway/ bus ride...

This is not even a nearly full subway...

 If you take pictures of the blue sky or the moon, because you haven't seen them in over a week...

 If rice is one of your 4 main food groups...

 (Also no joke here, I just love Lindsay in the mask)

 If you are used to seeing kids with split pants...

(If you don't see what I mean, then look closer)

If you get to decide whether to sit or squat when you go to the bathroom...

A few random ones before continuing with pictures...

If you have to stab your food because you're no longer allowed to use a fork....

If the best thing you smell all day is paint...

If your new favorite pastimes are sweating and getting stared at... (or getting your picture taken - we've started posing, because they try to sneak a picture...but we see them) 

If you are taller than (some of) the bathroom stall doors  (funny story..)

If you see 15 (HUGE) malls within 3 blocks...

If you can't tell the difference between rain clouds and smog...

If your favorite to go food is jiaozi.... (this stuff is AMAZING!) (dumplings, in case you were wondering)

If you know how to get to the Summer Palace because you know how to get to McDonald's....

If you have a Starbucks map...

If you order pizza to go...on accident... (we really wanted to eat there, and failed)

If you see at least 1 naked baby in public everyday, and it doesn't phase you....

If you have ever stood in the middle of the (main) road with cars zooming around you...

If you nearly get run over multiple times by cars ON the sidewalk...

If your bus makes an "illegal" U turn in the middle of a busy intersection (with oncoming traffic)....

If you can't tell the difference between the sidewalk, the bike path, and the road...

If you use the word "perhaps" to answer any question ever asked...

If you get called a barbarian, not for eating fish eyeballs, but for splitting up the check at the table....

If you get excited about a McDonald's cheeseburger, and you don't even really like McDonald's (or cheeseburgers in some cases)...

If Chinglish is your new favorite language...

If there are people sleeping EVERYWHERE...

I love China. But I think if you can't have fun with the differences of where you are, you may go crazy. There are a lot of very different things in China, these are only a few. If you asked me to name something I love about China - I may very well mention something on this list. I love how they don't park the same way, or how U turns in the middle of traffic are normal. I love how the sidewalk might as well be a road, or a parking lot. I love that you can get a dozen jiaozi for not even 1 US Dollar and it will fill you up all day and it is delicious. I love the food. I love the people. I am learning to love the language - it's hard. I love how kids wear split pants and use the sidewalk (or store floor, or wherever) as the restroom... OK, so maybe I don't love this - but it's crazy. I love all the dogs not on leashes. I don't really love all the smoking.. everywhere - regardless of signs. I love crossing the road, it's nerve wracking the first couple of times - then it's just fun. Like a giant game of frogger. I love the food. I love China.

I didn't come to China loving China. I came because I really didn't have an opinion on which country I went to. But in the past month, I have come to love China. The Father knew what he was doing when He sent me here (well there right now, cause I am sitting in Washington D.C. at the moment). Which leads me to, I love how crazy things are and how I and 9 others had to fly back to the States cause or Visas didn't come through as Work Visas the first time.

In the past month I have learned a lot about love. He loves us so much, and I think I always knew that - but I don't think it was until I saw how many people are in this country that I truly was able to start appreciating that Love. To think that He loves and cares for every person I see or touch or talk to or that live in this world - and He loves us all the same - it is truly incredible.