“The rest of the world doesn’t have a two-plus bedroom house with a garage, or even regular meals – never mind eating out,” [says local software dude Mark Michaelis, who raised $22,000 for World Relief by completing an Ironman]. “If I saw a documentary on my lifestyle in comparison to those in most of the developing world, I would be horribly embarrassed. Just because no one has done that documentary doesn’t make the injustice any less ghastly – just less embarrassing.”Wow. To waste my life while someone else's is wasting away in hunger really is, um, embarrassing. Some Christians believe that after we die, or at the end of time (or, obviously, both), we'll stand before God and give an account of our lives. I'm not sure there will be this literal court scene, and I don't believe my eternal destination can influenced by somehow being "good enough," but I do think that the things we do with this gift of life, and the things we don't do, are known to God and matter to Him.
I'm not saying, Shame on me. Well, maybe I am. But I don't mean it as a pointy stick to prod myself to do better. I try to accept guilt, when it's real, and instead of ignoring the discomfort I ask God to forgive me and help me do better. I don't tell God, Go away and come back when I'm awesome.
So, here's to being forgiven and trying to do better.
- Mood:
hungry
I need to hammer into my brain the mantra "just ask." One of my bosses told me that she always asks for seating upgrades when she flies, and sometimes she gets them. She also got me a very significant raise, simply by asking her boss to approve an amount that she probably should have been embarrassed to ask for.
Apparently we can also negotiate when it comes to medical bills (according to CNN anyway -- see Mistake #3 in this article). But I get the feeling this is one of those things everybody else knew already?
- Mood:
sore
So I'm applying. Instead of rushing the application, I'm doing the "non-matriculated" application first. Basically that should allow me to take a couple classes now while I get the rest of the application in. I won't be able to get financial aid for this semester, but that is okay - we can afford at least the first couple classes and we don't really want loans (and it sounds like loans are the bulk of graduate financial aid).
One reason this degree is a good choice for me is because it is broad. At this point I would not know how to choose between the non-profit world and church-based work. In fact, the idea currently bouncing around in my peabrain involves both.
Now, I've figured out how to spend extra money this fall. I should probably work a little more on how to make money too. The options I've identified so far:
-- social services in the refugee/immigration area
-- generic day-job in software or healthcare desk jockeying or just whatever I can find
-- taking out a ton of loans and just full-timing school plus random self-actualization and minimizing our need for daycare. Maybe edit that novel draft I spewed out last November
-- miraculously finding a position at a church reworking their outreach functions to look more like a non-profit organization (non-profits tend to be a lot more effective and efficient, despite churches' abundance of people-power and good intentions)
- Mood:
thankful
I'd say I'm in the middle of the career-change process. The trip to China was a great way to clease the palate after ten years in healthcare informatics / software. I know that software is not where I'm going next. Scary, my near-term earning potential is probably cut in half without that option.
I'm standing here at this bewildering crossroad. "Shi zi lu" in Chinese, literally "cross-shaped road" (maybe). This is more like asterisk-shaped, or worse. I'm a good brainstormer, dreamer. But I hate taking a step in one direction because I don't want to miss out on all the other directions I could go, and oh crap what if this one direction turns out to be no good?
Anyway, one possibility is to do the graduate school thing, like maybe get an MA in "Organizational Leadership" at Gonzaga. Like, I'm an organism, right?
- Mood:
okay
(above - most of the class. left-right/top-bottom: Mary, Emily, Tina, other Mary, Lily, team-mate Mr. David Lewis, Keara, me, Jane, Rebecca, Helen, Olivia)
My class consisted of fourteen elementary teachers from all over Inner Mongolia. Some of them travelled by train or bus for over thirty hours to attend the program!
Their students are, on average, ten or eleven years old. (Mary (top left) is so lucky -- her students are about six years old!) Their classes are often very large, about seventy students. Chinese primary schools tend to look like their secondary schools - teachers teach by subject and the classes are less than an hour each. What a challenge!
My trainees' English speaking and listening skills improved a lot. They had all of course mastered what they need to teach English in primary school, but in several cases that did not mean that they were prepared for actual conversations with a native speaker. They were a little overwhelmed at first. I had a lot of fun encouraging them to speak what English they could. I hope they have all returned home with much greater confidence in their ability.
Our team also presented cultural things like geography, North American weddings and birthdays, and a lot of holidays. (Valentine's Day was included, but St. Patty's didn't make the cut.) I tried to clarify that while the traditions for Christmas and Easter come mostly from Europe, the associated beliefs come from the Middle East. Personally, I'm not really big on the traditions, but I dig the beliefs behind them. They drive me.
Aside from English and Culture, we also covered teaching methodology. A big part of the challenge was that they had to learn in English, but some of the concepts themselves were challenging too. Many have a tough situation, with very large class sizes and push-back against new methods from school officials. Some of that is changing, I hear, which is good. Another big challenge for them (and, increasingly in the U.S.) is the need to "teach to the test," rather than teaching for communicative competence. I hope they'll be able to use the ideas we gave them in creative ways, to make their teaching more effective and enjoyable for them and their students.
- Mood:
bouncy
Things I learned in the summer program:
- I am a good ESL teacher. Something to think about as I face career shift this Fall.
- I am pretty selfish. If you look back in my journals over the years, there is a lot of angst about myself, my hopes and dreams, my worries. I can spend hours just thinking about myself, even if I started out meaning to think of others.
- I know more Mandarin than I thought I did. Not enough to do much, but it was easier than expected to add new vocabulary and even read a few characters here and there.
Things I already knew, but learned again anyway:
- I love teaching ESL, especially at lower levels. I love being on that narrow language bridge, trying to get meaning going across both ways. I like culture bridges too.
- Friendship is a universal language (duh). Forgiveness and patience are powerful relational forces.
- I love playing with other languages, especially Mandarin. I took a lot of opportunities to try new words and sentences, often making the Chinese laugh at me, which amused my team-mates too. So, everyone would have a good time and no one would know what was going on. (I also learned a few Mongolian words!)
- Mood: surprised
I'm so glad to be home! The trip was great and I discovered (no surprise) that I still love being in China. The only thing missing was family and friends. So many times I wished I could turn to Gwendolyn and make a comment or goofy remark. And I would have loved to get the girls' child's-eye perspectives on everything.
So, next time! We're looking at possibility for short term service opportunities sometime in the future.
Full report and pics are on the way.
- Mood:
thirsty
Greg arrived in Hohot, Inner Mongolia last Sunday or Monday (depending on whether you talk to me, or him). The students had placement tests on Tuesday, and they jumped right into teaching on Wednesday. He is working with the Elementary teachers, so their English level is relatively low. Greg just takes all that in stride and relishes the opportunity to practice his Mandarin.
We are very thankful that the phone card works, and he has called me a couple of times (yeah!) plus, he is able to email daily, including a serialized bedtime story for the girls. We all miss him like crazy, but these things help very much.
He is doing pretty well, and only has periodic stomach issues, only to be expected, really. Thank you to everyone who has been thinking about him!
--Mrs. Greg
- Mood:
determined
Exactly how far away am I going? One way of looking at it is China is fifteen hours ahead of here. Or, going the other way around the globe it is 9 time zones away.
(The PRC isn't divided into time zones - everyone gets to be in sync with Beijing. To figure out the time, just take Pacific time, add three hours and change the AM to PM or PM to AM. So right now it's 5:30am here and 8:30pm there.)
It doesn't really matter how many time zones or miles or whether there is an ocean to cross on the way though. Whatever the exact distance, what's scary is that I'll simply be "away." When we were in China ten years ago, just out of college, the biggest shock for us both was just being away from everyone. We didn't know what to do with ourselves, not being able to get together on a whim with friends or family, not even able to call a friend and chat.
The ladies will keep busy. They have some plans for while I'm away. VBS next week, then a vacation, then swimming lessons and all the other fun of summer. E will be going to camp for a week - big deal for an eight year old, her first real sleep-away camp with counsellors and singing around campfires and the whole bit! I'm a little jealous, actually. We're definately going camping when I get back!
I know they'll miss me and I'll miss them. They have friends and family all around to help them out, and I'm sure my team will be great, but still. Six weeks is a long time to be away from each other. A looong time.
Is it worth it, to be away for that long? I hope so... I hope that a lot of good stuff comes out of it. I hope the girls grow closer to each other. I think their relationship with me can benefit from this time too, in a way. I know that for me, emails and the occassional phone call with them will mean a lot. (I'll be emailing the missus daily if I can, throwing in some bedtime stories for E to read to R and some stuff to be posted here too.) I love that we have a great group of friends for G to lean on. Taking a break from self-sufficiency might be a good stretch. ;}
I also hope that my girls will be inspired by my little adventure. I hope that when they grow up they do it too- whether it's saving endangered dingos in Australia, delivering care packages to lab techs in Antarctica, or translating the good book for the world's last undiscovered people group in a jungle in Brazil. Or they might stay home and step outside the box here. That would be just fine with me. As long as they step out. It's not really about what the world has to offer them. I hope they'll find purpose and joy discovering what they have to offer the world.
- Location:home
- Mood:creative
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
