Last night in China!

Well, tonight is our last night in China. We have had an amazing time for the last 38 days, but now it is time to go back home. The last week has been a whirlwind of tracel and meeting with Christian leaders in Zhoukou, Xi'an, Lin You, and Beijing. Seeing more of China was exciting and interesting, but being able to spend the last few days in Beijing, without moving around, has been nice. We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog posts and seeing the pictures we have posted these last few weeks. It has been a pleasure sharing our adventure with you all.

~ Erik and Kim Free

The music class at Zhoukou's Gospel Church and Bible school

All of us at the Great Wall.

Our group at the Yinjing Thelogical Seminary in Beijing.

Erik and Kim in Tiananmen Square

Tour with the CCC

            This week has been going by so quickly. It was a new hotel every night for a few days as we ended our time in the SEP program and began our journey with the China Christian Council (CCC). Meeting so many new people for the first time, and then saying goodbye, has taken it's toll and I have gone to writing things down as my memory for names and places is becoming jumbled.  Still, I am learning so much about the situation of the church in China and the CCC.  It was a delight to visit the Gospel Church in Zhoukou with Pastor Jiao. There was a music class in session during our visit and we got to see their agricultural training center. It was also a surprise when our group got invited to tour the Gospel Hospital that was opened a few years ago on the church property. It has been steadily growing and has a specialist for respirator and gastrointestinal medicine. They also have an emergency room that services the community and sees around 100 people a day.  They were proud to report that 80% of the hospital staff are members of the church. The doctors' and nurses' uniforms had red Chinese crosses embroidered by their names and above the doors in Chinese was a saying about God's love and the hospital's love for the patients. 

            The church and training center has also been seeing growth. This is a unique Christian Bible school and training center, as the government recognizes the certificates earned there because of the computer technology and agricultural technology classes that are included in the instruction.  They teach this way because most of the people attending the school are coming from the surrounding farms. These classes help them to be able to live a more self-sustaining life by farming the land they live on.  The school also provides continuing education courses for the lay leaders of the surrounding churches in a program that lasts 5 years. Most of the churches here do not have their own pastors and rely on lay ministers and elders to lead the church. The program offers training on running a church and Bible knowledge. This course helps to prevent heresy and cults from developing in the church by increasing the standards of religious education of the church leaders.

            We still have a few more days here, more places to go and people to see. I am excited that the church is doing so well in China and look forward to coming home and sharing what we have learned.

 

~Kim Free

The former President of the China Christian Counsel, Pastor Cao, standing with us in from of the Grace Christian Church that we attended Sunday morning in Shanghai.

welcome to Shanghai and the city lights!

Ya'an at night on the river, the last night walking and saying goodby

Ya'an, we'll be missing you.

We have finished our last days teaching in Ya'an, and have said our good-byes. Our last week in Ya'an was a very memorable one. I don't think we realized how much of an impact we were having on our student teachers until it was time to say good-bye to them. In fact, we did not say good-bye at all, but rather, taught them a final English phrase, "Farewell!", which we all decided was a much better way in which to depart from one another. We were both glad to have completed our task there and a bit sad to have to go. Thankfully, we live in a digital age teeming with social-networking options for staying in touch with friends in far away places. For that is the best thing that we both gave and received during our time in Ya'an, friendship.

Thursday night we celebrated with another round of Hot Pot for dinner followed by ice cream at our friend Nancy's favorite place. Afterwards we were somehow convinced to go to KTV, China's version of karaoke. Some of the students rented a private room and we all sang our hearts out. Kim was even able to convince me (Erik) to sing a couple songs. In the absence of any Johnny Cash music I opted for Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes" and could only keep up for about half the lines. We both sang the Ting Tings "Shut Up and Let Me Go" to everyone's wonder and amazement. (our first duet!!!) Friday was a nice meal with all of our assistants, our host, and his family. On Saturday we were driven to the airport and ushered through the departure process by Mr. Li, his son, and Nancy. As we went through security I looked back to see them waiting behind the barrier, hoping for a last glance and a wave which we all cheerfully provided. The last I could see, they were still waiting there, seeing us off to the last moment, just like in some old black and white movie. What wonderful memories and friendships we have from our adventure here!

Today (Sunday), we have reconnected with all the other Amity teachers and shared our stories with one another. We all shared some good and some not so good experiences, but we all shared happy memories, despite the struggles of living in another country even for a short time. Along with our new Chinese friends, we have also made new friends from Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, and various states in the US. What a rich experience this has been!

Tomorrow, we embark upon a week of travel with our new host, David, from the China Christian Council. We will visit, Zhoukhou, Xi'an, and Beijing to see some more mission projects, tourist sites, seminaries, and churches. Stay tunes for more pictures and descriptions of our experience!

Erik's Classroom

A picture of my class performing some role plays.

White Horse Spring

This is the ancient spring inside a Buddhist temple that we visited on Sunday afternoon.

my country and yours

During a time called "my country and yours" we like to share different things about about our culture. I got to share about the American culture around camping and summer camp. They were quicker than us at the game, but I think they may have had the advantage of home turf.

~Kim

one week to go!

     We just finished up our second week of teaching and only have one week left to teach before we head back to Shanghai. I am starting to get used to some things in China now, like the food and lack of iced beverages. I think the people here are starting to get used to us as well. We have been walking the same path every weekday, twice a day. At first we got a lot of weird looks and nobody really tried to talk to us. Now, people seem ready and are waiting to try and sell us breakfast. The kids run up to show off their mastery of the English greeting. They laugh and run back to the doorways they came from when we answer with an awkward "ni hao". This Saturday we went to the tea mountain of Ya'an. It is said to be the birthplace of tea and the first tea tree's are hidden somewere  in the tea tree and bamboo covered slops of the mountain. We rode a gondola up the mountain to tour the different temples and tea gardens. We were able to see the historic tea garden that grew the tea for the Chinese emperors. As we descended the hundreds of steps to get back down the mountain we kept passing all the Chinese people who were taking the steps up and who would later ride the gondola down. I learned that some of them make this trip on a monthly basis as a way to refresh their mind and body. We drank tea on the side of the mountain with a view of the valley below. It was fun teaching our Chinese friends a new card game, which is a common way to relax after a meal here. And we had a lot of fun as they mastered 31 and very quickly started beating us.
    
     We are more than halfway through our trip now and are starting to turn our thoughts back to home. Some questions are in the order of " what is the first food we want to eat?", or "how fast can I buy a ice cold diet coke?". But we also are wondering what impact will this trip have on us and how will it change our life when we get home. I wonder who many people I will be able to keep in contact with and for how long. I guess we don't really know what impact this trip will have on us, but this is a life changer for sure.

~Kim

End of Second Week of Teaching!

This has been a busy week for us in China. I have been teaching my class a lot of games that they can use to help their own students learn English and have more fun. One of the major concerns of the teachers who have come to learn from us is how they can inspire their students' interest in learning English. I have discovered that a lot of the games I use at summer camp and youth events are easily adaptable to help with learning English vocabulary and oral skills. Yesterday I led half the participants in a Pictionary competition and believe me, there was some serious competition! My hope is that these teachers can take these new games back to their schools, along with the stories we have shared about life in America, and make their English language classes more fun and engaging for their students. We are surely starting to have some fun in our classes here. I have been able to reach a level of comfort and friendship with my class in a relatively short time, mostly thanks to their abundant hospitality and eagerness to learn from us. Tomorrow we get to go visit the famous Tea Mountain of Ya'an where legend says the very first tea came from. Expect to see pictures of that trip posted soon!

p.s. The picture is of some of us hanging out at a tea house along the river learning Chinese card games from our new friends.

waterfalls

One of the larger waterfalls in the Gorge had a long, steep staircase. I was very surprised to see some young women climbing them in high heels! It was very wet and very slippery.

Play Day

This is Daniel, one of our fellow teachers, crossing over the Dragon Bridge as we near the end of the hike at the bottom of the Gorge.

Play Day

This is a picture of our group together near the entrance to the panda reserve.

Pandas!

Hot pot fun!