Second Segment of a Large Blog Entry
Greetings!
This is the second segment of the large entry I wrote weeks ago. Enjoy.
Monday, February 25
Having spent some time with the kids during the weekend either loosened me up a bit, or maybe the kids were getting used to me being there, or both. In any case, I was a little more comfortable with them and interacted with them a bit more. I'd gotten to know some of the music they loved, and even succeeded in finding one of their favorite Chinese songs on Apple Music. I would bring my bluetooth speaker with me, and eventually, one of the older boys would come up to me and sing part of the song he wanted or put my hands on my backpack, indicating that he wanted me to get the speaker out. The girls--predictably--love "Let It Go" from Frozen, all the kids love the upbeat version of Baby Shark, to the dismay of some of us here. Even though this week wasn't the official start of school, we began doing small lessons to ease the kids into it, and some of our scholarship students began visiting for part of the afternoon as well. By this time, I was quite familiar with my route to and from the school, and was excited that I could start off the week by going to the school on my own.
Tuesday, February 26
Jackson had his birthday party that day. He and most of the other kids got to go to a trampoline park for the better part of the day. I stayed behind with the kids who couldn't go, and started to get to know little Madeline. She likes hugs and singing Let It Go, and always has her hair done in the most adorable pigtails held in place by little decorative hair ties and cute little bows. It's not done the way I'm used to seeing them done either. First, I think half of her hair is neatly tied into one pony tail close to the front of her head. Then, that main tail is split into two smaller ones and fastened at the back in such a way that each pigtail hangs down and touches her shoulders. Almost all the girls wear one or more bows in their hair, which I love. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart and still wear bows myself, even though I'm almost 32. Anyway, I was glad to spend some time with her. She's usually very quiet, but when I can get her to sing with me, she has a very clear, pure sound to her voice. She's starting to be a bit more comfortable with me now. In the evening, Fang--the principal of Bethel invited Allie and I to dinner at her house. We went to a traditional Chinese market to buy the food. It was neat to see the displays of merchandise. One thing that is quite different here is that most people don't use hard cash or credit cards. I mean, they have them, but everyone--and I do mean everyone--uses WeChat's payment system by means of QR codes that can be scanned by a smart phone. I guess it makes things easy for customers and venders, but it's not so convenient for the girl who has a foreign credit card or cash. If I want to order something, I've worked it out so that I can give someone here the cash and they'll buy the stuff for me online. They have quite a few delivery options, from fast food to groceries. Anyway, after the visit to the market, we went to her house where she and her husband prepared a meal for us. We had some kind of spicy clams, tofu, whole shrimp--shell and all, some dried strips of pork covered in a really yummy sauce, and several types of vegetables. I've discovered that I can handle Chinese spicy food better than Mexican spice. My nose might not agree, since I was sneezing the whole time, more than everyone else and sounded all stuffed up at one point. But I really did enjoy the food.
Wednesday, February 27
I don't remember anything significant about that day except that I made the mistake of taking an early morning shower, and that day was colder than the past few days before it, so I muddled through as well as I could. I also didn't dress warm enough for that day, so all I could think about was the cold. During nap time, I went back to the apartment to get my big jacket. I came back to the school to find that we had a visitor. That was the day I met Sissi. She told me that she is also blind and was thinking of volunteering at Bethel, but she lives 2 hours away from the school. We talked for a bit, and exchanged contact info as well. We've made plans to hang out a few times while I'm in China.
Thursday February 28 through Sunday March 3
Those last two days of the week passed in much the same way, and I spent a quiet weekend at the apartment, going into the school for part of the day to spend some time playing with the kids. That was also around the time when the power went out unexpectedly in the apartment. It was only off for a few hours, so everything was okay, but I had a bit of a scare at first, thinking something I had done shorted out the circuitry without me being aware of it. I think that was Saturday, and then on Sunday, my phone plan--which gave me 20 GB for 10 days--was coming to a close, so I had limited internet access. It was just that kind of weekend, never a dull moment.
If I've guessed accurately, I should be at the end of this large entry after 2 more segments at the most. I'm hoping one more will finalize this entry, and I can tell everyone all about my outing with Sissi, my trip to Japan and a few other noteworthy things.
Until next time folks! Take care.
This is the second segment of the large entry I wrote weeks ago. Enjoy.
Monday, February 25
Having spent some time with the kids during the weekend either loosened me up a bit, or maybe the kids were getting used to me being there, or both. In any case, I was a little more comfortable with them and interacted with them a bit more. I'd gotten to know some of the music they loved, and even succeeded in finding one of their favorite Chinese songs on Apple Music. I would bring my bluetooth speaker with me, and eventually, one of the older boys would come up to me and sing part of the song he wanted or put my hands on my backpack, indicating that he wanted me to get the speaker out. The girls--predictably--love "Let It Go" from Frozen, all the kids love the upbeat version of Baby Shark, to the dismay of some of us here. Even though this week wasn't the official start of school, we began doing small lessons to ease the kids into it, and some of our scholarship students began visiting for part of the afternoon as well. By this time, I was quite familiar with my route to and from the school, and was excited that I could start off the week by going to the school on my own.
Tuesday, February 26
Jackson had his birthday party that day. He and most of the other kids got to go to a trampoline park for the better part of the day. I stayed behind with the kids who couldn't go, and started to get to know little Madeline. She likes hugs and singing Let It Go, and always has her hair done in the most adorable pigtails held in place by little decorative hair ties and cute little bows. It's not done the way I'm used to seeing them done either. First, I think half of her hair is neatly tied into one pony tail close to the front of her head. Then, that main tail is split into two smaller ones and fastened at the back in such a way that each pigtail hangs down and touches her shoulders. Almost all the girls wear one or more bows in their hair, which I love. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart and still wear bows myself, even though I'm almost 32. Anyway, I was glad to spend some time with her. She's usually very quiet, but when I can get her to sing with me, she has a very clear, pure sound to her voice. She's starting to be a bit more comfortable with me now. In the evening, Fang--the principal of Bethel invited Allie and I to dinner at her house. We went to a traditional Chinese market to buy the food. It was neat to see the displays of merchandise. One thing that is quite different here is that most people don't use hard cash or credit cards. I mean, they have them, but everyone--and I do mean everyone--uses WeChat's payment system by means of QR codes that can be scanned by a smart phone. I guess it makes things easy for customers and venders, but it's not so convenient for the girl who has a foreign credit card or cash. If I want to order something, I've worked it out so that I can give someone here the cash and they'll buy the stuff for me online. They have quite a few delivery options, from fast food to groceries. Anyway, after the visit to the market, we went to her house where she and her husband prepared a meal for us. We had some kind of spicy clams, tofu, whole shrimp--shell and all, some dried strips of pork covered in a really yummy sauce, and several types of vegetables. I've discovered that I can handle Chinese spicy food better than Mexican spice. My nose might not agree, since I was sneezing the whole time, more than everyone else and sounded all stuffed up at one point. But I really did enjoy the food.
Wednesday, February 27
I don't remember anything significant about that day except that I made the mistake of taking an early morning shower, and that day was colder than the past few days before it, so I muddled through as well as I could. I also didn't dress warm enough for that day, so all I could think about was the cold. During nap time, I went back to the apartment to get my big jacket. I came back to the school to find that we had a visitor. That was the day I met Sissi. She told me that she is also blind and was thinking of volunteering at Bethel, but she lives 2 hours away from the school. We talked for a bit, and exchanged contact info as well. We've made plans to hang out a few times while I'm in China.
Thursday February 28 through Sunday March 3
Those last two days of the week passed in much the same way, and I spent a quiet weekend at the apartment, going into the school for part of the day to spend some time playing with the kids. That was also around the time when the power went out unexpectedly in the apartment. It was only off for a few hours, so everything was okay, but I had a bit of a scare at first, thinking something I had done shorted out the circuitry without me being aware of it. I think that was Saturday, and then on Sunday, my phone plan--which gave me 20 GB for 10 days--was coming to a close, so I had limited internet access. It was just that kind of weekend, never a dull moment.
If I've guessed accurately, I should be at the end of this large entry after 2 more segments at the most. I'm hoping one more will finalize this entry, and I can tell everyone all about my outing with Sissi, my trip to Japan and a few other noteworthy things.
Until next time folks! Take care.
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