Schedule Caught Up

Despite having lost almost 1 day from the schedule due to “forced” late arrival. We made up almost all of our planned schedule. Today, we jammed in two (2) sessions of Multimedia (the Series of Living the Life of Eight).
To ensure the students learn the vowels properly, we have 30-minute daily drills. Games and activities are incorporated to re-enforce learning retention.
Tonight, a DVD movie was shown. It was about the Life of “J”. Students loved it. To most of them, this is the first time they ever heard of our savior “J”.
Internet access has been down for me since arrival to Du’an until this morning. I am posting this at 5:00am.
Please continue to pray for this mission team for health and getting used to the weather.

Stephen

After breakfast this morning, the group met to go over a laundry list of things that we should be careful about while in summer camp. Of particular importance were student-teacher, teacher-teacher and male-female relationship issues, that is, when Partners International is not a partners international.

After a delicious lunch, the entire team was transported by 3 buses to “camp” city at 1:30 pm. The journey took about 2 hours. We quickly checked into the hotel and immediately left by tuk-tuk (a motorized bicycle with a backseat for two and a canopy to protect the passengers from the elements) for the schools. When we arrived at the school, 400 students were eagerly awaiting for us. With thunderous applause they welcomed the teachers.

Formal introductions were made of the national provincial government official, the religious head of Du’An and all the English teachers of the high school. Then the international teachers were introduced by country groups as the students applauded. Other formalities followed with the welcoming ceremony concluded with a scrumptious array of food in the teacher’s lounge for all of us.

Finally, at 7:00 pm, we were escorted by each class monitor to our respective classes to meet our students. It was a great time to had with self-introductions and assisting students to choose English names to make it easier for us to address them.

The highlight of the day for Stephen and Regina was that they each got to see five of their students from 2010 and a few of them are returning for the 2011 camp and we were both excited to see them.

Our daily schedule from Tuesday on: Start the day at 6:45am, and end by 8:30pm. From 12 noon to 4pm are “free time” to prepare for classes and activities; or catch up on sleep; or send laundry out.

Stephen & Regina

The Youngest MP (Mission Partner)

After breakfast, the international team gathered together to worship in a conference room of the hotel. Songs and music filled the room. An Australian team and a Canadian team each performed a drama respectively. The former: look to Jesus for solutions. The latter: look to the cross for salvation. Sometime during the worship, Luke, an 11-month-old Aussie declared his identity of being the youngest MP. His proclamation was made in a form of a baby-cry! (NOTE: I am still struggling with the blog’s add-media function, as this post remains photo-less. Grrrrh).

The message of the day was about “How to overcome the Giants”. It was very appropriate for this mission team as we are facing so many “giants”, one of which I mentioned in my last post.

In prior years, Sunday noon would have been the time we board the bus for “camp” city. Of course we are now in Plan “B” mode. We stay in Nanning until Monday afternoon. We had the rest of the day free to do whatever deemed necessary. Lunch and dinner were on our own (each received a 50RMB rebate, about USD7; Regina & I donated the rebate toward the AnLan school project, as with other team members).

Most of us went out to shop for school supplies and tried out different places to eat. In search for materials (some of which we couldn’t find in the Super Walmart) for class projects, Regina and I, with John and Susanna Yee of Pennsylvania, ventured into a “Hotung” (old-town, if you will) section of the city. On the way to a stationery store, we found a small church. We shot some photos. A woman came by and told us there is another church few blocks away. By this time, priority for school supplies dropped a notch or two. We followed her to a much bigger church (a Catholic church with 2 services daily).

This evening ended with a delicious Chinese dinner near the hotel. A shower and a bed sounded pretty good after that.

Stephen