Let The Shenanigans Begin :)

On June 1, we made it to Xining.  We were all so excited, in part because we knew we were about to meet our new friends and begin building intentional relationships with them, but also because we had just spent 23 hours on the train from Beijing and we were SO READY to get up and move around!  All things considered, the train ride was actually pretty fun.  We were in a sleeper car, so were able to walk around a little bit, and we could lay down to sleep at night.  We spent a lot to time on the train playing card games, especially Euchre!  Even though I’ve been living in Michigan for two years, I had not yet learned how to play this famous-only-in-the-Midwest game.  It’s kind of funny that I had to go all the way to China to learn it, but better late then never right??? ;)

The train ride also gave us plenty of time to reflect on everything we had learned during our orientation in Beijing and prepare ourselves to enter into the work that our Father was already doing in Xining.  That was one of the most significant lessons that I learned during our time in China: Dad is ALREADY at work!  He doesn’t start when we show up and end when we leave.  He works on his own time, and he invites us to join in for brief moments of time.  I mean, I knew that it wasn’t all about me, but now I will never again be tempted to think that His work is even slightly contingent on my presence in the situation!  Seriously, all Dad all the time guys.  This is the real deal!

Our group was doing a language and culture exchange at one of the universities in Xining, so we lived on campus and did tons of outreach events with the students there.  We got to host “English corners” where we talked (obviously in English) about the similarities and differences between American and Chinese cultures and the nuances of the English language.  We also got to host movie nights, dance parties, game nights, and other discussion groups.  I was constantly amazed by how well a lot of the students spoke English!  I wasn’t expecting the language barrier to be a huge problem, however I hadn’t realized that most of the students we interacted with on a regular basis would have been studying English for 12+ years!!  Can you imagine?  I thought it was cool that I’d been studying Chinese for 2 years….  I guess I’ve lost the right to complain about my “slow” progress.  I’ve got at least 10 more years to go!  This certainly gave me a new perspective on things.

We were able to invite the students that we met at our campus events to hang out at meals or come with us on off campus field trips.  It was rare for us to pass an entire day without spending time with multiple students, and it wasn’t long until we began to develop significant trust with our new friends. 

WARNING: rabbit trail to follow.

I loved going out for noodles with my friends, and—get this—I even began to be functional with my chopsticks!  I’m really not that impressive, but I learned how to eat noodles and only splash a *teeny-tiny bit on myself : ) I always considered it to be an exceptionally good day if I survived a meal without staining the life out of shirt.  (It was super unfortunate whenever I did stain my shirts though, because we were washing all of our clothes by hand while we were in China and I learned very quickly that it is NOT fun to scrub a shirt with a bar of soap for several minutes just to shrink down the size of a sauce splash.  I have a lot more respect for pioneers now than I did a few weeks ago!)  At one point on our trip, my friends literally cheered *every time I snagged a piece of food with my chopsticks.  I honestly didn’t think I was that bad, but after 10 minutes or so of my chopstick use being the sole focus at the table, I was convinced that my friends only loved me because I was such a reliable source of entertainment for them ;) 

End of rabbit trail.

Here’s an excerpt from my journal after our field trip to one of the post-graduate schools in the area on June 14:

After our classes today, since I didn’t have any lunch plans (SHOCKER I know!), I decided to go for a walk in the Culture Park.  It was a bit of an adventure just getting there, thankfully I only got *mildly lost once. (: My mom told me that the only thing she wanted me to bring her from China was pictures, so I took my camera and took TONS of pictures of the gorgeous gardens, story walls, and statues.  I think she will be pleased! 

In the afternoon, we all went to one of the other schools in the area and taught the students how to play baseball.  Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t play baseball, you know, worth beans, but it was so much fun to show them how to throw and catch the ball!!  (Thankfully, I was not in the group teaching the students how to hit the ball… I don’t even want to think about how disastrous that have been!)  They really enjoyed it, and I loved watching their new skills come together to make a really fun game! 

Once we were done playing our baseball game, we got to go have dinner with our new friends.  They treated us to a banquet!  I was eating with four students, and they ordered EIGHT dishes for us to share!  I don’t think we managed to eat much more than half of the food.  I seriously don’t know how people manage to generally lose weight during their time in China.  Everyone that I have met has been SUPER hospitable, and they hardly let me stop eating!

I was sitting across for this guy named Stone, and his English was phenomenal!  When he found our that I was from San Antonio (and that I love the Spurs) he looked up the score from their last game for me and showed me that they—of course, beat the Heat! Haha I think my new friends were amused when I fist bumped in the middle of the restaurant (:     

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Long story short, I met some awesome and totally fun people while I was in China!  I have a TON more to tell you about, but it’s getting late, and I have to be all sunny for VBS tomorrow morning.  My sisters and I get to do the skits at the beginning of each day AND I’M PUMPED!  Our rehearsal was a tad rough this morning, but they got progressively better and I think we’ll be able to do a great job for the kids tomorrow!  Wish us luck :D 

Tune in next time and I’ll tell you all about braving the morning market and climbing mountains!

Much love,

Rebekah

Here are some of the pictures that I took for my mom while I was at the Culture Park on June 14 before we went to teach the post-grad students how to play baseball :)  BTW, she totally loved them!

This was the GORGEOUS fountain that was on campus with us!  I loved walking passed it every day :D

See why??

Here's the first view of the Culture Park!  Their landscaping was beautiful (as you can see)

It took me a long time to figure out why they painted their trees.  Apparently it's because the bugs won't eat through the paint!  You're welcome for that little bit of useless trivia ;)

*sigh* :) my happy place