September 2013 School Visit

I am pretty glad that I can be reporting to you that our September 24-26th trip to the town of Tan Dian went reasonably well.  

My team of 5-left the big city on Tuesday around 6pm. On the way to the town we discussed the plans for Wednesday.  This was stretching for all five of us, because we already had a plan, but the government official had different ones for us.  So the bartering began. We finally bargained down to 150 students to attend an assembly on Wednesday, then the five of us would be spilt into three groups and each given five sets of 50 students at 45 minute intervals, then we would get the same 150 students from the assembly back for our original English Corner program. During this English Corner program we would separate the 150 students into three groups of 50.  

This altered plan was not ideal and not in any way what we thought we would be doing but it would work.  

Thursday morning we went to a new school and spoke in an assembly to an additional 300 students. 

I really struggled with all the last minute changes. But when we tried to explain to the school officials and teachers why our original plan would have been the best plan we were told that since it was only our second time visiting the Tan Dian school, once we had been there a couple more times we would have some say in the program details. 

Had to really talk to my Father and finally be willing to have another four or five crazy visits to Tan Dian before we are allowed to run the program the way it is intended to work. 

Please keep the program and my sanity in your thoughts to Father. 

Water Project Work

After being back to Kunming for a month, I am ready to share about my wonderful time in the village. It was phenomenal. The work was intense and concentrated so it was hard for two days and then we mostly played. We sat in the homes of the villagers and talked with them about what the new water system will mean to them. The ways in which their lives will be changed and impacted because of this clean water system. It was really wonderful to just sit with them. The most I gained from this trip was the encouragement to keep plugging away at my language learning. I didn't feel completely helpless and in fact was able to communicate with some of the more educated children relatively well. And not that children don't matter, because we all know that they do, but it reminded me that my language skills need to be notched up a level. Thus, I have been reevaluating my school and my study skills. I discussed with a colleague, who has been studying and working in China or with Chinese speakers for 14 years, and he suggested that I return to a one on one teaching relationship in order to gain the proficiency I desire. He encouraged me though by saying that if I hadn't told him I had only been in China for a year he would have guessed by my language usage that I had been here at least 2. So that made me really happy.









I think the two parts of the trip that I enjoyed the most were when a young girl about 10 asked me to tell her a story and I got to tell her the story of the Great Teacher and the little children through an interpreter. The second was when we interviewed a very old lady about her life and we asked lots of hygiene and health related questions. I realized that just sitting with someone and asking those kind of questions give a huge view into a person's life and their own desires and hopes for themselves and their loved ones and I it was right there that I realized I enjoyed research-especially this kind. Person to person research. We were doing this kind of interview through interpreters again, and I had a sudden desire to be able to do such a intense conversation with someone on my own.





Now we did dig trenches along the mountain side in order to bury the water pipes running from the clean water source (about 5 kilometers away) to each village home. This village had 42 households and about 153 people living in it. They had a water system that was built about 3 years ago but the amount of water it supplied the village was not sufficient for all the households and would run dry completely three months out of the year. The non-profit organization I volunteered with to help with this project is called CWEF.

Village Work

I just thought I would post a quick post letting all you who check this more regularly than most that I am leaving on Friday Oct 29th for inner China to work in a village. We will be digging a water system for a village. I know I am not very swift to get information posted here so I wanted to do so while I am thinking of it. If you would Ask for: unity among the volunteers, good weather, safety.

Thank you and I love you!!