Greetings from China! March has come and gone and its been a while since my last update, so let's get caught up.
We basically had all of February off as it was Chinese New Year and China basically shuts down for most of the month during Chinese New Year. It was a lot of rest and relaxation and catching up on my TV shows online. Thank God for these Chinese video websites with American TV shows or else I would be bored out of my mind! Towards the end of February, I was really bored and couldn't wait until the March session to begin. The March session turned out to be an amazing session. Ed and I were co-facilitators again and we had Class E which had 41 awesome students. Class E was the second highest level class and they really impressed me and Ed. They all did very well in their speeches. Some of their speeches were very humorous and full of personality, while other speeches were very personal and deep. This group proved to be the most diverse group of speeches I've heard so far. They were also the most daring class as they sang Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" for the talent show. Many of the other facilitators were very impressed with our Class E's performance. Needless to say, Ed and I are very proud of our class. We also made up our Class E cheer and it goes like this:
Class E is Extraordinary
Class E is Exquisite
Class E is Exceptional
Class E is Extreme
Class E is Excellent
Class E, Class E, Class E E E!
CAN YOU DIG IT!!!
Yeah that's right, our class cheer rocks and the other facilitators love the "Can You Dig It" at the end of the cheer. Don't worry, my students are NOT speaking with a Brooklyn/Jersey accent...yet. By the way, here is our class photo: http://july212000.shutterfly.com/2644
Last Friday night was our closing ceremony and afterwards, our class had our celebration party. Before I tell you about that, there is a new rule that went into effect this session. The people in charge decided that the students were not allowed to give gifts to the facilitators because it caused too many problems and the students got sidetracked trying to figure out what gifts to get for the facilitators. So during our celebration party, our class did give us a gift, but this gift did not cost any money. They made a video for me and Ed and each one of our students recorded a personal message for us. This gift has sentimental value and is priceless. This is easily the best gift I have received in China. Following the video, they put on a show with a bunch of traditional Chinese songs and dances. Our celebration party was indeed very special and something I will never forget! After the session was over on Saturday, the students are allowed to stay on campus for three days so they can visit the tourist spots of Beijing before going home. About half of the class stuck around and they took me and Ed out to lunch and dinner for the next three days. I spent all of yesterday (Tuesday) hanging out with the last of my students in their dorms and then walking them to the front gate one by one as they left throughout the day. This morning, I walked my last student Helen to the front gate as she was the final student to leave. While I'm still riding this high from this amazing session, I am very sad to see this class leave.
So now we have this week off to relax and catch up on some much needed rest before we begin our April session which begins on Monday, April 5th. Ed and I will be co-facilitating again in the April session so we are very happy and excited about that as we work really well together.
I'm still trying to figure out what I'm gonna do after China. Perhaps I'm still riding this high from this past session, but at this moment, I'm actually considering staying in China and volunteering for another year as I really enjoy what I'm doing here. I don't want to make any big decisions right now, but its something that I'm seriously considering. Even if I decide to volunteer for another year, I'll return to the U.S. in July for a few months before heading back to China. I need to do some more thinking in the coming weeks and pray about this. We shall see what God's plan is for me, so keep me in your prayers.
At the end of the April session, I will take a trip to Qinghai to visit my students. I've had so many students from Qinghai, but in this last class, there are about 10 of them from Qinghai and it was them who convinced me to take a trip to visit Qinghai. Qinghai is a beautiful place known for Qinghai lake and its mountains. I've heard so much about Qinghai from many of my past students, so I figure its time to take a trip to Qinghai and check it out. My students are already making arrangements for my arrival and I will also go and visit their schools and perhaps teach a short lesson in English. May 1-3 is China's Labor Day so my students will be off from work for about 4-5 days, which is perfect timing. I'm excited about this trip to Qinghai and am looking foward to visiting my students.
Well that's about it for this update. Time to get my rest and relaxation on and catch up on my TV shows online. Hope all is well with everyone. Take care, God Bless!
Timothy Wong
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Important update from China!
Happy New Year from China! The year of the tiger is upon us, which I’m very proud of as I was born under the tiger year back in 19??...well the year isn’t important. Let’s keep this update moving.
I have some news I want to share with you, but first let me tell you about the English camp we taught in Shanxi. Shanxi turned out to be a great experience. The campus we used is a facility where the government goes for meetings and retreats. The building we stayed in use to be a hotel, so we basically stayed at a hotel. There wasn't much to complain about with the exception of the shower pressure being a little weak. But most important, the rooms were clean and we had western toilets…thank God!!! Ed was my roommate and we were joking that the only thing we were missing in our room was a microwave and fridge. The campus itself is pretty nice. There’s a beautiful courtyard, which we walked past everyday to our classrooms. The classrooms and large group room are basically like the ones at Beijing University, but somewhat smaller. The hosts were very gracious and took us out for several good meals before and after the camp, but when we had to eat in the cafeteria during the week, the food was absolutely horrendous! I’m thinking I probably lost a few more pounds while I was in Shanxi. The camp had 50 students total...mostly Junior High school and High school kids. We had two college students join the program as well. We split the group up into three classes. I had the highest-level class with Ed assisting, so I was able to use my regular lesson plans for this high level class. My class only had 14 students, but it was a quality class. During the week, we had diction, fairy tales and class in the morning. In the afternoon, we had music club, sports club and games. In Sports club, we tried to teach the students about American sports like Baseball, Football and Basketball…but its obvious they only really understood basketball, as that is already a very popular sport in China. (For you basketball fans, Yao Ming is China’s son and a hero…with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James trailing a close second and third.) On the last night, we had a talent show. Each class did a great job! My class sang three songs: "As Long As You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys, "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly and "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. I just like to preface that my class had mostly teenage girls, so you knew there was gonna be a Backstreet Boys song in there. Hey, its China…its where pop music goes to die. They sang really well especially Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”. I'm really proud of this class! Our 10 days in Shanxi turned out to be a really great experience and I'm really glad I decided to go to Shanxi.
I’ve uploaded some photos from Shanxi as well as a few additional photos from my visit to The Great Wall of China with my family. The new photos are #100 and on. http://july212000.shutterfly.com/2499
Moving along, I have some news I’d like to share with you. I’ll spare you the details and get right to it. My position as Missioner for Youth & Young Families at St. Paul’s has been cut due to financial reasons. Yes it’s a pity, but this is the reality that we live in today with this slumping economy. Oddly enough, when I read Rev. Elizabeth's e-mail, I wasn't shocked at all to receive this news. For some strange reason, I had a feeling something like this would happen while I was in China. And what's even more surprising is that I'm at peace with this news and not worried about what I'm gonna do when I return from China. I know I have a few months before I return to the U.S., so I do have some time to figure out what I want to do next. I think my parents are doing all the worrying for me. Perhaps after living in China for 6 months, it’s made me see things differently. I'm sure if I was in Chatham and this news came down, I wouldn't have taken it so calmly. Of course it goes without saying that it will be very difficult to say farewell to the youth of St. Paul’s that I have built a relationship with and watched grow up through the years. Upon my return, I will schedule a Sunday in September to meet with the youth one last time so I can share with them photos and stories from China and have the opportunity to say farewell to them in person. I believe this will help everyone involved find some much needed closure.
So what’s next? Well ideally, I’d love to be able to find a job and settle down in Jersey again, but with this economy, who knows what will happen. If worse comes to worse, I do have a backup option already in place. The people in charge here have asked us if we would like to return for another year? If the economy doesn’t pick up upon my return to the U.S. and I have trouble finding a job, then I can always volunteer another year teaching English in China and continue to make a difference here. Sure, the stipend isn’t much and the food is lousy here, but if millions and millions of people in China can survive on less than my monthly stipend and eat food even worse than what I’ve been eating, than why can’t I?
So for now, please keep me in your prayers. Everything will be alright, so no worries. We shall see what God has planned for me in the next chapter of my life, but I know he will provide and watch over me when I make the transition from China back to the U.S.
Oh I almost forgot to tell you that I went snowboarding in China. A few weeks ago, two of my former students invited Dorothy and I to go skiing. I didn’t think this would be something I’d get to do in China. Sure the slopes wasn’t anything close to what we ski or snowboard on in the U.S., but it was a fun day of snowboarding!!! Our former students were so generous and didn’t let us pay for anything. We are so lucky to have such kind and caring students.
So if you didn’t know, Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important holiday in China, so basically most of China is on vacation for the month of February...which means we don't have a session in February. Yes, that means we're off until our next session, which doesn’t begin until March 8th. So the next few weeks will be filled with lots of rest, relaxation and catching up on my TV shows online. They'll be no traveling for me during Chinese New Year as it is very expensive and everyone in China travels during this time so I'm not trying to get caught up in these crazy crowds pushing and shoving...and that's the elderly people!
OK, that's it for this update. I hope all is well with everyone. Take care, God Bless!
Timothy Wong
I have some news I want to share with you, but first let me tell you about the English camp we taught in Shanxi. Shanxi turned out to be a great experience. The campus we used is a facility where the government goes for meetings and retreats. The building we stayed in use to be a hotel, so we basically stayed at a hotel. There wasn't much to complain about with the exception of the shower pressure being a little weak. But most important, the rooms were clean and we had western toilets…thank God!!! Ed was my roommate and we were joking that the only thing we were missing in our room was a microwave and fridge. The campus itself is pretty nice. There’s a beautiful courtyard, which we walked past everyday to our classrooms. The classrooms and large group room are basically like the ones at Beijing University, but somewhat smaller. The hosts were very gracious and took us out for several good meals before and after the camp, but when we had to eat in the cafeteria during the week, the food was absolutely horrendous! I’m thinking I probably lost a few more pounds while I was in Shanxi. The camp had 50 students total...mostly Junior High school and High school kids. We had two college students join the program as well. We split the group up into three classes. I had the highest-level class with Ed assisting, so I was able to use my regular lesson plans for this high level class. My class only had 14 students, but it was a quality class. During the week, we had diction, fairy tales and class in the morning. In the afternoon, we had music club, sports club and games. In Sports club, we tried to teach the students about American sports like Baseball, Football and Basketball…but its obvious they only really understood basketball, as that is already a very popular sport in China. (For you basketball fans, Yao Ming is China’s son and a hero…with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James trailing a close second and third.) On the last night, we had a talent show. Each class did a great job! My class sang three songs: "As Long As You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys, "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly and "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. I just like to preface that my class had mostly teenage girls, so you knew there was gonna be a Backstreet Boys song in there. Hey, its China…its where pop music goes to die. They sang really well especially Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”. I'm really proud of this class! Our 10 days in Shanxi turned out to be a really great experience and I'm really glad I decided to go to Shanxi.
I’ve uploaded some photos from Shanxi as well as a few additional photos from my visit to The Great Wall of China with my family. The new photos are #100 and on. http://july212000.shutterfly.com/2499
Moving along, I have some news I’d like to share with you. I’ll spare you the details and get right to it. My position as Missioner for Youth & Young Families at St. Paul’s has been cut due to financial reasons. Yes it’s a pity, but this is the reality that we live in today with this slumping economy. Oddly enough, when I read Rev. Elizabeth's e-mail, I wasn't shocked at all to receive this news. For some strange reason, I had a feeling something like this would happen while I was in China. And what's even more surprising is that I'm at peace with this news and not worried about what I'm gonna do when I return from China. I know I have a few months before I return to the U.S., so I do have some time to figure out what I want to do next. I think my parents are doing all the worrying for me. Perhaps after living in China for 6 months, it’s made me see things differently. I'm sure if I was in Chatham and this news came down, I wouldn't have taken it so calmly. Of course it goes without saying that it will be very difficult to say farewell to the youth of St. Paul’s that I have built a relationship with and watched grow up through the years. Upon my return, I will schedule a Sunday in September to meet with the youth one last time so I can share with them photos and stories from China and have the opportunity to say farewell to them in person. I believe this will help everyone involved find some much needed closure.
So what’s next? Well ideally, I’d love to be able to find a job and settle down in Jersey again, but with this economy, who knows what will happen. If worse comes to worse, I do have a backup option already in place. The people in charge here have asked us if we would like to return for another year? If the economy doesn’t pick up upon my return to the U.S. and I have trouble finding a job, then I can always volunteer another year teaching English in China and continue to make a difference here. Sure, the stipend isn’t much and the food is lousy here, but if millions and millions of people in China can survive on less than my monthly stipend and eat food even worse than what I’ve been eating, than why can’t I?
So for now, please keep me in your prayers. Everything will be alright, so no worries. We shall see what God has planned for me in the next chapter of my life, but I know he will provide and watch over me when I make the transition from China back to the U.S.
Oh I almost forgot to tell you that I went snowboarding in China. A few weeks ago, two of my former students invited Dorothy and I to go skiing. I didn’t think this would be something I’d get to do in China. Sure the slopes wasn’t anything close to what we ski or snowboard on in the U.S., but it was a fun day of snowboarding!!! Our former students were so generous and didn’t let us pay for anything. We are so lucky to have such kind and caring students.
So if you didn’t know, Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important holiday in China, so basically most of China is on vacation for the month of February...which means we don't have a session in February. Yes, that means we're off until our next session, which doesn’t begin until March 8th. So the next few weeks will be filled with lots of rest, relaxation and catching up on my TV shows online. They'll be no traveling for me during Chinese New Year as it is very expensive and everyone in China travels during this time so I'm not trying to get caught up in these crazy crowds pushing and shoving...and that's the elderly people!
OK, that's it for this update. I hope all is well with everyone. Take care, God Bless!
Timothy Wong
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
January update from China!
Greetings from China!
Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. I know its been a while since my last update, but its been a busy month. After an absolutely wonderful December session, we had a two week break for Christmas & New Year. So on December 29th, I flew down to Hong Kong to meet up with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. It was great to see them! We spent the New Year in Hong Kong and it was a great time! Also, having lived in Beijing for 5 month, I had a new appreciation for Hong Kong like I never did before. Wow, everything was so much cleaner in Hong Kong, the people spoke Cantonese, it wasn't as crowded, and of course the Chinese food there is what I'm use to. We had a weigh in when we got to Hong Kong. I've obviously lost a lot of weight living in Beijing due to the food as I've dropped to 132 lbs (I normally weigh 140 lbs). So as you guessed it, all I did was eat when I was in Hong Kong and wow, it was some good eating!!! Moving along, on January 2nd, we flew back to China, specifically to Qingdao. We spent three days in Qingdao and saw the seaside, LaoShan Mountain and got a tour of the Tsingtao Beer factory. Then we took a 20 hour train to Xian. Not to worry, we got the soft sleeper train, so the 20 hour trip was quite easy. We spent two days in Xian and saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and rode bikes on the Xian City Wall. And yes the Xian part sounds really familiar because I was just in Xian at the end of November, but my parents and my brother had never been to Xian, so it was part of our trip. It didn't matter as Xian was a place I didn't mind seeing again. Another highlight of our travels to Qingdao and Xian was getting to see a few of my students from last session. They were very generous and took us out to eat and gave me many gifts. My suitcase was getting quite full by the end of the trip! So after Xian, we took another soft sleeper train back to Beijing. This train ride was only 10 hours, so it was a breeze as we slept most of the way. Once we got to Beijing, we hit some tourist spots like The Bird's Nest, Water Cube, Tiananmen Square, the Beijing Zoo (gotta see the Panda bears when you come to China), but the one that easily takes the cake is The Great Wall! My brother, his girlfriend and I climbed up three towers and it was quite a hike, but the view from up there is absolutely amazing! I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to see the Great Wall in person while I am in China. It truly is one of the great wonders of the world and I would highly recommend the Great Wall to everyone's must see list if you ever come to China! It is an experience that photos just can't justify. Speaking of photos, I've uploaded a bunch of new photos from our travels in Hong Kong and around China: http://july212000.shutterfly.com/2499
So here's some news. This session I am not teaching in a class room because I am one of four facilitators that will be going to Shanxi at the end of the month to teach English. Here's the twist...we will be teaching English to young children in Shanxi. We are using this month to prepare and plan a curriculum since teaching English to adult teachers is quite different than teaching English to young children. We'll be teaching in Shanxi for one week and a lot of stuff is still up in the air as decisions are always made at the last minute by the people in charge (its how things work in China), so please keep us in your prayers as we try our best to prepare for the unknown and this venture to Shanxi. Most of all, please pray for a clean living environment and no squatty toilets...seriously!!!
Anyways that's about it for this update. I wish you all a prosperous new year and may 2010 be filled with much joy and happiness!
Timothy Wong
Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. I know its been a while since my last update, but its been a busy month. After an absolutely wonderful December session, we had a two week break for Christmas & New Year. So on December 29th, I flew down to Hong Kong to meet up with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. It was great to see them! We spent the New Year in Hong Kong and it was a great time! Also, having lived in Beijing for 5 month, I had a new appreciation for Hong Kong like I never did before. Wow, everything was so much cleaner in Hong Kong, the people spoke Cantonese, it wasn't as crowded, and of course the Chinese food there is what I'm use to. We had a weigh in when we got to Hong Kong. I've obviously lost a lot of weight living in Beijing due to the food as I've dropped to 132 lbs (I normally weigh 140 lbs). So as you guessed it, all I did was eat when I was in Hong Kong and wow, it was some good eating!!! Moving along, on January 2nd, we flew back to China, specifically to Qingdao. We spent three days in Qingdao and saw the seaside, LaoShan Mountain and got a tour of the Tsingtao Beer factory. Then we took a 20 hour train to Xian. Not to worry, we got the soft sleeper train, so the 20 hour trip was quite easy. We spent two days in Xian and saw the Terra Cotta Warriors and rode bikes on the Xian City Wall. And yes the Xian part sounds really familiar because I was just in Xian at the end of November, but my parents and my brother had never been to Xian, so it was part of our trip. It didn't matter as Xian was a place I didn't mind seeing again. Another highlight of our travels to Qingdao and Xian was getting to see a few of my students from last session. They were very generous and took us out to eat and gave me many gifts. My suitcase was getting quite full by the end of the trip! So after Xian, we took another soft sleeper train back to Beijing. This train ride was only 10 hours, so it was a breeze as we slept most of the way. Once we got to Beijing, we hit some tourist spots like The Bird's Nest, Water Cube, Tiananmen Square, the Beijing Zoo (gotta see the Panda bears when you come to China), but the one that easily takes the cake is The Great Wall! My brother, his girlfriend and I climbed up three towers and it was quite a hike, but the view from up there is absolutely amazing! I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to see the Great Wall in person while I am in China. It truly is one of the great wonders of the world and I would highly recommend the Great Wall to everyone's must see list if you ever come to China! It is an experience that photos just can't justify. Speaking of photos, I've uploaded a bunch of new photos from our travels in Hong Kong and around China: http://july212000.shutterfly.com/2499
So here's some news. This session I am not teaching in a class room because I am one of four facilitators that will be going to Shanxi at the end of the month to teach English. Here's the twist...we will be teaching English to young children in Shanxi. We are using this month to prepare and plan a curriculum since teaching English to adult teachers is quite different than teaching English to young children. We'll be teaching in Shanxi for one week and a lot of stuff is still up in the air as decisions are always made at the last minute by the people in charge (its how things work in China), so please keep us in your prayers as we try our best to prepare for the unknown and this venture to Shanxi. Most of all, please pray for a clean living environment and no squatty toilets...seriously!!!
Anyways that's about it for this update. I wish you all a prosperous new year and may 2010 be filled with much joy and happiness!
Timothy Wong
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