March update from China!

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